Issac Hayes, R.I.P.

What a horrible weekend. First Bernie, and now Isaac Hayes has passed on. I remember being introduced to Hayes when I was a kid and first getting into music. I would plunder through my parents and grandmom’s records, and they had a copy of Black Moses. How fortunate can a little kid be to cut his musical teeth on one of the best soul albums ever made? I dare anyone to name a bad or even mediocre track on that album. Can’t be done. Rest in peace, Ike.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Isaac Hayes, the pioneering singer, songwriter and musician whose relentless “Theme From Shaft” won Academy and Grammy awards, died Sunday afternoon, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office said. He was 65.

A family member found him unresponsive near a treadmill and he was pronounced dead an hour later at Baptist East Hospital in Memphis, according to the sheriff’s office. The cause of death was not immediately known.