Isaac Hayes by Marina Meyjes

One of the headliners of the Wattstax concert was Stax Record’s Isaac Hayes. Born in a tin shack in Tennessee, Hayes’ musical brilliance saw him rise from poverty to stardom. Hayes’ 1969 album, “Hot Buttered Soul,” was a sensational hit and his “Theme from Shaft,” earned him an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1971(1).

It was amidst this peak of musical success that Hayes took to the stage at Wattstax, in 1972. Live footage shows the singer stepping out before the crowd of 100,000, resplendent in a red and black cape and glittering sunglasses. A scoreboard sign behind him flashed the words, “THE BLACK MOSES.” Hayes stepped up to the microphone to the opening riffs of “Shaft,” throwing off his cape and revealing hid body clad in gold chains (2).

"Hayes stepped up to the microphone to the opening riffs of 'Shaft,' throwing off his cape and revealing hid body clad in gold chains."

Hayes was one of the most popular and influential Black artists of the early seventies, and his headlining at Wattstax surrounded the event with a heightened atmosphere of excitement and significance.

(#issachayes #theblackmoses)

Footnotes:

1. Robert Gordon, Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion, (New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013) 236; 262.

2. Gina Arnold, Half a Million Strong: Crowds and Power from Woodstock to Coachella, (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2018), 92.

Works cited:

Arnold, Gina. Half a Million Strong: Crowds and Power from Woodstock to Coachella. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2018.

Gordon, Robert. Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013.

Photo Source:

Issac Hayes photo: http://www.ptsnob.com/2013/07/that-was-rockin-show-marathon-wattstax.html