INTO THE HYPERBOLICSYLLABICSESQUEDALAYMISTIC:

Three decades before Dead Presidents, Hayes began his career behind the scenes at Stax Records, where the self taught musician was a studio sideman playing various instruments including saxophone and piano on various sessions before becoming a respected songwriter and producer with lyricist partner David Porter. Stax was the home of Booker T. & the MGs, Mavis Staples, the Bar-Kays, Carla Thomas and Otis Redding, who, in the mid-1960s, was the best-selling act on the label. 

Hayes' first gig at the label was playing organ on Floyd Newman's 1964 instrumental "Frog Stomp." Later, when house keyboardist Booker T. Jones went away to college, Hayes subbed for him on some recordings. The following year, Hayes was the pianist on Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul. "I was scared to death," Hayes would tell me, "but Otis was one the nicest guys anyone could work with. He had this wild sense of humor that made us all comfortable. Stax was like a family, man. Sometimes I would sleep on the floor of the studio or at the piano." 

Hayes joined creative forces with lyricist David Porter, who he'd known since their teenage days when they attended competing high schools. He had gone to Manassas while Porter graduated from Booker T. Washington. The first song they wrote together was the dramatic "I'll Run Your Hurt Away" by Ruby Johnson, but it was their work on Sam and Dave singles "Hold On, I'm Comin'" and "Soul Man" that made them a hit making duo. Hayes and Porter penned over two hundred songs in the 1960s, but by the end of the decade he'd grown bored with composing for others, and wanted to transition to the other side of microphone. 

His solo debut Presenting Isaac Hayes (1968) sold badly, but a year later he was more successful with Hot Buttered Soul, a groundbreaking album that mixed soul, pop and orchestration. Still, it wasn't until the Shaft soundtrack in 1971 that Hayes became a crossover pop superstar. 

In pictures published in Ebony, Hayes dressed flamboyantly in furs, leather suits, loud colors and miles of gold chains. Larger than life, he looked as though he'd been drawn by Black Panther creator Jack Kirby. 

Tweet   @brothersjudd