The Isley Brothers are an American family musical group originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, that began as a vocal trio consisting of brothers O'Kelly "Kelly" Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley in the 1950s. With a career spanning over six decades, the group has enjoyed one of the "longest, most influential, and most diverse careers in the pantheon of popular music".
Jimmy Lee Ruffin was an American soul singer, and the older brother of David Ruffin the lead singer of the Temptations. He had several hit records between the 1960s and 1980s, the most successful being the Top 10 hits "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" and "Hold On ".
The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972.
Ronald Isley is an American recording artist, songwriter, record producer, and occasional actor. Isley is the lead singer and founding member of the family music group The Isley Brothers.
Kim Weston is an American soul singer, and Motown alumna. In the 1960s, Weston scored hits with the songs "Love Me All the Way" and "Take Me in Your Arms ", and with her duet with Marvin Gaye, "It Takes Two".
"That's the Way Love Is" is a 1967 Tamla (Motown) single recorded by The Isley Brothers and produced by Norman Whitfield.
T-Neck Records was a record label founded by members of the R&B/soul group The Isley Brothers in 1964, which became notable for distributing the first nationally-released recordings of Jimi Hendrix, their guitarist, and which later became a successful label after the Isleys began releasing their own works after years of recording for other labels, scoring hits such as "It's Your Thing" (1969) and "That Lady" (1973).
O'Kelly "Kelly" Isley Jr. was an American singer and one of the founding members of the family group the Isley Brothers.
Rudolph Bernard Isley is an American singer-songwriter and is one of the founding members of The Isley Brothers.
"It's Your Thing" is a funk single by The Isley Brothers. Released in 1969, the anthem was an artistic response to Motown chief Berry Gordy's demanding hold on his artists after the Isleys left the label in late 1968.
Leon Ware was an American songwriter, producer, composer, and singer. Besides a solo career as a performer, Ware was best known for producing hits for other artists including Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Maxwell, Minnie Riperton and Marvin Gaye, co-producing the latter's album, I Want You.
This Old Heart of Mine is the fourth studio album released by The Isley Brothers in 1966, on the Tamla (Motown) label. The album, their first with the seminal Detroit-based music label, yielded the Isleys' biggest hit in their early period with the title track, "This Old Heart of Mine ". Other charted singles including "Take Some Time Out for Love" and "I Guess I'll Always Love You".
Go for Your Guns is the fifteenth album by the Isley Brothers. Released on April 16, 1977, on their T-Neck label, it was also the band's fifth album to be distributed by their deal with Epic. Released in mid-April 1977, the album peaked a month later at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Soul chart, and at No. 6 on the Billboard 200.
Baby Makin' Music is the thirtieth studio album by the American Ohio musical soul group, the Isley Brothers. It was released on the short-lived Def Soul Classics imprint on May 9, 2006. Their first for the Def Jam-affiliated label, the album peaked at number five on the Billboard 200, while debuting at number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Album sales were helped by the R&B chart success of the first single, "Just Came Here to Chill", and the R. Kelly duet, "Blast Off", which is the only collaboration with Kelly on this album, after he produced their last album, Body Kiss (2003). Other producers on Baby Makin' Music include Gordon Chambers, Jermaine Dupri, Tim & Bob and Manuel Seal.
It's Our Thing is the sixth album released by The Isley Brothers on their own T-Neck Records imprint on April 26, 1969. Fully emancipated from three and a half years in Motown Records and encouraged by their international success in the United Kingdom, the Isleys composed this album in the style of Sly & the Family Stone/James Brown funk that was dominating the music industry at the time but with their own flair as explained in their smash "It's Your Thing". Other hits off the album though it didn't chart included "I Know Who You Been Socking It To" and "Give the Women What They Want". This album was also the Isleys' first Top 40 record reaching #22 on the pop albums chart. Curiously, despite its importance in the career of the seminal group, this album was not released in CD format until 2008. The album was remastered and expanded for inclusion in the 2015 released CD box set "The RCA Victor & T-Neck Album Masters, 1959-1983". Although not featured on the album's cover, It's Our Thing marks the first Isley Brothers album to feature Ernie Isley on bass guitar.
"Keep On Doin'" is a song recorded by The Isley Brothers, who released the song from their 1970 album, Get into Something. Though the track's chart performance was modest at best, it would later inspire the funk instrumental, "The Grunt", recorded by James Brown's backing band at the time, The J.B.'s.
"Whisper You Love Me Boy" is a song written and composed by Holland–Dozier–Holland and recorded by at least three Motown female acts: early Motown star Mary Wells, popular Motown singing group The Supremes and blue-eyed soul Motown label mate Chris Clark in 1964, 1965 and 1967 respectively.
"Gonna Give Her All the Love I've Got" is a 1967 Soul song, originally recorded and made a hit by Jimmy Ruffin on Motown's Soul Label imprint. Ruffin's 1967 original version, from his album Jimmy Ruffin Sings Top Ten, reached the Pop Top 30, peaking at #29, and was a Top 20 R&B Hit as well, peaking at #14. It was also a hit in Britain, reaching #26 on the UK Singles Chart. The song has a social context: it depicts a man anticipating his release from prison on the morrow, when he'll return home on a train to "the girl that I left behind," promising himself that he will reward her steadfast love for him by "giv[ing] her all the love [he's] got." The song was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong and produced by Whitfield.
Twisting and Shouting is the third album released by The Isley Brothers in 1963, credited as The Famous Isley Brothers, on the United Artists label. Their third album after Twist & Shout one year prior, the album was released with none of the songs making the singles chart, and preceded a three-year gap before the brothers' next album, This Old Heart of Mine (1966), which would see them move to Berry Gordy's Motown label. In 1991, the album was reissued on CD with extra tracks and retitled The Complete United Artists Sessions.
Joe Stubbs was an American R&B/soul singer who became the lead singer of four different groups throughout his recording career. He was the younger brother of The Four Tops' lead Levi Stubbs.
