( * as Isley Jasper Isley )
Chart entered : 23 November 1985
Chart peak : 52
Another long chart career as the Isleys bowed out of the picture. They had looked done by the end of the sixties but made a strong comeback in 1973 when the original vocal trio of O 'Kelly, Rudolph and Ronald Isley were joined by younger brothers Ernie ( lead guitar, drums ) Marvin ( bass ) and Rudolph's brother-in-law Chris Jasper ( keyboards ). This extra musical muscle gave them a new lease of life and classics like "Summer Breeze" and "Harvest for the World " followed. At the end of the seventies they turned to disco. Shortly after their minor hit "Between The Sheets" in 1983 the group fractured. mainly due to a dispute over royalties, with the younger members forming the trio Isley Jasper Isley. They had three flop singles in the UK before this one made the charts.
Chris was the dominant musical personality in the group . Although the other two are credited as writers, it's his Christian vision that drives "Caravan of Love ", he sings the lead vocal and his synths, sometimes masquerading as sitars, drench this old-fashioned gospel hymn in modernity. Ironically it's Marvin Gaye's Sexual Healing that provides the most obvious musical template for it . It was only a modest hit for them,radio producers perhaps backing away from the obvious religious overtones, but of course a number one for The Housemartins in a cappella form just a year later.
"Caravan of Love" was the title track from their second album. They recorded just one more as a trio , 1987's "Different Drummer". It's an accomplished modern soul album although most of the tracks are a touch too long, mainly to accommodate Ernie's wiggly guitar solos. The best track is the moody synth-driven "Eighth Wonder of the World" which was released as a single. It perhaps lacked a distinctive enough chorus to break into the main chart. The follow-up "Givin' You Back The Love " takes them into bland Luther Vandross territory and was their final single.
What's perhaps the most surprising thing about the album is that none of the songs appear to reflect on the death of O'Kelly from a heart attack the year before. Despite suffering from cancer he was able to record the "Masterpiece" album in 1985 whose release predates "Caravan of Love" and which stands as the last album the original trio made together.
Rudolph and Randolph, in possession of the "Isley Brothers" name , continued to record as a duo . For their next album "Smooth Sailin" in 1987 they hooked up with Angela Wimbush ( of Rene and Angela fame ). She had a hand in writing seven of the eight tracks, three of them alone, and played most of the keyboards on the album. It's a generic R & B album with only the title track standing out for its very risque lyrics. None of the singles crossed over from the R & B charts.
Isley Jasper Isley came to grief in 1987 when Ernie announced he was leaving the band without telling Chris first. Chris has said in interviews that Ron might have tapped him and Marvin up for a return to the main group but they didn't start working with Ron until four years after IJI broke up.
Chris lost little time in putting out a solo album "Superbad " whose title track, a pro-education song owing a lot to Stevie Wonder was a huge R & B hit. Since then he's ploughed his own furrow releasing a string of contemporary gospel albums on his own Gold City label and producing other artists like Liz Hogue and Chaka Khan.
In 1989 the album "Spend The Night " came out under the name "The Isley Brothers featuring Ron Isley" with just Ron on the cover. Wimbush was now Ron's girlfriend and it's debatable how much Rudolph contributed to the album. He announced his departure to become a church minister shortly after its release. He made a brief appearance with the other Brothers in 2004 but otherwise hasn't been involved with their music. The album itself is a mellower version of its predecessor and is for afficionados only ; the casual listener is at serious risk of falling asleep while it's playing.
There was effectively no group in 1990 as Ron pondered going it alone with appearances on Wimbush's album and on Rod Stewart's hit cover of "This Old Heart of Mine ". Ernest made a solo album "High Wire" where he straddles the rock funk line between Prince and Lenny Kravitz without coming up with a memorable song. It attracted minimal interest.
