One of the founding members, and the second eldest of the six Isley
Brothers, Rudolph (Rudy) died on 11 Oct aged 84. Brother Ernie stated
that he died in his sleep. That leaves only Ron Isley from the
original four brothers who started the group in 1954 as the other two
original members, Vernon (1957) and O'Kelly (1986), are both deceased.
Younger brother Marvin, who joined the group later, also died in 2010
leaving just Ron and Ernie as surviving members.
You may have read
very recently that Rudolph was suing Ron over a dispute involving
Ron attempting to trademark The Isley Brothers name. A very sad and unresolved ending. Although the family claims that he had no health issues, it makes you wonder why he would start a legal dispute aged 84 unless he was trying to provide financial support for his family, but that's just pure speculation on our part.
We did a feature on Ronald Isley / Isley Brothers on
Ronald Isley's 82nd birthday
on 22 May, so we won't repeat what was written there and refer you to
it.
Rudolph married Chris Jasper's sister, Elaine, in 1958. After leaving
Motown, The Isley's reactivated their T-Neck label, named after
Teaneck, NJ, where they set it up before Motown. Younger brothers
Ernie and Marvin joined the fold along with Chris Jasper.
In 1969 Rudi
recorded a duet with Judy White as Rudi & Judy on T-Neck. The A side "I've Got To Get Myself Together" is a deep soul ballad which the group also recorded for their "The
Brothers: Isley" LP in 1969. The flip "Baby You Got It" sounds quite
dated even for 1969 as it sounds more like a early/mid 60s recording.
It appears to be White's last recording, she recorded on three singles
for T-Neck after one on Epic in 1967 followed by four on Buddah 1967-68. Her first two singles were as part of a duo, Bongi & Judy. Bongi being daughter of South African singer Miriam
Makeba. It would seem that this is Rudi's only recording outside of
The Isley's.
Whilst Ron was the main lead singer, Rudy did record a few lead
vocals including shared lead with Ron on their big disco hit "It's A
Disco Night (Rock Don't Stop)". Rudi was closest to O'Kelly, and his
death in 1986 was perhaps a pivotal point in his decision to
leave the group which he did in 1989. He had always wanted to join the
ministry and he continued to sing gospel music. In 1996 he
recorded a gospel album "Shouting for Jesus: A Loud Joyful
Noise".
For the birthday tribute for Ron we focussed solely on the Isley's Motown
material. For Rudy's we'll select tracks from their post Motown period
from 1969 up to his last album with the group, "Spend The Night" (1989).
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