Thursday, August 28, 2008

Dallas woman helped shape the late Isaac Hayes’ image

By Jacquinette Murphy of North Dallas Gazette

“Hot Buttered Soul”, “Black Moses”, the theme song from the movie Shaft and the voice of “Chef” are all reminiscent of the decades of success of the ‘cool of soul’ - the late legendary music icon - Isaac Hayes. He is credited with shaping the Memphis music sound in the 1960s, placing funk, R&B and soul in a new direction.

Just as Hayes, transformed the music industry, Dallas County Community College Community Outreach Administrator, Ms. Delores Elder-Jones, help to shape his unforgettable image during the early 1970s. From the perfectly, shaved bald head worn during a time when Afros were the fashion, his elegant street fashions and his statement-making gold chains, she dressed him from the stage to the streets.

“When I dressed him for the street, he was one of the three best dressed men internationally - along with Prince Rainier,” she shared. “When he stepped out, I did not want him to look like a Rock 'n Roll or an R&B singer. I wanted him to look like GQ.”

At 69, Elder-Jones, a Memphis native, recalled the first time she met Hayes while hanging out with her friends. “I met him before he was a prominent figure. He was very poor and unknown,” she remembered. “I met him in West Memphis, Arkansas. He was playing with a band and nobody was talking to him, so I began to strike up a conversation with him.” She had no idea that this conversation would blossom into a unique friendship that would continue around the globe for more than four decades. “He did not have a lot, but he was intellectual.” The year was 1963 and Elder-Jones expressed that it was his knowledge and well-versed character that compelled her to really befriend him.

“He told me that if he ever became famous or rich, that he would take care of me because I had been kind to him.” According to Elder-Jones, this measure of kindness was something common to Hayes.

Over the next 6 years, they kept in contact. She was a licensed master barber in the Memphis area and he was steadily making strides toward his music career goals. Hayes’ promise to Elder-Jones suddenly came to life when her phone rang in 1969 and Hayes informed her that he just produced his first gold album, "Hot Buttered Soul" at Stax Records.

“He called to tell me that he wanted me to come over and celebrate with them.” Upon her arrival at the studio, she saw all the hoopla surrounding this milestone in his six-year quest for stardom. A second surprise came when Hayes asked her to join him in Chicago for a performance at the McCormick Place as his guest.

“I saw how the audience went wild over him and I was awed by that. He had to do several encores, but when he finally came down, I said, 'Oh my God, Bubba, you are all of that!' ” she recalled. “I had never seen him in a format like this. I had only seen him as a poor person.”

At the close of the night, Elder-Jones cosmetology-trained eyes noticed that his shaved head was bump ridden and she began to question his haircare practices. “He was just going to a local shop,” said Elder Jones much to her dismay. “I said that you are too big to be going to a regular barber shop, you need to hire your own barber.” Hayes instantly agreed “He started saying, 'Dee you're right, you can come to my studio and do my hair.” With Elder-Jones' newfound perspective of her friend, she set out make his image 'bigger than life'.

“His office was red, black and white, so I would buy the towels and chair cloths to match and I had his initials engraved in them. I would make him feel like somebody,” she grinned. “He would call me over while he was conducting his big business meetings and I would give him a manicure.” She even bought a cream to remove the bumps from his head and taught him how to shave it properly and keep the them away. With her eyes beaming in remembrance, Elder-Jones summed, “He loved it.”

In the early 1970s, the subsequent releases of "Black Moses," "The Isaac Hayes Movement," and "...To Be Continued" albums increased Hayes popularity and commanded longer road tours. He asked Elder-Jones to travel with him. She eagerly accepted and became his personal groomer, manicurist and masseuse from 1970 to 1976.

Sharing her experiences on the road, Elder-Jones spoke about packing his clothes after a minor altercation between Hayes and his valet. “We were on our way to New York and when we arrived I asked our banker (the guy who handled the money) to give me $500 and I went to Saks [Fifth Avenue],”she said. “His stuff was raggedy and a star doesn’t dress like that.” Elder-Jones replaced all of Hayes tattered, essential clothing with brand new pieces. “When he saw it, he was like a kid in a candy store.” She further explained that he really did not ever have anyone at that time to make a fuss over him and to care for him like this. After this moment, she added image consultant to her road resume.

“While in New York, my brother came to see us and he brought a friend along who wore a chain to honor Isaac. I asked him where he bought it and he said that he made it. He became our chain man and Isaac was able to have more than just the one that he wore on “Hot Buttered Soul. We designed them and he made them.” Elder-Jones soon noticed that Hayes only had one cape that he used on stage, so she went to the Ebony Fashion Fair and obtained another Emilio Pucci cape from the designer. Elder-Jones took great pride in her commitment to keep her friend's image unmatched.

Even on the road, Elders-Jones shared how sometimes his love for music overrode his preparation for his stage routine. “Isaac loved music. Many times he would be out there jiving and enjoying the music of the opening acts, The Movement, which was the band” instead of letting her cut his hair. “He would make me so mad,” she said candidly as she expressed her constant push to get him ready for the audience.

Reflecting on the glimmers of the road trips, she concluded, “I never missed an opening and I never missed a closing. “The opening was to see the way people received him and the closing was to see how well they enjoyed him.”

While Hayes was on tour in the mid-seventies, Stax Records went bankrupt and impacted the starlit journey of Hayes and Elder-Jones. The demands of the road could no longer be maintained and Elder-Jones returned to her barber shop in Memphis.

In retrospect, Elder-Jones recounts the attributes of her friend, Bubba. This time she describes him much differently, “He was creative, loving, and giving.” She spoke of the many people that he provided jobs for while on tour. “People talk about the big entourage that we had,” she said laughing. “Isaac was helping people that could not find jobs. Those were a lot of his old friends.”

Sharing more about his big heart, she informed, “We played at mostly black colleges and there was not a time that he did not donate something to the student union.” She also described him as a rapper before its time and one that prided himself in exercising and maintaining good health.”

“I miss Isaac, his music was tremendous. Most people do not know that a lot of the music that we did was done with a live symphony, not the synthesizer. This was the sound that he wanted.” she expressed. “He was a musical genius. I love classical music today.”

When asked what she missed the most about Hayes, she paused and looked away before saying, “The camaraderie we shared. He was mischievous and he was funny. We kicked it like that.”

“I have had such a good life that sometimes I had to pinch myself,” said Elder-Jones with a slight smile. Regarding Hayes passing she added, “We just thought that we could kick it forever, but we can not.”

The legendary voice, composer and arranger of soul music Isaac Hayes recently died of a stroke in his Memphis home at the age of 65 on August 10, 2008.

Pegasus News content partner - North Dallas Gazette

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