Born Stephen Alexander Chambers on February 8, 1940, he was brother to noted jazz drummer and composer Joe Chambers.
In Asheville, North Carolina, he grew up playing music in school, studying clarinet, piano, and singing in church choir.
His teachers include Morton Feldman, Ornette Coleman, Margaret Bonds, Robert Starer, Hall Overton, Chou Wen-Chung, William Sydeman, Hale Smith, and Charles Whittenberg.
[2] Hakim first came to attention in the wider music community through appearances of his works on the "Music in Our Time" concert series in New York in the mid-1960s.
He received awards and residencies from the Bennington Composers Conference (1964–1990) and the Connecticut Commission on the Arts (1981–1982), as well as ASCAP, grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Creative Artist Public Service Program.