A member of the legendary Isley Brothers is dead at 56.Spinner reports:
Marvin Isley, legendary bassist for the R&B/funk-infused group the Isley Brothers died Sunday night in Chicago at the age of 56, as Chicago Now first reported. While Isley was too young to join his older brothers in the group in the ’60s, he was ushered into the band in the early 1970s after they signed with Epic and started working on ‘3+3,’ the group’s first gold album.
Along with the rest of his brothers, Marvin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and eventually retired from active playing in 1997, due to complications stemming from diabetes. Both his legs were eventually amputated due to his condition.
Marvin split from the Isley Brothers for a brief time, forming the Isley-Jasper-Isley trio, where they scored a No. 1 hit with ‘Caravan of Love’ in 1985. The Isley Brothers and Marvin’s output didn’t see commercial success in the ’80s and ’90s, yet they made their mark on the world of hip-hop, with many of their songs sampled over the years by the likes of Ice Cube, N.W.A., Jim Jones and Lily Allen.
R.I.P.
