Shaft! Yeah, I can dig it. The brain behind that memorable movie theme and many other hits is Isaac Hayes, a Tennessee native who rose from a poor childhood to become an award-winning soul and R&B musician. As a child, Hayes sang in the church choir and taught himself how to play several instruments, including the piano.

His recording career began in the early 1960s, when he was a session player for Stax Records in Memphis. During this time, Hayes also penned several hit singles with partner David Porter, which became major successes for the R&B duo Sam and Dave.  Some of the ditties you might recognize are “Soul Man,” “When Something Is Wrong With My Baby” and “Hold On I’m Coming.” In 1967 came Hayes’s debut album, Presenting Isaac Hayes, which didn’t exactly conquer the charts. The next album, Hot Buttered Soul, consisted of only four songs—four very long and distinctive songs whose extended riffs bordered on the psychedelic.  Even so, the album was well received, as were the orchestral renditions of jazz classics like “Walk On By” and “By the Time I Get to Phoenix.” Each of the songs lasted from 10 to 20 minutes and featured long spoken word introductions, which would become Hayes’s trademark.

In 1970, Hayes released two albums: The Isaac Hayes Movement and To Be Continued both had moderate success. Superstardom came when Hayes wrote the score for the movie Shaft, including the iconic “Theme From Shaft,” a half-spoken, half-sung, bass-driven, sweet and dirty groove. The titular character of the movie was a black private dick that was apparently a sex machine with the all the chicks and he had a theme that matched his personality perfectly. The song earned Hayes a Best Song Academy award (and three Grammys) and spawned a plethora of imitators in the 70s. The musician had become quite the sex symbol himself, appearing in photos bare-chested, with a shaved head, a lot of gold jewelry and big black sunglasses. What can we say, it was the 70s.

Hayes went on to score several more films, including Three Tough Guys andTruck Turner, in which he also starred. He also had more hits during this decade, most notably “Joy,” his cover of “Never Can Say Goodbye” and the R&B dance songs, “Don’t Let Go” and “Zeke the Freak.” Hayes teamed up with Millie Jackson and then Dionne Warwick to release duet albums in the late 70s.

In the 1980s, Hayes concentrated on acting, making frequent appearances in TV shows like The A-Team, Miami Vice and Hunter.  He racked up a few film credits too, in movies like Escape from New York and I’m Gonna Git You Sucka. Hayes also found time to release two more albums, U-Turn and Love Attack and the Top 10 single “Ike’s Rap,” which featured his trademark rapping. He recorded two more albums in the mid-90s, in addition to composing music for major commercial campaigns. In the late 90s, Isaac Hayes began voicing the character of Chef in the animated mega hit South Park, which raised his profile tenfold among a new generation of fans.