Happy Saturday P.O.U. family! It’s all about the weekend! This week’s open thread has focused on The Isley Brothers.
In 1992, with one of their biggest admirers, Little Richard, the group was inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. After the release of a live album in 1993, their Warner Bros. Records contract was allowed to expire and in 1995, they signed a new contract with Island Def Jam’s Def Soul imprint. A year later, the group released Mission to Please, which resulted in their biggest chart success in thirteen years. Boosted by Ronald Isley’s collaboration with R&B; star R. Kelly on the hit, “Down Low (Nobody Has to Know)” (credited on the single as R. Kelly featuring Ronald Isley and Ernie Isley) and its accompanying video, which saw Isley play a villainous character named “Mr. Biggs”, the album went platinum and boosted a top 50 hit with “Float On Your Love”, which was a duet between Ronald Isley and then-wife Angela Winbush. The song found success mainly from its hip-hop remix produced by Puff Daddyand including rapper Lil’ Kim. Shortly after promotion of the record ended in 1997, Marvin Isley left the group after contracting diabetes. The illness eventually led to Isley’s legs being amputated. Brothers Ronald and Ernie carried on as a duo. Ronald also worked with R. Kelly on solo ventures and collaborated with Kelly Price on R. Kelly’s remixed production of Price’s first hit, 1998’s “Friend of Mine”.
Down Low(Nobody Has to Know)
In 2001, The Isley Brothers scored their biggest hit in years when they released the R. Kelly-produced ballad, “Contagious”, which peaked at number nineteen on the Billboard Hot 100 and number three on the R&B; chart. Because of this, they had become the only group to chart in six decades. The song went platinum, selling over a million copies, while its parent album, Eternal, with its title track lyrics written by Ernie, sold over three million copies alone in the states. Two years later, their follow-up album, Body Kiss, became their first album to debut at number-one on the Billboard 200 becoming their first number-one pop album since 1975’s The Heat Is On, later going gold. The same year, Ronald Isley released his first solo album, Here I Am, which was a collaboration between Isley and producer Burt Bacharach, the collection won critical praise. Throughout the early millennium, Ronald Isley gained notice as a popular hook singer for hip-hop recordings.
On July 30, 2003, the group performed in front of its largest audience ever when they played in the afternoon during Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto, a benefit to help raise the city’s failing economy during the SARS crisis.
Ronald Isley’s legal problems and the death of Marvin Isley: 2004-2010
In 2004, while touring in England, Ronald Isley suffered a stroke which led to a hospitalization near his home in St. Louis, where he had moved from Cincinnati after marrying (and later divorcing) Angela Winbush. A year later, Isley found himself in trouble with paying back taxes with the IRS. Isley was later charged for tax evasion in 2005. A year later, the Isley Brothers returned with Baby Makin’ Music, which included the adult R&B; top 40 hit, “Just Came Here to Chill” and came out with their first holiday album a year after that. In 2007, Isley was convicted of tax evasion charges and was given a 37-month sentence, which he served, first in a federal prison and then in a halfway house. He was released from the halfway house in April 2010 bringing an ending to his sentence. While his brother was serving jail time, brother Ernie began working on solo material and also participated in the Experience Hendrix festival for two months in the spring of 2010. On June 6, 2010, Marvin Isley died from complications of diabetes at the Seasons Hospice within the Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. He was 56. Ronald Isley released his first solo album, Mr. I, in November. Chris Jasper, who has had little contact with his brothers-in-law since splitting from Isley-Jasper-Isley in 1988, continues to release solo material. Rudolph Isley has retired from his ministry work and is living quietly in California. Ernie toured with the fall edition of the Experience Hendrix Tour in Canada and the United States later in 2010. The group – consisting of just Ronald and Ernie – occasionally perform together.
