Songoftheday 11/11/22 -Its two A.M. I'm just gettin' in about to check my message, no one has called but my homies and some bill collectors...

 

 

"Contagious" - The Isley Brothers featuring Ronald Isley aka Mr. Biggs

from the album Eternal (2001)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #19 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 11

 

Today's song comes from the veteran soul group the Isley Brothers, who got their start way back in the early 1950's. Siblings Ronald, Rudolph, O'Kelly, and Vernon grew up together in Cincinnati, and started to perform together as children. After Vernon, who had been the lead singer, was killed in a car accident, they almost quit, but eventually carried on with Ronald becoming the new lead. The trio moved to New York, and in the next couple of years released a bunch of one-off singles on various labels starting with the doo-wop-ish "The Cow Jumped Over The Moon" in 1957, but none of them got much traction beyond the area, but they had enough of a base to get signed by RCA Records at the end of the decade. In 1959, their own composition "Shout", was put out as a single, and hit #47 on the Billboard magazine's Hot 100 pop chart. An album of the same name came out that year, their debut effort. After a cover of that song by Joey Dee & The Starliters climbed to #6 on the chart in 1962, a re-release of the Isley Brothers original popped back on to the Hot 100 for three more weeks with a high of #94. But by that time the brothers had left RCA after subsequent releases got little attention. They soon found themselves on the Wand label, a part of Scepter Records, where they released their sophomore effort in 1962, and the title track "Twist And Shout", co-written by Bert Berns with Phil Medley, landed the trio in the pop Top-40 for the first time at #17, while spending three weeks at #2 on Billboard's new R&B Singles chart. It also just missed the top-40 across the ocean in the United Kingdom at #42. That song would eventually get covered for a bigger hit by the Beatles in 1964. The Twist and Shout album hit #61 on the Billboard albums sales chart. However, failing to score a successful follow-up, the Isleys parted with Wand, and again drifted between a few different labels (including a single on their own T-Neck imprint) in the next few years. 

The group signed on with Motown's Tamla subsidiary in 1965, where the Brothers would record for the rest of the 1960s. Their first single at their new home, "This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You)", scored their second top ten R&B hit at #6, while almost making the pop top ten at #12, and shot to #3 in the UK. However, again, they were having trouble following up on that momentum, and while they got a second top ten hit in Britain in 1969 with the baroque pop of "Behind A Painted Smile", they were overshadowed by the myriad of other Motown acts, and the Isleys took off that same year.

Instead of shopping around again, The Brothers brought back their T-Neck label from earlier and got a distribution deal with Buddah Records (who was known for nabbing Gladys Knight & the Pips shortly after). Their first single on the revived imprint, "It's Your Thing", became their first huge success, topping Billboard's R&B Chart for a full month (four weeks) while taking a week at #2 on the Hot 100. The song, which featured younger brother Ernie on bass, won the Grammy Award for Best Duo/Group R&B Vocal Performance in 1970. The It's Your Thing album made it to #22 on the Billboard 200 sales tally. Another brother, Marvin, as well as Rudolph's son in law Chris Jasper, joined the band playing bass and keyboards, while Ernie moved to guitar.

The Isleys continued to score a string of hit singles, most doing moderately well, and returning to the pop top ten in 1973 with "That Lady" (a revamp of their 1964 cut "Who's That Lady") from the album 3 + 3, which announced that Ernie, Marvin, and Chris were official member of the act. The album was their first to reach the Billboard 200 top ten at #8, and sold over a million records. Their next studio release, Live It Up, didn't contain any top-40 pop hits, but its two top ten R&B singles helped it top the R&B Albums chart for the first time the following year. That was followed in 1975 with The Heat Is On, which spent four weeks at #1 on the R&B Albums list, as well as spending a week on top of the entire Billboard 200, selling over two million copies. The lead single from the set, the defiant "Fight The Power", took three weeks at #1 on the R&B Singles chart, and got to #4 on the pop Hot 100 (so far their final single to get to the top ten there). It also made Record World magazine's Disco File top-20 chart at #13 (their biggest dance hit to date). 

