Theme from Shaft

"Theme from Shaft", written and recorded by Isaac Hayes in 1971, is the soul and funk-styled theme song to the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film Shaft. The theme was released as a single (shortened and edited from the longer album version) two months after the movie's soundtrack by Stax Records' Enterprise label. "Theme from Shaft" went to no. 2 on the Billboard Soul Singles chart (behind "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" by Marvin Gaye) and to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in November 1971, and no. 1 in Canada in December. The song was also well received by adult audiences, reaching number six on Billboard's Easy Listening chart and no. 4 in Canada. The song is considered by some to be one of the first disco singles. The following year, "Theme from Shaft" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, with Hayes becoming the first African American to win that honor – or any Academy Award in a non-acting category – as well as the first recipient of the award who both wrote and performed the winning song. Since then, the song has appeared in numerous television shows, commercials, and other movies, including the 2000 sequel Shaft, for which Hayes re-recorded the song. In 2004, the original finished at number 38 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top songs in American cinema. In 1972, at the 14th Annual Grammy Awards, Isaac Hayes won two Grammys, one for Best Instrumental Arrangement for "Theme from Shaft" and one for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special for Shaft. In 1999, the 1971 recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2014, the song, as part of the album which it was released on was added to the National...