The Isley Brothers have succeeded in multiple music genres.
Hits such as the Grammy-winning “It’s Your Thing” and “That Lady (Part 1)” ably reflect a tuneful realm that includes rock, funk, disco, gospel and, most prominently, rhythm and blues. The group was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
The Isley Brothers sweep into Four Winds Casino Resort Jan. 20 for a 9 p.m. EST concert in New Buffalo, Mich.
“We just finished a CD with Carlos Santana,” guitarist Ernie Isley said in a phone interview this month. “It’s called ‘Power of Peace.'”
Released last summer, the album features retro songs of tranquillity, spirituality and social consciousness made famous by the likes of Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye.
It afforded Isley the chance to play guitar with a singular legend named Carlos Santana.
“He’s that guy; he’s that musician, that guitarist,” Isley, 65, said.
Isley also has admiration for his brother. “Ronald is a seminal, iconic musician-vocalist,” he stated.
Ronald and Ernie will front a large-scale band with a horn section at a New Buffalo show that rolls out familiar staples from their sizable hits catalog.
“Everybody knows ‘Shout’ and ‘Twist and Shout’ are like the one-two punch of rock ‘n’ roll, and everybody’s done those songs,” Isley said.
In the summer of 1962, the Isley Brothers turned the rambunctious “Twist and Shout” into a pop-chart hit.
The Beatles followed with their own version that became a pop-chart smash two years later, and which still stands as one of the group’s most defining songs.
“That’s really them; that’s when they were a group,” Isley said. “It wasn’t like it was four individuals. They were a band.”
Isley said that he ran into the Beatles’ Paul McCartney a few years ago at an East Coast event at which he and Ronald shared the stage with the legendary rocker.
“He said, ‘Ernie, if it were not for the Isley Brothers, the Beatles would still be in Liverpool,'” Isley recalled.
The St. Louis-area resident noted that another early Isleys rave-out was given the Fab Four treatment: 1959’s “Shout,” a timeless audience-participation party anthem that was written by the brothers.
“The Beatles were doing ‘Shout’ and ‘Twist and Shout’ before they came to America,” Isley related.
Ernie and 76-year-old lead singer Ronald can point to other notable hits generated over the years by the Isley family that include the romantic “This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak For You)” and the feisty “Fight the Power Part 1.”
The staying power of the Isley Brothers is lauded by East Chicago’s Jim Skafish, a punk and new-wave music pioneer in the Chicago area and Northwest Indiana during the 1970s and early ’80s.
“Having been successful for virtually 60 years, the Isley Brothers are in an elite league,” said Skafish, who performed/toured with Iggy Pop, the Police and the Ramones. “With incomparable vocals and a soul-infused mix, they have sustained a legacy that is rare by anyone’s terms.”
The Isley Brothers’ Rock & Roll Hall of Fame biography states they were a family-based group from their inception, and “originated with four gospel-singing brothers” that included Ronald. Over the years, the band’s membership included brothers O’Kelly, who died in 1986, and Marvin, who died in 2010.
The Isleys’ history features a fascinating connection to guitar guru Jimi Hendrix.
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Before breaking through to worldwide fame in 1967, Hendrix played with the Isley Brothers for about two years in the earlier part of the ’60s, according to Isley.
“He was a house guest and an employee,” said Isley, noting the rock icon lived in the Isley family’s home during his playing stint with the brothers.
Minors must be accompanied by an adult 21 or older; no minors younger than 5 permitted.
Bob Kostanczuk is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Isley Brothers
Where: Silver Creek Event Center, 11111 Wilson Road, New Buffalo, Mich.
When: 9 p.m. EST Jan. 20
Tickets: $59, $69, $79