Isaac Hayes’s “Theme from Shaft” was a notable ... After winning Best Original Song at the 44th Academy Awards, Hayes became the first Black person to that award and a non-acting award.

Isaac Hayes died in 2008 at the age of 65. He co-wrote Sam & Dave’s classic hits Soul Man and Hold On I’m Coming, and won an Academy Award in 1972 for Best Original Song for the Theme From Shaft.

Isaac Hayes’s “Theme from Shaft”—and its rat-a-tat, sixteenth-note high-hat cymbals—hung out on the pop charts for three months before winning the Academy Award for Best Song the next year.