The Isley Brothers

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, Ohio, 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 Topnotes' "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 (Part I); " the album 3 + 3 also proved highly
successful, as did 1975's The Heat Is On, which spawned the smash "Fight the Power (Part I)."
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 (Part 1)," 1979's "I Wanna Be With
You (Part 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 & Terry Lewis, and Raphael Saadiq.
On that particular release, Ronald also introduced the alter-ego Mr. Biggs.