Latest news with #IsleyBrothers'


UPI
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- UPI
Watch: Alex Isley performs 'Good & Plenty' at Tiny Desk concert
1 of 3 | Alex Isley arrives on the red carpet for BET Awards on June 9. NPR released her Tiny Desk Concert performance on Monday. Photo by Greg Grudt/UPI | License Photo June 23 (UPI) -- Alex Isley performed her hit "Good & Plenty" for NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series in a new episode released Monday. She invited singer and musician Masego to join her on that song, which dropped in 2020. "I shot a Tiny Desk at home in 2020, so to be here in the office is just magical. I'm happy to be here, and celebrating the release of my new EP When, but also celebrating 10 years of my album Luxury," Isley said. When dropped April 18, and Isley performed "Mic On" and "Thank You for a Lovely Time" from the EP. She performed "La Brea," from Luxury. Her set list also included "Into Orbit," "Love Again," "Mine," "About Him" and "Hands." Isley was joined by background vocalists Nelson Beato, Astyn Turr and Muhsinah, and DeShaun Allen on drums. Jay Rojas played guitar, with Dre Pinckney on bass and Darek Cobbs on the keyboard. Isley, 38, is the daughter of the Isley Brothers' Ernie Isley. NPR is spotlighting Black music artists in June's Tiny Desks for their Black Music Month.


New York Times
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Chris Jasper, Who Helped Revitalize the Isley Brothers, Dies at 73
Chris Jasper, a Juilliard-trained keyboardist, singer and songwriter who brought an expansive musical vocabulary to the long-running R&B group the Isley Brothers, helping push them into a new hit-making era in the 1970s and '80s with singles like 'That Lady' and 'Fight the Power,' died on Feb. 23. He was 73. His death was announced in a statement on his Facebook account, which noted that he had been diagnosed with cancer in December. The statement did not say where he died. Mr. Jasper, who was also a producer, started his decade-long run as an official member of the Isley Brothers in 1973. He added musical complexity to the long-running R&B group as it took on a richer, funkier style for a new decade. Looking back on the Isley Brothers' sound in a 2020 interview with Rockin' Hot Radio, a Delaware-based station, he said, 'It's R&B, of course,' but added that he borrowed 'voicings that were used in classical music, and in particular the Romantic period, with composers like Debussy, even 20th-century composers like Gershwin.' Mr. Jasper, far left, with other members of the Isley Brothers in a mid-1970s publicity photo. Seated are Ronald, left, and Rudolph Isley; standing are, from left, Marvin, O'Kelly and Ernie Isley. Credit... T-Neck Records During his tenure, the group lodged more than a dozen singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and more than a dozen albums on the Billboard 200 — six of them in the Top 10, including 'The Heat Is On,' which reached No. 1 in 1975. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.