Isaac Hayes, Dead At 65
More unbelievable sad news to report today … the New York Times has just reported that legendary soul singer Isaac Hayes (perhaps better known to South Park fans as the voice of Chef) has died today in his Memphis, TN home. He was 65 years old:
Isaac Hayes, the pioneering singer, songwriter and musician whose relentless “Theme From Shaft” won Academy and Grammy awards, has been found dead at 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 TV show “South Park.”
I am at a total loss. Another death already? Yesterday we lost Bernie Mac, today Isaac Hayes. I’m sure more deets about Isaac’s passing will be available soon but … I just can’t believe that this keeps happening. My thoughts and condolences go out to the entire Hayes family.
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August 10th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Hayes and Mac had made a movie with Samuel L Jackson that is supposed to be released this winter… It’s terrible, that they both died the same week end, it sounds almost like some kind of malediction…
August 10th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Wow… The loss of two great talents in one weekend.
His deep, soulful voice will live on forever. Time to bring him up on the iPod and celebrate the talent that was Isaac Hayes.
August 10th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Oh this totally makes me sad. I love Isaac Hayes. I always felt connected to his Theme from Shaft because that was the #1 song on the Billboard charts when I was born! This is really sad news.
August 10th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
The Theme from Shaft was the greatest movie theme song ever. And the coolest Oscar-winning one too.
This is such sad news to hear.
August 10th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
So SAD….He was suppose to be headlining one of the musical stages at Sunset Junction August 23rd….
August 10th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Such sad news. RIP Isaac.
August 10th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
This is too weird. Why did these men die so close together?!
August 10th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
…Worst weekend ever…
Its like every month someone is dying?
August 10th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
[...] of Chef, the sensible school cook and devoted ladies man on the animated TV show
August 10th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
maybe it was the Scientologists! maybe he was trying to leave the cult! i wonder if they do anything with the body, de-scientologise it or something once one of their cult members dies?? collect their alien ghost in a jar or something and throw it back into a volcano or whatever they do….
August 11th, 2008 at 7:22 am
people die: it’s amazing to me how many people want to freak when a celebrity dies. makes me wonder what happens when a member of their own family passes!
August 11th, 2008 at 8:31 am
(Very nice touch with the anonymous post…)
First of all, no one is freaking out, people are just expressing their condolences. When a celebrity dies, it brings the issue of death closer to home for many who have never experienced a relative of their own family (knock on wood). Death is and always has been a sensitive issue and one that as human beings is hard to accept. To say “people die” so matter-of-fact wouldn’t be acceptable in a family death situation, so why use it now? It’s disrespectful towards the family of Isaac Hayes and so much more.
August 11th, 2008 at 10:44 am
That’s such a shame…first Bernie Mac and now Isaac Hayes. Two talented black men that are both gone well before their time. Deaths always seem to come in threes, I hope nothing happens to Samuel L. Jackson, who starred with both Hayes and Mac in an upcoming movie.
I wonder if “South Park” will do a tribute episode a part of the second half of the current season that will begin airing in October. While I’m totally on the side of Matt Stone and Trey Parker in regards to their feud with Hayes (due to their satirizing Scientology in an episode, which is Hayes’ religion), hopefully, with his death, any anomosity between them has ended and Matt and Trey will allow Chef to be redeemed and provide him with a more peaceful death.
August 11th, 2008 at 11:22 am
People don’t freak out just because a celebrity dies. They freak out when it’s unexpected. Bernie Mac was fairly young, and although he had been hospitalized, I don’t think most people would expect a seemingly healthy 50 year old to die of pneumonia. And there had been no reports of Isaac Hayes being unwell, so that one was out of the blue. Then, they die a day apart, and that just makes it doubly shocking. But thanks for being sarcastic and self-righteous about it. Maybe if you’re lucky, no one will care when you die, so you won’t have to get all beat down about it.
August 11th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
If I remember correctly, Issac Hayes has a stroke several months after he left “South Park.” Maybe his death resulted from that stroke?