While the second half of the 1970's saw their presence on mainstream "pop" radio wane, the band were insanely popular on urban radio, and in those five years to 1980 they landed four more #1 hits. Their 1977 set Go For Your Guns spun off "The Pride", while Showdown the next year produced "Take Me To The Next Phase". In 1979, "I Wanna Be With You" from Winner Takes All topped the R&B list, while the trio's 1980 release Go All The Way included the bedroom ballad "Don't Say Goodnight (It's Time For Love)", which spent four weeks on top (tied for their longest stay with "It's Your Thing") and peaked at #39 on the pop Hot 100. Three of those four albums (save Winner) made the Billboard 200 top ten and #1 on the R&B Albums charts.

The Brothers carried on in the 1980's, with their biggest record being 1983's Between The Sheets, which topped the R&B Albums chart and sold over a million copies. Two songs from the record made the R&B top ten, "Between The Sheets" (five weeks at #3) and "Choosey Lover" (#6), with the former almost making the pop Hot 100, "bubbling under" at #101. But after that album, their last on the T-Neck label, the three younger members went to form their own act, Isley-Jasper-Isley. They released three albums on Epic Records, with the second one, Caravan Of Love hitting #77 on the Billboard 200. Title track "Caravan Of Love" spent three weeks at #1 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart, though it stalled at #51 on the Hot 100. 

Meanwhile, Ronald, Rudolph, and O'Kelly signed on with Warner Brothers, and released their 23rd album (now as a trio) Masterpiece in 1985, which ended up being their first to miss the top half of the Billboard 200 since the 1960s (#140). Also, O'Kelly died from a heart attack the following year, one which saw Ronald guest on Rod Stewart's cover of "This Old Heart Of Mine" which made the pop Top 10. Ron and Rudy continued as a duo for two more albums, Smooth Sailin' Tonight and Spend The Night in 1987 and 1989 respectively. The title tracks from each were decent R&B hits, both getting to #3. Both features songs written and co-produced by Ronald's wife at that time, R&B singer Angela Winbush (of Rene & Angela fame). Rudolph would retire from music after those sets.

After Rudolph's departure, and the break-up of Isley-Jasper-Isley, Ernie and Marvin reunited with Ronald to reform the Isley Brothers. Before that, Ernie had released a solo album, High Wire, that was rock music infused, and even had a rock radio hit in 1990 with "Back To Square One" at #31 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Airplay chart. After one last album on Warner Brothers, Tracks Of Life in 1992, and being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, the new trio moved to Island Records. Ronald had another big feature, this time on R. Kelly's single "Down Low (Nobody Has To Know)" in 1995, which rose to #4 on the Hot 100 and gave Isley his alter ego persona "Mr. Biggs" from the music video. The following year, Ronald, Ernie, and Marvin put out Mission To Please on Island, which sold over a million copies and returned them to the top-40 on the Billboard 200 at #31. After being off of the Hot 100 since 1981, three songs from the record placed on that list from the record, with "Floatin' On Your Love" featuring Winbush doing the best at #47 (and #14 R&B). However, again tragedy struck the Isleys, with Marvin having to retire and had his legs amputated from complications from diabetes. He passed on in 2010.

Ronald and Ernie carried on as a duo, but it would be five years after Mission To Please and a move to Dream Works, for them to re-emerge with the Isley Brothers' 28th studio album Eternal. With high-profile producers like Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Raphael Saadiq from Tony! Toni! Tone!, R. Kelly, and Dre & Vidal (the team behind Jill Scott's albums) joining Angela Winbush, the album was heavily promoted on its release in the summer of 2001. The lead single from the record was "Contagious", which billed Ronald under his "Mr. Biggs", alias. It was the one song from the album written and produced by Kelly, who gave Ronald his big comeback on "Down Low". The song finds Ronald coming home late at night, missing his girlfriend to the point of driving around looking for her. But after coming back and watching TV, he hears something upstairs, and upon going up there finds her in quite the compromised position. The "Contagious" in the chorus is apparently what the woman is shouting in ecstasy, and the confrontation is pretty weird (like, is he gonna kill him, or what). Then we find out its meant to be a sequel to "Down Low", with Chante Moore providing the female voice along with Kelly, who again plays the guy (fool me once?). Anyhoo, the Kelly connection had clout in those times, and with that the Isleys found themselves not only back on urban radio, but also on the pop chart...

