The Isley Brothers
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The Isley Brothers Biography
First formed in the early '50s, the Isley Brothers enjoyed one
of the longest, most influential, and most diverse careers in the
pantheon of popular music -- over the course of nearly a half century
of performing, the group's distinguished history spanned not only two
generations of Isley siblings but also massive cultural shifts which
heralded their music's transformation from gritty R&B to Motown
soul to blistering funk. The first generation of Isley siblings was
born and raised in Cincinnati, OH, where they were encouraged to begin
a singing career by their father, himself a professional vocalist, and
their mother, a church pianist who provided musical accompaniment at
their early performances. Initially a gospel quartet, the group was
comprised of Ronald, Rudolph, O'Kelly, and Vernon Isley; after Vernon's
1955 death in a bicycling accident, tenor Ronald was tapped as the
remaining trio's lead vocalist. In 1957, the brothers went to New York
City to record a string of failed doo wop singles; while performing a
spirited reading of the song Lonely Teardrops in Washington, D.C.,
two years later, they interjected the line You know you make me want
to shout, which inspired frenzied audience feedback. An RCA executive
in the audience saw the concert, and when he signed the Isleys soon
after, he instructed that their first single be constructed around
their crowd-pleasing catch phrase; while the call-and-response classic
Shout failed to reach the pop Top 40 on its initial release, it
eventually became a frequently covered classic.
Still, success eluded the Isleys, and only after they left RCA in 1962
did they again have another hit, this time with their seminal cover of
the Top Notes' Twist and Shout. Like so many of the brothers' early
R&B records, Twist and Shout earned greater commercial success
when later rendered by a white group -- in this case, the Beatles;
other acts who notched hits by closely following the Isleys' blueprint
were the Yardbirds ( Respectable, also covered by the Outsiders), the
Human Beinz ( Nobody but Me ), and Lulu ( Shout ). During a 1964 tour,
they recruited a young guitarist named Jimmy James to play in their
backing band; James -- who later shot to fame under his given name,
Jimi Hendrix -- made his first recordings with the Isleys, including
the single Testify, issued on the brothers' own T-Neck label. They
signed to the Motown subsidiary Tamla in 1965, where they joined forces
with the famed Holland-Dozier-Holland writing and production team.
Their first single, the shimmering This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for
You), was their finest moment yet, and barely missed the pop Top Ten.
This Old Heart of Mine was their only hit on Motown, however, and
when the song hit number three in Britain in 1967, the Isleys relocated
to England in order to sustain their flagging career; after years of
writing their own material, they felt straitjacketed by the Motown
assembly-line production formula, and by the time they returned
stateside in 1969, they had exited Tamla to resuscitate the T-Bone
label. Their next release, the muscular and funky It's Your Thing,
hit number two on the U.S. charts in 1969, and became their most
successful record. That year, the Isleys also welcomed a number of new
members as younger brothers Ernie and Marvin, brother-in-law Chris
Jasper, and family friend Everett Collins became the trio's new backing
unit. Spearheaded by Ernie's hard-edged guitar leads, the group began
incorporating more and more rock material into its repertoire as the
1970s dawned, and scored hits with covers of Stephen Stills' Love the
One You're With, Eric Burdon & War's Spill the Wine, and Bob
Dylan's Lay Lady Lay.
In 1973, the Isleys scored a massive hit with their rock-funk fusion
cover of their own earlier single Who's That Lady, retitled That
Lady, Pt. 1 ; the album 3 + 3 also proved highly successful, as did
1975's The Heat Is On, which spawned the smash Fight the Power, Pt.
1. As the decade wore on, the group again altered its sound to fit
into the booming disco market; while their success on pop radio ran
dry, they frequently topped the R&B charts with singles like 1977's
The Pride, 1978's Take Me to the Next Phase, Pt. 1, 1979's I Wanna
Be With You, Pt. 1, and 1980's Don't Say Goodnight. While the
Isleys' popularity continued into the 1980s, Ernie and Marvin, along
with Chris Jasper, defected in 1984 to form their own group,
Isley/Jasper/Isley; a year later, they topped the R&B charts with
Caravan of Love. On March 31, 1986, O'Kelly died of a heart attack;
Rudolph soon left to join the ministry, but the group reunited in 1990.
Although the individual members continued with solo work and side
projects, the Isley Brothers forged on in one form or another
throughout the decade; in 1996, now consisting of Ronald, Marvin, and
Ernie, they released the album Mission to Please. Ronald and Ernie
hooked up several years later for Eternal (2001), a brand-new selection
of R&B cuts featuring collaborative efforts with Jill Scott, Jimmy
Jam and Terry Lewis, and Raphael Saadiq. On that particular release,
Ronald also introduced the alter ego Mr. Biggs. Body Kiss (2003) and
Baby Makin' Music (2006) followed. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
Written by Jason Ankeny