Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. (August 20, 1942 - August 10, 2008) is an American singer/songwriter and occasional actor who appeared as Holiday, gun runner in the episode "Child's Play" of the series Miami Vice.

CareerEdit

Hayes began as a house songwriter (with longtime partner David Porter) for Stax Records, penning the songs "Soul Man" and "Hold On, I'm Comin'" for the duo Sam and Dave, among others. For their contributions, both Hayes and Porter were inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in 2005. Hayes released four solo albums between 1968 and 1970 but were not commercially successful, but he won an Academy Award and Grammy for his soundtrack to the 1971 film Shaft. His other 1970s albums did not do commercially well, but were critically praised, and he provided soundtracks for two other blaxplotation films. In the mid 1970s Hayes had to file bankruptcy due to debts incurred with Stax Records, the American Basketball Association's Memphis Sounds, as well as personal debts, and lost nearly everything.

Hayes continued to release albums but commercial success still eluded him, so he took a break from music to get into acting. He had done some acting in the 1970s in the blaxplotation movies Tough Guys and Trick Turner, later appeared in a recurring role in The Rockford Files (with Joe Santos), roles in The A-Team, the movies I'm Gonna Get You Sucka (with Antonio Fargas), Guilty as Charged (with Michael Talbott and James Dybas, Final Judgement (with Brad Dourif and Karen Black), CB4 (with Chris Rock and Chris Elliott), It Could Happen To You (with Stanley Tucci and Richard Jenkins), and Reindeer Games (with Clarence Williams III) before his voice role as the chef in the series South Park, and his final TV role in Stargate SG-1.

Personal Life/DeathEdit

Hayes married three times, to Emily Watson from 1966 until their 1971 divorce, they have three children, later marrying Mignon Harley from 1973 until they broke up in 1986, they had two children, finally marrying Adjowa Hayes from 2005 until Hayes' death from a stroke on August 10, 2008, in Memphis, Tennessee at the age of 65. They had one son (Nana Kwadjo, born in 2006).