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Boston Globe
26-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Chris Jasper, Isley Brothers keyboardist and songwriter, dies at 73
Advertisement Mr. Jasper was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award as a member of the Isleys; found subsequent success with the breakaway band Isley-Jasper-Isley; and had a busy career as a solo artist and producer, putting out 17 albums and working with artists including singer Chaka Khan. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up In 1969, he began playing with the Isleys as a teenager, joining two other young musicians in helping usher in the '3+3' era of the band. After more than a decade of performing as a vocal trio, fusing rock, and gospel on hits such as 1959's 'Shout,' the Isley Brothers had grown to become a self-contained six-piece unit that wrote, produced, and performed its own songs. The band came to embrace a funk-forward sound on acclaimed albums such as '3+3' (1973), which opened with the Top 10 hit 'That Lady,' and 'The Heat Is On' (1975), which featured 'Fight the Power,' an antiestablishment anthem that reached No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart and influenced a Public Enemy song of the same name. 'Our music is about so much more now,' guitarist and drummer Ernie Isley said in a 1976 interview with Phonograph Record magazine, reflecting on the group's development. 'We've got a lot more to say musically and lyrically. I-IV-V chord changes and three guys jumping up and down, screaming and shouting 'wooo' just isn't where we're at.' Advertisement 'That's right,' Mr. Jasper added. 'We want our music to expand people's consciousness and take them onto a different musical plane.' The band continued to release politically minded anthems such as 'The Pride,' a No. 1 R&B hit. It also broadened its audience through funk- and soul-inflected covers of rock hits including Stephen Stills's 'Love the One You're With' and Seals and Crofts's 'Summer Breeze.' The members also put out sultry ballads such as 'For the Love of You,' a quiet-storm classic that was covered by Whitney Houston, and 'Between the Sheets,' which found a new audience after Notorious B.I.G. sampled it in his song 'Big Poppa.' Although the Isley Brothers released a string of million-selling albums in the 1970s, the group's commercial fortunes gradually declined, and the band split up in 1984 because of what Mr. Jasper described as 'financial inequities' between the three older musicians - brothers O'Kelly Isley Jr. and Rudolph and Ronald Isley - and the three younger band members, who left to form Isley-Jasper-Isley. The new group, which included Ernie on guitar and drums and Marvin Isley on bass, took turns singing lead while recording R&B hits including 'Look the Other Way,' 'Insatiable Woman,' and 'Caravan of Love,' a spiritual ode to peace and harmony that topped the R&B chart in 1985. 'I had been looking at the world scene quite a bit and wasn't pleased with what I was seeing,' Mr. Jasper recalled in an interview for 'The Billboard Book of Number One Rhythm & Blues Hits,' looking back on 'Caravan's' origins. 'I just felt that we all needed a positive message.' Advertisement Mr. Jasper, who sang lead, said he wrote the lyrics in 20 minutes: 'Are you ready for the time of your life?/ It's time to stand up and fight / … The place where mankind was born / Is so neglected and torn.' The song became an international hit after the Housemartins, a British indie rock band, recorded an a cappella cover in 1986. Although Isley-Jasper-Isley soon disbanded, Mr. Jasper continued to record socially conscious songs as a solo artist, scoring another R&B chart-topper with 'Superbad,' the title track to his 1987 debut. The song was an improbably danceable call for children to stay in school and look out for their neighbors, and included a call-and-response section praising 'superbad' civil rights leaders: the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Mohandas K. Gandhi, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. 'I compose the same R&B, soul and funk music that I am known for, but I feel obligated to put positive messages in the music, whether it is a love song, a song about social issues, or a spiritual song,' Mr. Jasper told the French music website Yuzu Melodies in 2013. As a solo artist, he still wanted 'to bring the funk,' he added, but 'with a positive message.' The youngest of seven children, Christopher Howard Jasper was born in Cincinnati on Dec. 30, 1951. His mother played the piano and arranged for him to start taking lessons when he was 7. Mr. Jasper grew up in suburban Lincoln Heights, on the same street as the Isley family. When he was a boy, his sister Elaine married Rudolph Isley and moved to Teaneck, N.J.; Mr. Jasper lived there for a year as a teenager. During that period, he began performing with Marvin and Ernie Isley, playing at New Jersey churches and high schools in a group called the Jazzmen Trio. Advertisement After graduating from high school in Ohio, Mr. Jasper studied for a year at the Juilliard School in Manhattan, where he learned the fundamentals of composition but bristled at the school's focus on atonal music. He transferred to C.W. Post College, now Long Island University Post, where he studied under jazz pianist and composer Billy Taylor and received a bachelor's degree in music composition. After going solo, Mr. Jasper founded his own label, Gold City Records. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2022. He leaves his wife of 42 years, Margie Jasper, a vice president at his record company; and three sons, Michael, Nicholas, and Christopher.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Chris Jasper, Isley Brothers singer and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, dies at 73