Ernest was therefore receptive to Ron's call to reform The Isley Brothers and Marvin followed suit although the ensuing album,"Tracks of Life " in 1992 still put Ron's name out front. The album kicks off with two gritty urban funk tracks but then sinks into the same mellow groove as its predecessor and at nearly 75 minutes it's way too long. The album sold markedly less well than their last two and Warner Brothers decided it was time to let them go. A "Live " album came out the following year to fulfil their contract obligations.
Ron married Wimbush in 1993 and the group went quiet, apart from the the deadly dull standalone single "I'm So Proud" in 1994 which was originally recorded for a Curtis Mayfield tribute album.
The group then got some heavyweight help in reviving their career. R Kelly invited Ron and Ernest to sing and play on his 1996 hit "Down Low" . Despite Ernest's involvement , only Ron was credited on the UK single which reached number 23 , hence I'm not counting it as a group hit. Ron also appeared in the soap-styled video as Frank Biggs , the kingpin whose girl Kelly is shagging and while his thespian skills will never bother the Oscar committee it undoubtedly brought the group to the attention of a new audience.
Their 1996 album "Mission To Please" was part -produced by Kelly and went platinum in the States. The band now had their own label T-Neck Records , supported by Island. The final track "Slow Is The Way " says it all ; this is slick urban soul directed squarely at the bedroom. In the US they started having hits again with the Kelly-penned "Let's Lay Together " ( number 93 ) "Floatin On Your Love " which gave Wimbush a featuring credit ( number 47 ) and the Babyface song "Tears " ( number 55 ). All of these were supported by videos featuring Ron in character as Mr Biggs. It still seems a strange way to make a comeback but I guess that was the nineties for you.
It was all a bit too late for poor Marvin . Diabetes forced him out of the band in 1997 and he had both legs amputated shortly afterwards. Ron and Ernie didn't reconvene until 2001 with the single "Contagious " , a sequel to "Down Low " in which Kelly was a featured guest on their single even though he wrote and produced it. It got to number 19 in the US , their biggest hit since "Fight The Power " in 1975 and made them the first group to have a hit single in 5 different decades. The song's the usual slinky fare but you do get the impression it was written to go with the video rather than the other way round. With Ron nearly 60 , Mr Biggs was starting to look like the black Benny Hill and it's a credit to the UK that we didn't buy into it. In the US though the star-studded parent LP "Eternal" went double platinum though they didn't have another hit from it.
In 2002 Ron and Angela divorced so she didn't contribute to the 2003 album "Body Kiss" which is credited to "The Isley Brothers featuring Ronald Isley aka Mr Biggs . It is in fact an R Kelly album with a guest vocalist . Neither brother has a writing credit on it. "What Would You Do" made the US Top 50 with another grotesque video making you wonder if the baying chicks realised his gold-topped cane wasn't actually a fashion accessory. The album became their second U.S. number one although it didn't sell as well as its two predecessors.
In 2003 Ron tasted solo success with "Here I Am" an album of Burt Bacharach covers assisted by the man himself.
In 2004 Ron had a mild stroke which halted their UK tour. The following year he married backing singer Kandy Johnson, an eye-popping 35 years his junior and he dedicated the next LP "Baby Makin Music " ( oh please ) to her. This time round Kelly was only involved on one track and the album peaked at number 5.
In 2007 he lived up to the album's title when Kandy gave birth to his son Ron Jr. By that time however he was living the Al Capone life style for real in the sense that he was banged up in jail for tax evasion. He was released in April 2010 two months before Marvin died from diabetes complications.
Ron and Ernest haven't recorded together since the former's release. Ron had a solo album "Mr I " out within months of his release which carries on as if he's never been away with the help of famous friends like Arethra Franklin and reached number 50 in the chart. His last one "This Song Is For You" in 2013 continued his upward curve by reaching number 27. It sounds dull as ditchwater to me but his 72 year old croon is still in good nick so I guess he'll carry on for as long as that's still the case.
He and Ernie continue to tour as The Isley Brothers.
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