Vale: Isaac Hayes

Isaac Hayes, the pioneering singer, songwriter and musician whose relentless “Theme From Shaft” won Academy and Grammy awards, has been found dead at his Memphis home.

He was 65.

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office says a family member found Hayes unresponsive near a treadmill on Sunday. He was pronounced dead about an hour later at Baptist East Hospital in Memphis. The cause of death was not immediately known.

In the early 1970s, Hayes laid the groundwork for disco, for what became known as urban-contemporary music and for romantic crooners like Barry White. And he was rapping before there was rap.

His career hit another high in 1997 when he became the voice of Chef, the sensible school cook and devoted ladies man on the animated South Park. But Hayes had a falling out with the show after it trashed Scientology, leading to the show messing with the character of Chef as a comment on his departure.

Hayes told the New York Post, “They didn’t pay me enough” and “They weren’t that nice.”

Source: Variety