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The Isley Brothers

Your twisting and shouting guide, Jim Irvin.

Shout to the top: The Isley Brothers (from left) Rudolph, Ronald and O’Kelly Isley – their gift was their resourcefulness.

Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images, Daryl Hannah

THE LANDSCAPE of popular music would look entirely different if The Isley Brothers hadn’t played upon it. Who else has spanned doo wop to hip-hop, summoned hits over six decades and galvanised so many performers who’d have great impact themselves? Acts stretching from The Beatles to Bruce Springsteen to Kendrick Lamar owe them a debt.

O’Kelly, Rudolph and incomparable lead singer Ronald Isley were born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the offspring of vaudeville performer O’Kelly Isley Snr. He met their mother Sallye and prophesied there and then that they’d marry and she would bear four sons who would become a bigger singing group than The Mills Brothers – the preeminent vocal group of the day – and insisted she take him home to meet her parents immediately. As chat-up lines go it was beyond bold, but it more or less played out exactly as predicted, apart from the early loss of third son Vernon – who died in a cycling accident aged 11 – and the birth of two further sons, Ernie and Marvin, who would become the rhythm section.

O’Kelly Snr’s sudden death in 1956 spurred his sons to feed the family with their music. Throughout their career they turned setbacks into opportunities. Early recordings for the Teenage, Gone and Cindy labels floundered, but moving to RCA they turned a bit of stage business into Shout, an eventual million-seller.

“Sexuality, spirituality and social commentary over undeniable grooves.”

They hated Twist & Shout, which they reluctantly recorded for Wand, but it paid for relocating the family to Teaneck, New Jersey. One Jimmy Hendricks served an apprenticeship in the band around that time, picking up valuable tips about

stagecraft and stamina from the hard-working trio out front, while inspiring promising drummer Ernie to also pick up guitar.