The Isley Brothers formed in the Cincinnati area in 1954 as a gospel quartet of O’Kelly Jr., Rudolph, Ronald and Vernon, trained by their mother Sally after their father, O’Kelly Sr., had worked in vaudeville and the Navy. They won a watch on Ted Mack’s amateur hour, then disbanded when 11-year-old Vernon was killed by a car while riding his bike. With their parents’ blessing the remaining trio returned in 1957, turned to secular music and moved to New York, where RCA Victor signed them. Shout, born from ad-libs during a Jackie Wilson cover at a Washington, D.C., club, peaked at only No. 47 in 1959 and later sold over a million copies, but RCA dropped them.
Producer Bert Berns used their Twist and Shout session to show a young Phil Spector how to build a hit, and in 1964 Ronald hired an unknown Jimi Hendrix for their touring band, the I.B. Specials. After a brief Motown stint that produced This Old Heart of Mine, they left in 1968, revived their T-Neck label and scored It’s Your Thing, which sold over two million copies and won a Grammy. Motown sued, claiming the song was recorded under contract, and the Isleys won in 1975 using studio logs. Adding Ernie and Marvin Isley and Chris Jasper created the 3 + 3 lineup behind The Heat Is On, That Lady, Fight the Power and For the Love of You.
- Hendrix lived with the family, recorded the two-part single Testify with them and quit around late October 1964.
- The younger trio left after Between the Sheets to form Isley-Jasper-Isley and hit No. 1 R&B with Caravan of Love.
- O’Kelly died of a heart attack at 48 in March 1986, and Rudolph retired to become a minister.
- Ice Cube sampled Footsteps in the Dark for It Was a Good Day, and the Notorious B.I.G. built Big Poppa on Between the Sheets.
- Contagious in 2001 made them the only act to place new music on the Hot 100 in six consecutive decades, and in 2007 Ronald was sentenced to three years for tax evasion.
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