Singer Rudolph Isley, best known as one of the founding members of The Isley Brothers, has died at 84 years old.
Per TMZ, Isley passed away in Illinois on Wednesday, October 11th. Isley’s attorney Brian D. Caplan confirmed the news to Pitchfork and shared a statement from Isley’s daughter: “Rudolph Isley, a founding member of the world famous Isley Brothers, died peacefully in his sleep on the morning of October 11, 2023. He died at his home, with his devoted wife Elaine by his side. They had been married for 68 years. Rudolph was a deeply religious man who loved Jesus.”
No cause of death has been revealed at this time.
Born April 1st, 1939 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Rudolph Bernard Isley grew up singing in the church. In the mid-1950s, he co-founded The Isley Brothers with his siblings Ronald, Vernon, and O’Kelly.
Following Vernon’s death in 1955, they initially disbanded. A few years later, however, The Isley Brothers regrouped with Ronald taking over lead vocals, and they moved to New York to go after a record deal in 1957.
They would ink a contract with RCA Records in 1959, where they recorded their first charting hit, “Shout.” After follow-up singles failed to chart, The Isley Brothers left the label and signed to Scepter Records. In 1962, they landed their first Top 40 hit with “Twist and Shout” (later covered by the Beatles).
It would take another few years before The Isley Brothers hit the Top 40 again with “This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)” in 1966, this time with Motown Records.
The group finally achieved sustained commercial success in the late 1960s and 1970s, during which they brought in more members of the family. In 1969, The Isley Brothers nearly reached No. 1 with “It’s Your Thing,” which they followed with more Top 40 hits throughout the next decade, like “That Lady,” their version of “Love the One You’re With,” and “Pop That Thang.”
Their first No. 1 album, The Heat Is On, was released in 1975. Though The Isley Brothers continued to drop hit albums throughout the rest of the decade and into the next, their six-member lineup disbanded after 1983’s Between the Sheets.
After reforming a trio with Ronald and O’Kelly for 1985’s Masterpiece, tragedy struck when O’Kelly died one year later from a heart attack. Rudolph and Ronald would go on to release two more albums before Rudolph retired from the music industry in 1989 to become a Christian minister.
At the time of his death, Rudolph was locked in a legal battle with Ronald over ownership of the trademark to The Isley Brothers’ name.
In 1992, The Isley Brothers were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.