The Isleys kept the hits coming for the rest of the decade.

In 1973, the three younger members formally joined the group, and were introduced in 3+3, an out-of-the-box smash that featured the hard rocking rock and soul hit, 'That Lady.' This began a string of gold and platinum albums that elevated the Isley Brothers to the stratosphere of popular black music, making them perhaps one of the most important R&B acts of the 1970s and the first to successfully merge the funk sounds of Sly and the Family Stone with the electric rock work of former Isley guitarist Jimi Hendrix. In 1972 the group released its best album to date, Brother Brother Brother, a mixture of funky, percussive numbers and smooth, if ponderous, ballads that is still considered by many the seminal Isley Brothers album. Younger brothers Marvin (bass), and Ernie (lead guitar) and brother-in-law Chris Jasper (keyboards) joined their backup band about this time, adding fresh funk and hard rock elements that completed what became the trademark Isley Brothers sound. The group left Motown in 1968, forming their own T-Neck label, and struck immediate gold with 'It's Your Thing,' a funky double-entendre that shot to the top of the pop and Soul charts. They scored one major hit there, the classic 'This Old Heart of Mine' (later reworked by Ronald with Rod Stewart), but mostly found frustration. The brothers then signed with Motown and toiled through the mid-60s with only moderate success, as Motown tried to mold the Isleys into a 'Motown Machine' group, generally unsuccessfully. They wouldn't have another hit for three years, when their cover of 'Twist and Shout' became a hit (and later became a much bigger hit for the Beatles. They finally achieved national attention and a minor hit in 1959 with the ultimate rock classic 'Shout' (which received a second life in the movie 'Animal House') on RCA. Formed in the mid-50s by brothers Ronald, Rudolph and O'Kelly Isley in their hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, the brothers struggled for several years as teenagers to score a hit record. The amalgamation of siblings and in-laws known as The Isley Brothers has withstood time, vast changes in musical styles, revolutionary developments in race relations and age to become by any measure one of the most important musical groups of the last sixty years.

It is designed to give classic soul fans to catch up with what’s going on with their favorite soul music artists of the 60s, 70s and 80s. Three Minute Update is the newest SoulTracks feature.

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