Isaac Hayes

Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer, actor, and voice actor born in Covington, Tennessee on August 20th, 1942. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the mid-1960s. Hayes, Porter, Bill Withers, the Sherman Brothers, Steve Cropper, and John Fogerty were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 in recognition of writing scores of notable songs for themselves, the duo Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, and others.

During the late 1990s, Hayes gained new popularity as the voice of Chef on the Comedy Central animated television series South Park. Chef was a soul-singing cafeteria worker for South Park Elementary. A song from the series performed by Chef, "Chocolate Salty Balls (P.S. I Love You)", received international radio airplay in 1999. It reached number-one on the UK singles chart and also on the Irish singles chart. The track also appeared on the album Chef Aid: The South Park Album in 1998.

In the South Park episode "Trapped in the Closet", a satire of Scientology which aired on November 16th, 2005, Hayes did not appear in his role as Chef. While appearing on the Opie and Anthony radio show about a month after the episode aired, Hayes was asked, "What did you think about when Matt and Trey did that episode on Scientology?", he replied, "One thing about Matt and Trey, they lampoon everybody, and if you take that serious, I'll sell you the Brooklyn Bridge for two dollars. That's what they do." On March 13th, 2006, a statement was issued in Hayes's name, indicating that he was asking to be released from his contract with Comedy Central, citing recent episodes which satirized religious beliefs as being intolerant.

On March 20th, 2006, Roger Friedman of Fox News reported that Hayes had suffered a minor stroke in January. Hayes's spokeswoman, Amy Harnell, denied this, but on October 26th, 2006, Hayes himself confirmed that he had suffered a stroke. Hayes was found unresponsive in his home located just east of Memphis on August 10th, 2008, ten days before his 66th birthday, as reported by the Shelby County, Tennessee Sheriff's Department.