One of the most creative songwriters and performers ever. His remake (I can't really call his stuff a cover, because he really changes a lot of stuff) of Bill Withers' Ain't no Sunshine, which he dropped live on the Wattstax album is one of the jaw-droppingest cuts I have ever heard. He took Walk on by to a level Dionne Warwick could not attain. He wrote the soundtrack to Shaft. The title song won an Oscar. You damn right. Shut yo mouth.
Editor's note: Isaac Hayes died in Memphis, Tennessee, on August 10, 2008.