O'Kelly Isley, Jr.
| Kelly Isley | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | O'Kelly Isley Jr. |
| Born |
December 25, 1937 Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Origin | Teaneck, New Jersey |
| Died | March 31, 1986 (aged 48) Alpine, New Jersey |
| Genres | R&B, soul |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1954–1986 |
| Associated acts |
The Isley Brothers Jimi Hendrix |
O'Kelly "Kelly" Isley Jr. (December 25, 1937 – March 31, 1986) was an American singer and one of the founding members of the family group The Isley Brothers.
The eldest of the Isley Brothers, Kelly Isley started singing with his brothers at church. When he was 16, he and his three younger brothers (Rudy, Ronnie and Vernon) formed The Isley Brothers and toured the gospel circuit. Following the death of Vernon Isley from a road accident, the brothers decided to try their hand at doo-wop and moved to New York to find a recording deal. Between 1957 and 1959, the Isleys would record for labels such as Teenage and Mark X. In 1959, they signed with RCA Records after a scout spotted the trio's energetic live performance.
O'Kelly and his brothers co-wrote their first significant hit, "Shout". While the original version only peaked at the top 50 of the Hot 100, subsequent cover versions helped the song sell over a million copies. Later moving on to other labels including Scepter and Motown, the brothers would have hits with "Twist & Shout" in 1962 and "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)". In 1959, the Isley family had relocated to Englewood, New Jersey where Kelly stayed with his mother and younger siblings.
In 1969, the brothers left Motown and started their own label, T-Neck Records, where they would write the majority of their recordings, including "It's Your Thing". Kelly and his brother Rudy began to take some lead spots on the group's albums starting with the It's Our Thing album in 1969. The track, "Black Berries", from their The Brothers: Isley album, was dedicated to Kelly, who Ron would always quote him as saying "the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice". That saying had been originated by Harlem Renaissance novelist Wallace Thurman in the 1929 novel, The Blacker the Berry. After the inclusion of younger brothers Ernie and Marvin and brother-in-law Chris Jasper, Kelly, Rudy and Ron didn't write as much as they did in the past but in an agreement shared parts of the composition credits as they owned the songs' publishing.
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