Friday, April 27, 2007 | 7:20 a.m.
ILLUSTRATION BY CHRIS MORRIS
Who: Isaac Hayes
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Dallas Events Center at Texas Station
Tickets: $24.95 to $47.95; 547-5300
Isaac Hayes isn't just a musician, singer and composer of such memorable tunes as the Oscar-winning "Theme From Shaft."
He's a fighter.
Hayes, 64, fought his way out of poverty in rural Tennessee to reach the top of his profession. He has been battling the effects of a stroke suffered more than a year ago.
"I had a little health problem," Hayes says in his rich baritone, speaking slowly, searching for the right words, making sure he says what he means to say on the phone. "I'm recovering. Been performing the past month or so."
He's not 100 percent yet, but he's stepping back onstage and letting the good times roll once again.
Hayes lives in Memphis, Tenn., where he owns a restaurant-nightclub called Isaac Hayes Music, Food and Passion.
Sometimes he performs at his own place, a block or two off the famed Beale Street.
He will perform Saturday at Texas Station .
"We have a lot of fun in Las Vegas," Hayes says. "I'm not a big-time gambler. I go to shows. Visit musicians. Go over to B.B. King's (home). Visit restaurants."
Hayes says fans who come to Texas Station can expect him to sing his hits and more.
" 'Shaft,' 'Walk on By,' 'By the Time I Get to Phoenix,' 'Joy,' " Hayes said. "All those good things."
Things were not always good for Hayes. His parents were sharecroppers, and he was raised by his grandparents. He dropped out of high school to work, although he returned and received his diploma at the age of 21.
He filed for bankruptcy in the late '70s.
Last year he left the hit cartoon series "South Park," for which he had voiced the character Chef since 1997. That remains a subject he declines to discuss.
But there have been many good things in Hayes' life.
Hayes says he was interested in music from an early age, singing gospel by 5. In high school he won a number of talent contests.
"I started that way," he says. "My grandmother, she coached me."
Early on he sang the songs of artists such as Nat King Cole and Brook Benton.
"That was my start," he says.
At first he just wanted to make a living. "Then, I wanted more," he says.
In 1969 he released "Hot Buttered Soul," the album credited with creating the Memphis Soul sound and putting him on the path to fame and fortune.
Hayes talked about "Shaft," the 1971 blockbuster motion picture starring Richard Roundtree as the super cool detective.
"Took me about a month to score," he says. "I had no idea it was going to have the impact it had."
It changed his life, making him a household name. The singer and composer could write his own ticket. Gold records. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Academy Award. Grammy Award. An influence to generations of artists over the next three decades.
He followed up "The Theme From Shaft" with the hits "Black Moses" (1971), "Joy" ('73), "Chocolate Chip" ('75) and "Groove-a-Thon" ('76).
"Film scores," he says. "I would like to get into that again."
He could use the money. Christmas is pretty expensive around the Hayes household.
He has 12 children, 14 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Hayes' voice seemed to beam through the telephone when talk turned to family.
"I got a new son," Hayes said. "He was a year old this past Tuesday. He's the 12th kid. I've been married four times.
"The kids live in Virginia, New York, Atlanta and Memphis. The majority of them are here in Memphis. I got a daughter that sang with James Brown. She quit a couple of years before he passed away. Her name is Heather Hayes. I have a son who has a record out. Came out about two months ago. Another son in New York, he writes music. And I got another daughter in Virginia that sings, too."
When he was compared to the Osmond family he laughed the laugh of a fighter who had just beaten the odds to make a comeback.
archive
