Isaac Hayes (1942-2008)
Filed under the name Isaac · July 20, 2026
Isaac Hayes wrote and performed the Oscar-winning "Theme from Shaft," which helped define the whole sound of 1970s movies, and by every account he stayed a generous, longtime supporter of charitable causes back home in Memphis his whole life besides. I don't listen to much soul or funk music myself, my tastes running more toward hymns and Patsy Cline, but I do appreciate a man who made it big and didn't forget the town that raised him — plenty do, once the fame arrives, and it's always a little disappointing when they do. My own hometown never asked much of the folks who left it and made good, but the ones who came back and gave something back always earned a special kind of respect around here, more than the fame itself ever did on its own. Sounds like Isaac Hayes was cut from that same cloth, wherever he ended up and however far his music traveled past Memphis city limits.