Soul singer Isaac Hayes dies, aged 65

Memphis, Tennessee: Isaac Hayes, the pioneering singer, songwriter and musician whose Theme From Shaft song won Academy and Grammy awards, died on Sunday afternoon. He was 65.

Steve Shular, a spokesman for the Shelby County Sheriff's Office, said authorities received a 911 call after Hayes' wife and young son and his wife's cousin returned home from the grocery store and found him collapsed in a downstairs bedroom. A sheriff's deputy administered CPR until paramedics arrived.

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.

In the early 1970s, Hayes laid the groundwork for disco, for what became known as urban-contemporary music and for romantic crooners like Barry White.

His career hit another high in 1997 when he became the voice of Chef, the sensible school cook and devoted ladies man on the animated TV show South Park.

Hayes angrily quit the show in 2006 after an episode mocked his Scientology religion. "There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins," he said.

The album Hot Buttered Soul made Hayes a star in 1969. He performed Theme From Shaft, a No. 1 hit in 1971 from the film Shaft, at the Oscar ceremony in 1972. Hayes performed wearing a huge amount of gold and received a standing ovation. He won an Academy Award for the song and was nominated for another one for the score. The song and score also won him two Grammys.

He was born in 1942 in a tin shack in Covington, Tennessee, about 40 miles north of Memphis. He was raised by his maternal grandparents after his mother died and his father took off when he was 18 months old. The family moved to Memphis when he was 6.