Isley, Ernie (7th March 1952-Present)

He is a singer-songwriter and musician born Ernest Isley in Cincinnati, Ohio to a musical family of 6 brothers. His elder brothers O’Kelly, Ronald, Rudolph and Vernon sang as a gospel group , but after the death of Vernon due to a bicycle road accident they concentrated on a doo-wop style and named their trio The Isley Brothers.

He and the family moved to Englewood, New Jersey in 1960 and when he was 12, around 1964, he started to play the drums, ,joining his brothers in 1966. From 1963 to 1965 Jimi Hendrix had lived with his family and would perform with The Isley Brothers and in 1968 Ernie moved his concentration to the guitar, on which he was self-taught. That same year he played the bass guitar on The Isley Brothers Grammy Award winning “It’s Your Thing”.

In the 1970s he played the acoustic and bass guitar as well as drums of the albums Get Into Something, Givin’ It Back and Brother, Brother, Brother and in 1973 became a full member of The Isley Brothers with his other brother, Marvin, and Rudolph’s brother-in-law Chris Jasper.

His songwriting came to the fore here and wrote and/or co-wrote several of The Isley Brothers hit songs that include “Fight the Power (Part 1 & 2), Harvest for the World”, “That Lady”, “Take Me to the Phase” and “Between the Sheets” along with many others. His work as a guitarist with the band was recognised for his riffs on songs such as “Choosey Lover”, “That Lady” and “Summer Breeze”.

In 1984 he and his brother, Marvin, and brother-in-law Chris splintered off to form the trio Isley-Jasper-Isley. They released three albums before he released his own album High Wire in 1990.

In 1991 he went back with his brothers Ronald and Marvin and in 1992 The Isley Brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In 1996 they released Mission to Please which gained platinum certification. Five years later in 2001 Ernie co-wrote the title track for successful Eternal.

In 2010 he performed on the Experience Hendrix tour and worked as a musician on several other artists’ recordings. In 2016 he received an honorary doctorate from Berklee School of Music. He and his brother Ronald continue to record and tour together as The Isley Brothers and in 2017 collaborated with Carlos Santana on The Power of Peace.

In 2020 The Isley Brothers were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and has since toured on The Isley Brothers 60th Anniversary Tour with Ronald.

His daughter is the R&B singer-songwriter Alex Isley.

Sources:

Isley, Ernie (7th March 1952-Present)

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