The Isley Brothers discography: History and Key Facts

This is the discography documenting albums and singles released by American family musical group The Isley Brothers.

Formed initially as a gospel sibling quartet with brothers Kelly, Rudy, Ron and Vernon Isley, the group became a trio after Vernon was tragically killed in 1955 accidentally being hit by a car while riding his bicycle. In 1957, the teenage siblings moved to New York from Ohio to start their career in R&B music. They struggled with initial recordings in the doo-wop subgenre until the release of the gospel-inflected "Shout" in 1959 on RCA Victor Records. The song peaked at number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100, later selling over a million copies. In 1962, they entered the top 20 on the same chart with Bert Berns' "Twist and Shout", followed by their 1966 Motown hit, "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)".

After forming their own record label, T-Neck Records, the group wrote and produced their career-defining hit "It's Your Thing" in 1969, which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Top Selling Soul Singles chart, which won them the Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. The group eventually became a sextet with younger brothers Ernie and Marvin and brother-in-law Chris Jasper and recorded primarily funk, rock and soul music. Between 1969 and 1981, the group recorded 28 chart singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including nine Top 40 singles and three Top 10 singles including "That Lady" (1973) and "Fight the Power" (1975).

After several group members deflected from the group due to monetary reasons, illness, death and religion, the Isleys - now just a duo of Ron and Ernie - returned to the Billboard Hot 100 in 1996, after a 15-year drought, with three charting singles "Let's Lay Together", "Floatin' On Your Love" and "Tears". In doing so, they surpassed the Spinners as the longest-charting musical act in Hot 100 history, as well as the first act to enter the Hot 100 in five decades. In 2001, the top 20 hit "Contagious" made them the first act to have a chart hit in six.

Source and attribution

Text excerpted from The Isley Brothers discography by Wikipedia contributors, available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. The extract is abridged and formatting has been adjusted; the adapted text on this page is shared under the same licence. Revision history.