Background Originally raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, the original group consisted of the four elder sons of OKelly Isley, Sr. and Sally Mae Isley: Kelly, Rudy Ronnie and Vernon Isley originally singing nothing but gospel music starting in 1954. The group disbanded in 1955 shortly after a road accident claimed the life of Vernon Isley and reformed in 1957 with Kelly, Rudy and Ronnie, who recorded with small labels singing doo-wop and rock n roll. After modest success with singles such as Shout Twist and Shout (famously covered by The Beatles) and the Motown single, This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You), and a brief tenure with Jimi Hendrix as a background guitar player, the group settled on a brand of gritty soul and defined by the Grammy-winning smash Its Your Thing, in 1969. After reforming the group as a six-member lineup in 1973 featuring younger brothers and Marvin and brother-in-law Chris Jasper, they became known to fans as 3 + 3 and charted gold and platinum success with albums such as 3 + 3, The Heat Is On, Go For Your Guns and Between the Sheets, while charting a succession of hit singles such as That Lady, Fight the Power, For the Love of You, Dont Say Goodnight (Its Time For Love) and Between the Sheets, between 1973 and 1983. After the younger brothers splintered from the group in 1984, the remaining trio continued recording until Kellys death from a cancer-related heart attack in 1986. Rudy left the group for a career in the ministry in 1989 disbanding the group once again with Ron releasing solo records, sometimes performing under the Isley Brothers name. In 1991, Ron reformed the group with Ernie and Marvin returning to the lineup. Since 1997, after diabetes forced Marvin into retirement, the lineup has been Ron and Ernie, now on hiatus due to Rons current prison sentence after atax evasion conviction in 2006. Much like The JBs, Parliament-Funkadelic, DeBarge and the Isleys are among one of the most sampled groups in hip-hop history with their recordings sampled by the likes of 2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G. Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, and Snoop Dogg among others.
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 16:19:15 +0000
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