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THE ISLEY BROTHERS

I can only suppose that the above pic is not the image that the present Isley Brothers line-up would like to see posted as a tribute to this great band. However, in the historical tradition of the Soul-Spotlight articles we will start at the beginning of their career  and will move on through time as the article progresses.

The original Isley Brothers line-up of the early 1950s' (yes, I said 1950s' and yes, they were real brothers) was Ronald, Rudolph, Vernon and O'Kelly, who began singing as young men in their local neighbourhood church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Unfortunately young Vernon was killed in a motoring accident in 1955 and the band was then put into hibernation until 1957 when with the blessing of their parents they reformed and left Cincinnati for the brighter prospects offered in the big apple of New York.

The break through for the Isley Brothers came in 1959 when they signed with RCA after being convinced to do so by Hugo & Luigi (who later owned and operated the Avco label) and so it was RCA who released the Isley Brothers first hit "Shout". A follow up hit however was not easy to find and this saw the brothers leave RCA to join Atlantic, where again the elusive follow up to "Shout" could not be found. The Brothers switched labels again, this time to the Scepter label and it was there that their luck changed for the better when almost three-years after 'Shout" they recorded "Twist & Shout" in 1962. "Twist & Shout" was later a huge hit for the Beatles and helped them on their way to much greater things, it was also covered by Bruce Springsteen and the Mamas & the Papas. Unfortunately for the Isley's  even after two smash hits finding a third was not the formality it might have been, they again hit a dead patch. 

One of the attributes that has always set the Isley Brothers apart from the pack and which has seen them stay popular for so long is that not only can they write their own work, but they have "ATTITUDE". In this tradition in 1963  disenchanted with working for others, they set up their own record label "T Neck" (named after their original home town of Teaneck in New Jersey) to help ensure they could maintain the rights and control of their own work.

With their own new label the Isley's decided to add a lead guitarist to the line up, they chose a virtually unknown young twanger by the name of Jimi Hendrix (yes, you guessed, this was THE one and only Jimi Hendrix who went his own way and became famous in his own right and amongst other things for drugs, sex, rock & roll and playing the guitar with his teeth). The Isley Brothers then did a tour of the UK with Jimi Hendrix as the guitarist and later on the European leg of the tour added a young keyboard player named Elton John (Yes, you guessed it THE Elton John). However the rigours of operating a record label, writing songs as well as performing on the road found them doing none of the activities as well as they might. They therefore rejoined Atlantic, but once again little action followed and so in 1965 the Brothers agreed to accept an offer from Berry Gordy to join the already hugely successful Motown Corporation on the Tamla label subsidiary.   Their first release on Tamla was “This old heart of mine” produced by the Holland Dozier Holland team, it was of course a huge hit reaching No 12 in the US charts. Unlike in the past the Brothers were able to quickly follow up with additional big hits, including “Take Some Time Out”, “Got to Have You Back” and “Take me in your arms and rock me”. The  Brothers were so impressed with the adoration they were receiving on the UK Northern scene they decided to live in the UK from 1967 to 1969 recording with the Motown Corporation until 1968, when they decided to again resurrect their own T Neck label.

                Tamla Motown however continued to have great success with the Isley Brother recordings in the UK and “This old heart of mine” reached number 3 on the UK charts and other big UK hits followed in 1969 with “I guess I’ll always love you” (No 11), “Behind a painted smile (No 5) and a cover version of the Elgins “Put yourself in my place” reached no 13, the “Super Hits” album was also a big UK hit in the early seventies, all long after the Brothers had departed “Hitsville”.

The UK Northern Soul scene went wild about (and still does) about “Tell me it's just a rumour baby” which still sees crowds running towards the dance floor every time it is played. Earl Van Dyke under the guise of the Funk Brothers also recorded a great instrumental of this track, which can now be found on some of the “Northern” Soul CD’s presently in circulation. In 1969 the brothers went all out working on their own T neck label and they won a Grammy Award for the best R&B Vocal performance with “It’s your thing”, which went on to sell 5 Million copies. This immensely successful Isley Brothers line-up then went on to dominate the R&B music scene with an amazing fifty singles between 1969 and 1988.