Chris Jasper, a former member of the Isley Brothers who helped the group shape its flamboyant funk-rock sound, has died. The singer-songwriter died Sunday at age 73, his family announced Monday on Facebook, two months after he was diagnosed with cancer in December. The post did not reveal additional details, including Jasper's cause of death and where he died. "He will be deeply missed and his legacy will live on as an inspiration for generations," his family said. Jasper's Gold City Records label and members of his family did not immediately respond to The Times' request for confirmation Tuesday. Jasper's son Michael confirmed his father's death to multiple outlets. Read more: Rick Buckler, former drummer for British rock trio the Jam, dies at 69 Jasper was born Dec. 30, 1951, in Cincinnati and started pursuing music with classical piano in his childhood. His passion for music brought him to the Juilliard School of Music, where he studied musical composition under composer Billy Taylor, and ultimately to the Isley Brothers in the early 1970s. The group in its first iteration comprised brothers O'Kelly Isley, Rudolph Isley, Ronald Isley and Vernon Isley. Despite the 1955 death of Vernon, the group had risen to prominence in the late '50s and early '60s with hits including "Twist and Shout" and "This Old Heart of Mine." Jasper — whose sister Elaine was Rudolph Isley's wife — joined the group as a keyboardist in 1973 along with younger Isley brothers Ernie and Marvin and helped usher in a chapter of slow funk-rock jams. The band made its sextet status official with the release of its 1973 album "3+3." During his time with the Isley Brothers, Jasper wrote, arranged and produced songs including "For the Love of You," "Between the Sheets" and the upbeat "Fight the Power," according to his website. Read more: Slim Dunlap of the Replacements dies at 73 Amid tensions between its eponymous brothers, the group fractured into two smaller groups in the '80s with Jasper keeping close with Ernie and Marvin to form Isley-Jasper-Isley. The trio was known for the songs "Caravan of Love," "Look the Other Way" and "Insatiable Woman." After three albums, Isley-Jasper-Isley disbanded in 1987. That same year Jasper began his solo career and founded his label, Gold City Records. The "Superbad" and 'Share With Me' singer continued his solo work well into his later life. His most recent single, "Be Number One," dropped in July 2024. The Isley Brothers, including Jasper, were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. The group in 2014 also received a lifetime achievement award at the Grammy Awards. Independently, Jasper garnered honors from the National R&B Society and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, among other awards. Read more: Roberta Flack, timeless R&B singer who made 'Killing Me Softly With His Song' a hit, dies at 88 In Monday's announcement his family remembered Jasper as more than a musician: "Chris was a dedicated and loving husband and father." He is survived by his wife of more than 40 years, Margie Jasper, and their three sons, Michael, Nicholas and Christopher, according to the family's post. Get notified when the biggest stories in Hollywood, culture and entertainment go live. Sign up for L.A. Times entertainment alerts. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Chris Jasper, Isley Brothers singer and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, dies at 73
Chris Jasper, a former member of the Isley Brothers who helped the group shape its flamboyant funk-rock sound, has died. The singer-songwriter died Sunday at age 73, his family announced Monday on Facebook, two months after he was diagnosed with cancer in December. The post did not reveal additional details, including Jasper's cause of death and where he died. 'He will be deeply missed and his legacy will live on as an inspiration for generations,' his family said. Jasper's Gold City Records label and members of his family did not immediately respond to The Times' request for confirmation Tuesday. Jasper's son Michael confirmed his father's death to multiple outlets. Jasper was born Dec. 30, 1951, in Cincinnati and started pursuing music with classical piano in his childhood. His passion for music brought him to the Juilliard School of Music, where he studied musical composition under composer Billy Taylor, and ultimately to the Isley Brothers in the early 1970s. The group in its first iteration comprised brothers O'Kelly Isley, Rudolph Isley, Ronald Isley and Vernon Isley. Despite the 1955 death of Vernon, the group had risen to prominence in the late '50s and early '60s with hits including 'Twist and Shout' and 'This Old Heart of Mine.' Jasper — whose sister Elaine was Rudolph Isley's wife — joined the group as a keyboardist in 1973 along with younger Isley brothers Ernie and Marvin and helped usher in a chapter of slow funk-rock jams. The band made its sextet status official with the release of its 1973 album '3+3.' During his time with the Isley Brothers, Jasper wrote, arranged and produced songs including 'For the Love of You,' 'Between the Sheets' and the upbeat 'Fight the Power,' according to his website. Amid tensions between its eponymous brothers, the group fractured into two smaller groups in the '80s with Jasper keeping close with Ernie and Marvin to form Isley-Jasper-Isley. The trio was known for the songs 'Caravan of Love,' 'Look the Other Way' and 'Insatiable Woman.' After three albums, Isley-Jasper-Isley disbanded in 1987. That same year Jasper began his solo career and founded his label, Gold City Records. The 'Superbad' and 'Share With Me' singer continued his solo work well into his later life. His most recent single, 'Be Number One,' dropped in July 2024. The Isley Brothers, including Jasper, were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. The group in 2014 also received a lifetime achievement award at the Grammy Awards. Independently, Jasper garnered honors from the National R&B Society and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, among other awards. In Monday's announcement his family remembered Jasper as more than a musician: 'Chris was a dedicated and loving husband and father.' He is survived by his wife of more than 40 years, Margie Jasper, and their three sons, Michael, Nicholas and Christopher, according to the family's post.
