Celebrity Pals Hail Isaac Hayes at Memorial

Isaac Hayes got an all-star send-off fit for the Black Moses.

Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington and Wesley Snipes were among those attending Sunday’s private burial service for the Oscar- and Grammy-winning music legend, while Shaft star Richard Roundtree, Chuck D, Bootsy Collins, Doug E. Fresh, Kelly Preston, Anne Archer and the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson were among the 3,000 mourners at today’s public memorial in Memphis.

“He was a lovely man, always involved with causes,” said Jackson before the service. “Literacy, civil rights. He was always there, and that’s why we’re all here for him.”

During the four-hour service, which included video and music, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen said that the city should celebrate Hayes as it does Elvis Presley, even floating the idea of naming the local airport after the seminal soul singer.

“He is a person who the world will miss,” Cohen said. (Source: E! Online)