Rudolph Isley, one of the founding members of the Isley Brothers, has passed away at the age of 84. Known for his work on classic R&B hits such as ‘Shout’, ‘Summer Breeze’ and ‘Fight the Power’, Rudolph left the family group in 1989 to become a Christian minister.
Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Rudolph began singing in his local church at a young age before co-founding the Isley Brothers with his brothers Kelly, Ronnie and Vernon in his teenage years. After the death of Vernon in 1957, the group moved to New York where they secured a record deal with RCA Records, releasing their single ‘Shout’.
Although Rudolph mostly sang harmonies for the group, he also took lead vocals on tracks such as ‘I’ve Got to Get Myself Together’ and ‘It’s a Disco Night (Rock Don’t Stop)’, which made it to the UK’s Top 20. In 1973, the younger brothers Marvin and Ernie Isley, along with brother-in-law Chris Jasper, joined the group, resulting in the release of their most successful album, ‘3 +3’.
Several of the Isley Brothers’ tracks have been heavily sampled over the years, including ‘Footsteps in the Dark’, which was used in Ice Cube’s ‘Today Was a Good Day’, J Dilla’s ‘Won’t Do’ and Thundercat’s ‘Them Changes’, and ‘That Lady’, which was sampled by the Beastie Boys’ ‘B-Boy Bouillabaisse’, Basement Jaxx’s ‘Jus 1 Kiss’ and Kendrick Lamar’s ‘I’.
Rudolph Isley is survived by his devoted wife Elaine, with whom he was married for 68 years. In a statement to Pitchfork, his attorney Brian D. Caplan announced Rudolph’s passing, saying: “Rudolph was a deeply religious man who loved Jesus.”
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