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RIP Big Rudolph
The Isleys have been and still are my sh!t. I wish we could get a good azz Isley movie. There's no way they don't have a collection of great and wild stories. I don't know how Leon is gonna somehow be casted as Ernie AND Ron AND Chris Jasper, but he's talented so I'll trust him.
>https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/rudolph-isley-isley-brothers-dead-obit-1234852904/ > >OBITUARY > > >Rudolph Isley, Founding Member of the Isley Brothers, Dead at >84 >A Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Rudolph contributed >songwriting and backing vocals to hits like "Shout," "That >Lady" and "It's Your Thing" > >BY DANIEL KREPS > >OCTOBER 12, 2023 >Rudolph Isley, Founding Member of the Isley Brothers, Dead at >84 > > >RUDOLPH ISLEY, A founding member of the Isley Brothers who >provided backing vocals on the majority of the legendary soul >group’s hits, has died at the age of 84. > >“There are no words to express my feelings and the love I >have for my brother. Our family will miss him. But I know >he’s in a better place,” Rudolph’s brother, Ronald >Isley, tells Rolling Stone in a statement. > >Rudolph, along with brothers Ronald (“Ronnie”), Vernon, >and O’Kelly (“Kelly”), formed the Isley Brothers as >teenagers in Cincinnati in 1954; Vernon was killed when his >bike was struck by a car the following year. The surviving >brothers briefly disbanded before reuniting with Ronald on >lead vocals and Kelly and Rudolph behind him. > >As a trio, the three Isleys landed a contract with RCA Victor >and penned their breakout hit together, the 1959 smash single >“Shout,” followed three years later by their own hit >rendition of “Twist and Shout.” > > >While Rudolph infrequently sang lead vocals, he contributed >songwriting and backing vocals to many of the group’s hits, >including “That Lady,” “Nobody But Me,” and >“Testify,” the latter featuring a young guitarist named >Jimi Hendrix. > > >Following a brief stint on Motown’s Tamla label, where they >primarily recorded Holland-Dozier-Holland compositions, the >trio founded their own T-Neck Records in 1966 and promptly >released their first Top 10 hit, the Isleys-penned “It’s >Your Thing.” > >Joined in the late Sixties by younger brothers Marvin and >Ernie, Rudolph remained with the Isley Brothers throughout >their many genre shifts, from funk and disco to quiet storm >and R&B. > > >However, his tenure with the brotherly act ended in 1989 when >— following Kelly’s death three years earlier — he >decided to leave the music industry and become a Christian >minister. Throughout the ensuing decades, Rudolph would only >occasionally reunite with his brothers — however, he >wasn’t present when the Isley Brothers were inducted into >the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 — but in the months >before Rudolph’s death, he was involved in a legal battle >against his brother Ronald over the legal rights to the Isley >Brothers name. > >With Rudolph’s death, the only surviving Isley Brothers are >Ronald and Ernie.
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