LOOKING BACK ON FORTY YEARS OF MAKING MUSIC THAT MOVES MULTIPLE GENERATIONS: SISTER 2 SISTER REFLECTS WITH RON ISLEY, AKA “MR. BIGGS”

From “Shout” to “Show Down” music veteran proves his musical genius is still “Contagious” after all these years.

(PRWEB) October 13, 2003

Takoma Park, MD (PRWEB) October 13, 2003—Tune in to your local urban radio station, and it’s likely you’ll recognize the silky tenor voice crooning conversational licks with the likes of R. Kelly and Chanté Moore or Kelly Price as “Mr. Biggs” -- if you are under the age of 18. Ask their Gen-X siblings who’s crooning, and they’ll likely retort, “but that sounds like one of the Isley Brothers.” But, ask both crowds who wrote “Twist & Shout,” and their baby-booming parents may know the answer better than they do. All of this is proof, revealed in the November edition of Sister 2 Sister magazine, that Ron Isley has become a master of re-invention and creative staying power that has sustained his profitable career over the last 40 years.

In a revealing interview with Sister 2 Sister publisher, “the Barbara Walters of Print,” Jamie Foster Brown, Isley shares his exclusive story filled with historical flash backs of some of soul music’s “heavies”; insights on the man he says is like his son, the controversial R&B singer R. Kelly; detailed career highlights from his humble beginnings with his musically inclined parents; stinging recollections of legal wrangling with Michael Bolton; insights into his working relationship and marriage to Angela Winbush; details from the death of his friend Sam Cooke; plans for a new album and a clothing line; and even some biting commentary on how he believes there is a movement to “destroy” certain popular celebrities.

“I ain’t never told nobody what I’m telling you,” said Isley. “… you can publish it, I just never spoke out and told anybody.”

Isley showed a degree of humility when speaking of royalties he continues to receive each year for songs that are now popular at professional and college sporting events. “Shout,” penned and recorded by Isley and his brothers became the Isley Brother’s first hit record. The song was conceived while performing on Jackie Wilson’s television show.

“We were singing ‘Lonely Teardrops’ to the audience in Philadelphia and the audience was jumping up, going crazy, said Isley. “So I looked out in the audience and would start writing what they were doing. ‘You make me want to shout, lift my hands up, throw my head back, kick my heels up.

“’Shout began to have that commercial success, “said Isley. “And it just got bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger. No telling where that song is gonna wind up. You score a touchdown, you hit a homerun, or you get married? That song is there.”

According to Isley, “Shout” earns between $1 million and $2 million a year.

But the interview doesn’t soley focus on Isley’s early musical successes, readers will catch a rare glimpse into the Isley’s family life—and deaths.

“And [my parents] decided when they got married that they wanted a quartet. He wanted a group like the Mills Brothers,” said Isley. “So my mother had four sons. The oldest would be O’Kelly Isley, Jr. and then my next brother was Rudolph Isley. Then I came third, and then we had another brother called Vernon Isley. Vernon was, I believe, 11 years old [when] he was hit by a truck going to school.

“The oldest brother. He had a heart attack. My father died at 44 years old and my oldest brother Kelly, died from the same thing at 48 years old. I don’t know if it had anything to do with him smoking…and I know I was smoking at the time. I used to smoke two packages of cigarettes a day. But a little later, one day in church, I just stopped smoking. It was on the day my mother had passed and the preacher was preaching like he was preaching to me…

“…but it was like a message to come to me in life,” he said, now as if God were speaking to him. “’If you wanna sing and you want this voice to remain what it is, you put the cigarettes down right now,’ and I did. And it seems like from that time on my voice got stronger and smoother…”

Isley also discussed his collaborations with and eventual 8 year-marriage to Angela Winbush and surmises that the break up of Rene & Angela was rooted in jealousy.

“The first song she played for me was ‘Smooth Sailing,” said Isley. “and of course she wrote that song. That’s when the jealousy in their group happened—because she was writing for me. That was the beginning of their breakup.”

Isley said Winbush entered his life when he was experiencing an emotional void due to his brother O’Kelly’s death and just as his other brother Rudolph left to explore a religious calling.

“She was doing her record, she had started a new career,” he said. “She wrote the song ‘Angel’ for herself and she wrote ‘Smooth Sailing’ for me. She did my whole album—the ‘Smooth Sailing’ album…”

Isley’s marriage to Winbush was the second marriage for the music mogul. At age 20 he wed a young woman from Washington, D.C. That union lasted 20 years. Isley says they are still friends, and also says that he and Winbush are good friends as well. He and Winbush called it quits about two years ago.

When asked about his relationship with R. Kelly, Isley called it “spiritual.” R. Kelly reportedly calls him “Daddy.” He credits Kelly and his peers for giving him his hip-hop handle “Mr. Biggs.”

“I just about adopted R. Kelly,” he said. “I’m like the only father image he knows.

“We communicate in a way that nobody communicates with whatever it is we wanna do,” he said. “I know his ability in music…it’s like Sam Cooke and me was talking. We have a special bond when it comes to certain things.”

When asked about his view about the sex-with-a-minor charges against the singer/songwriter, Isley had this to say:

“What people don’t know—what he’s been through is truly one of the biggest jokes of all jokes. I say that because of this: the person that you’re talking about…that person is somewhere with a new life. Whatever they did, they wanted to do it, if that’s what happened.”

“But I think right now, White people are into a thing where, let’s destroy Michael Jackson, let’s destroy R. Kelly. Don’t care what we got him on, don’t care what he does, let’s destroy.”

Jamie Foster Brown is available for interviews on all of these topics and more. For insights, reactions and opinions on the latest topics contact Michelle Starr at 469.948.0119 for booking.

Sister 2 Sister (S2S) is the hottest audited entertainment and lifestyle magazine for African American women. It has been in existence for 15 years and is wholly owned by Jamie Foster Brown, “The Barbara Walters of Print,” who built her career in the entertainment industry. Since its modest beginnings as a newsletter for women in the entertainment industry back in 1988, the magazine has developed into one of the most powerful and respected voices in entertainment, focusing on Black celebrity news. Currently distributed in the U.S. and abroad, S2S has achieved phenomenal growth, nearly quadrupling circulation in the last five years. For more information on Sister 2 Sister, log on to http://www.s2smagazine.com.

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