Rudolph Isley, a founding member of the R&B/soul group the Isley Brothers, died Wednesday at 84, according to multiple sources.
Isley’s publicist confirm his death to the Los Angeles Times, though no cause of death has yet been given.
“There are no words to express my feelings and the love I have for my brother,” Ronald Isley told Rolling Stone Thursday. “Our family will miss him. But I know he’s in a better place.”
The Isley Brothers are known for several iconic hits across several decades. The group was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1954.
A Cincinnati native, Rudolph Isley began singing in church with brothers Ronald and O’Kelly (another sibling, Vernon, died at age 13) and was still in his teens when they broke through in the late 1950s with “Shout,” a secularized gospel rave that was later immortalized during the toga party scene in “Animal House.”
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