"Contagious" made it to the top 20 on Billboard's pop Hot 100 chart in September of 2001, while spending two weeks at #3 on their R&B Singles chart. On the radio, the song went to #3 on the R&B Airplay chart and topped the older-skewing Adult R&B list for two weeks, along with getting to #22 on the dance-oriented Rhythmic format. Internationally, the single went to #2 in the Netherlands. The Eternal album, released in August of that year, spent a week at #3 on the Billboard 200, and topped the R&B Albums list for two weeks, going on to sell over a million copies. At the Grammy Awards in 2002, "Contagious" was nominated for Best Duo/Group R&B Vocal Performance, losing to Destiny's Child for their "Survivor". 

A second single from Eternal, "Secret Lover", stayed on Billboard's R&B chart for 20 weeks, with a high of #60. 

Ernie and Ronald came back in the spring of 2003 with their next set on Dream Works, Body Kiss, which R. Kelly co-wrote and produced all but one of the tracks. The record came in at #1 on the Billboard 200, and led the R&B Albums list for three weeks, but sold less than its predecessor at a half-million copies. The first single "What Would You Do", which featured an uncredited Kelly (as the "Pied Piper" horrrificly), peaked at #49 on the Hot 100 and #14 on the R&B Singles chart. The follow-up song, "Busted", sported a video that continued the "Contagious" storyline, and went to #35 on the R&B Singles chart and "bubbled under" the Hot 100 at #112. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Duo/Group R&B Performance, which went to Beyonce again, this time for her duet with Luther Vandross on "The Closer I Get To You". The Body Kiss album was also up for Best R&B Album, which went to Vandross for his Dance With My Father set.

 

Later that year, Ronald released a collaborative album with composer Burt Bacharach on Dream Works, Here I Am, which went to #73 on the Billboard 200 and #22 on the R&B Albums list. In 2006, Ernie and Ronald reunited for a new album on the Def Soul label, Baby Makin' Music, which topped the R&B Album chart for two weeks and #5 on the Billboard 200. Lead single "Just Came Here To Chill" managed to "bubble under" the pop Hot 100 at #108, while scoring their most recent top-40 R&B hit at #25, while getting to #3 on the Adult R&B radio chart. However, after a holiday release I'll Be Home For Christmas, ironically Ronald would find himself in prison for the next three years for tax evasion. 

Upon his release in 2010, Ronald released a second solo album on Def Jam/Def Soul, Mr. I. Three years later, Ron put out a third solo disc, This Song Is For You, on the indie E1 Label, which was his first to make the Billboard 200 top-40 at #27, and the R&B Albums top ten at #9. Two songs from the record made the R&B Singles chart, with "My Favorite Thing" featuring Kem getting to #23 (and #9 on the Adult R&B airplay list). In 2014, the Isley Brothers were given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Since then, Ronald and Ernie put out an album with Santana, Power Of Peace, which got to #64 on the Billboard 200 and #32 on the R&B Albums list. The duo's most recent studio release, Make Me Say It Again, Girl, came out this past September. The lead single on the record, "Friends and Family" featuring rapper Snoop Dogg, hit #13 on the Adult R&B chart, The followup, "Make Me Say It Again, Girl", which is a remake of a track from their 1975 album The Heat Is On features none other than Beyonce, and spent five weeks at #1 on that list.  

(6/10)

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Tyrese filled in for R. Kelly when the Isleys and Moore performed the song on The Tonight Show in 2001...

Tomorrow I'll return with my new music roundup, then Sunday I'll sample the new albums. Monday I'll be back with a rapper that isn't into premature ejaculation.