Rudolph Isley RIP

Sorry to hear of the death of Rudolph Isley (pictured right, above), one of the founding members of the Isley Brothers, at the age of 84. Together with brothers Ronald and O'Kelly, the Isley Brothers had a career that spanned six decades and Rudolph was an integral part of the group for the first 30 years before he retired to become a Christian minister. Together with a fourth brother, Vernon, who died in 1956, the Isleys began as a gospel group and subsequently recorded for a number of labels before having a huge hit in 1959 for RCA with 'Shout', one of the first 45s that carried a single song over two sides. One of their early records was the original version of 'I'm Gonna Knock On Your Door', later a hit for Eddie Hodges. Other hits during their RCA period included 'Respectable', 'How Deep Is The Ocean' and 'Tell Me Who' - all of them R and B classics. After a couple of records for Atlantic they struck gold again with 'Twist and Shout' for Wand in 1962. Like 'Shout', which became a big hit for Lulu, 'Twist and Shout' was picked up by a UK act, in this case the Beatles, who made an inferior, but very successful cover version. Other Isley tracks from this period included 'Twistin' With Linda' and 'Nobody But Me'. The brothers moved to United Artists and had some success with 'Tango' and 'Shake It With Me Baby'. From there they were signed to Motown and had a run of very successful records and albums, including'This Old Heart Of Mine', 'Take Some Time Out For Love', 'I Guess I'll Always Love You', 'Take Me In Your Arms' and 'Behind A Painted Smile', which has one of the best intros ever. After leaving Motown they recorded for T-Neck, a label they had set up some years before, and had success through to the early eighties with hits including 'Do Your Thing', 'I Turned You On', 'Was It Good To You' and 'Warpath'. UK hits during the seventies included 'That Lady', 'The Highways Of My Life' and 'Summer Breeze'. By this time two younger brothers had joined the group - Ernie and Marvin - plus brother in law Chris Jasper. Successful albums included '3 Plus 3', 'Live It Up', 'Harvest To The World' and 'Showdown'. Their success continued into the eighties but in 1983 Ernie, Marvin and Chris left the group to form Isley-Jasper-Isley. The three original brothers, including Rudolph, made an album for Warner Brothers in 1985 called ''Masterpiece' but O'Kelly died in 1986 and after releasing two albums with brother Ron - 'Smooth Sailin' and 'Spend The Night' - Rudolph retired in 1989. In March of this year Rudolph began legal action against his brother Ron claiming joint ownership of the Isley Brothers name and royalties from records made in the 1990s after he had left the band.

A selection of Isley Brothers LPs (above) and some of the many UK labels that released their 45s.

Another death is that of Ritchie Routledge who became a member of UK group the Cryin' Shames ahed 16. They had a hit in 1966 with an atmospheric version of 'Please Stay', which became Joe Meek's last hit before his death.

Another artist who is reported as having died is Liverpool born Lee Curtis, who formed a group called the Detours, later the All Stars, which included former Beatle Pete Best in the early sixties. The band played at the Star Club in Hamburg frequently and as a solo singer he recorded several 45s including several covers, including 'Little Girl', 'Let's Stomp', 'What About Me' and 'Ecstasy'. Lee appeared on the Tales From The Woods show in 2014 (pictured below) where he performed versions of 'Route 66', 'Be Bop A Lula', 'Heartbreak Hotel' and 'Jezebel' among others.