Sunday Conversation: The Isley Brothers On Working With Beyonce, Snoop And More On New Album

Ronald and Ernest Isley, the remaining Isley Brothers, have a superb new album, Make Me Say It Again, Girl. The collection is a testament to the tremendous staying power and respect of the legendary R&B group.

From the opening title track, which features a rare guest appearance by Beyonce, the 14-song album features a who’s who of guests, including Snoop Dogg on “Friends and Family,” Rick Ross on “Biggest Bosses,” Earth, Wind & Fire and El Debarge on “There’ll Never Be” and Quavo and the late Takeoff, off Migos, on “Keys To My Mind.”

As Ronald and Ernest point out, everybody wants to work with the Isleys, one of the most sampled bands of all time. I spoke with the two about the new album, collaborations, “Shout” being played at weddings for decades and much more.

Steve Baltin: I was just telling Ernest, I love the vibe of this record. This is such a cool sound. Was there something very early on in the making of this record that dictated what this record’s going to be?

Ronald Isley: “Friends and Family” was the first one. That’s when we did the video of “Friends and Family.” We did the show Verzuz, and it went over so well. And we stayed out in California to finish the majority of the record for that year. It was a year and a half or something like that.

Baltin: That’s the one you did with Earth, Wind & Fire, right?

Ronald: Yes.

Ernest Isley: Verzuz, yeah.

Baltin: How much fun is it for you guys to work with so many different artists. But starting with Earth, Wind & Fire, how far back do you go with them?

Ronald: I would say, wow, over 40-something years. When they did their first album, that’s how far we go back. We were on the T-Neck, distributed by Sony Records, and so were they. And we met when Maurice was talking about his first album. And you know, Carlos Santana was on that show that they had in California, Sony had. They used to have a special thing once a year. And we were in LA, I think it was in Westwood or Century something. Anyway, Ernie probably know where it was better than me.

Ernest: We were on the CBS Record Convention. I think Carlos was there, we were there at the same time, like the seventy-sixth convention. Carlos Santana performed.

Baltin: Could you have ever imagined that 46 years later, you’d still be working with these artists and having gone through such a history?

Ronald: Yeah, it’s great. It’s great that we were able to last that long and be around and be around certain people in the business. It’s just a wonderful feeling.

Baltin: So now when you’ve reached this point where you get to kind of work with who you want, take me through some of the collaborators on this. I mean, Beyoncé doesn’t really work with anyone else.

Ronald: You’re right. Her mother is one of our best fans. I would say because every record that we’ve done, she brought her daughters up with that. And one of our favorite records is “For The Love Of You” and “Make Me Say It Again.” And so that’s what we decided to do on this album with Beyoncé.

Baltin: When you get to work with all these different people, some of whom you’ve known forever, and some maybe like a Takeoff or Quavo, who you maybe haven’t known as long, is it something that reinvigorates you?

Ronald: Yeah, well they all want to work with us. We’re the most sampled group in this business. They did over a thousand samples on us. And so we’re friends with the majority of all, from the Jay-Zs and Tupac and Biggie, and just on and on. Drake and all the people that we did records with, we still have some left. There’s some people left that they want to do songs with us and if we’re able to pick the right song, then we will do it. I did four or five records with Dr. Dre’s, hasn’t been out yet, as of yet, on his album.

Baltin: “Shout” is one of those songs that is such a rite of passage through life. Do you still appreciate when people come up to you and get that feeling of like, “Oh my God, I played this song at my wedding in 1978”?

Ronald: We’re loving it.

Ernest: Yeah.

Baltin: Are there songs off the new album that you’re already starting to hear people are playing at the wedding?

Ernest: Oh, yeah. ” Make Me Say It Again, Girl.” That’s been played at wedding…

Baltin: Verdine White and I discussed “September” and how that’s played at every wedding now in the history of the world. But now, when you guys, when you have a song like “Shout,” that’s such a part of people’s lives, when you’re doing the new record, do you pick up that vibe having done this so long? Do you get this feeling of, “Make Me Say It Again, Girl,” is going to be 20 years from now the song that people are going to be dancing to at their wedding?

Ronald: Yeah, we hope so.Those words of that song was written by Ernest Isley. And I feel that there was some sort of vibe from heaven that gave him those lyrics. I don’t know where that came from, but it had to be from heaven. And I hope she’s sending another one. [chuckle] You know, you’ve wrote some great songs, bro, from “Harvest of the World,” and the song “At Your Best You Are Love.” You’re positive, motivating within my life. That type of lyrics. I’m glad that kid went to college.

Baltin: Are there lyrics on this record that you’re like, “Oh, man, I didn’t even know that I was thinking that?” Because I’m a big believer that good writing is subconscious. It kind of dictates itself to you.

Ernest: I think that some of the songs that we did on this album, yeah, that were subconsciously lyrics, ’cause I know there was a lyric in one of the songs that said something about skin on skin. And some of the other things, say like with the song Earth, Wind & Fire and Debarge, has a similar kind of a vibe. And you hear it and it holds up amazingly well, the songs do.

Baltin: So what are some of the favorite lyrical passages that you go back to?

Ronald: Ernie did the song “Voyage To Atlantis” and we did another song.

Ernest: “Long Voyage Home.”

Ronald: Yeah. “Long Voyage Home.” And there’s kind of some kin to “Atlantis.”

Baltin: What do you hope people take from this record?

Ronald: When we first started the album off, we did “Friends and Family,” talking about friends and family and get togethers and people that had everything and people that didn’t have so much. That’s what that record was about. And we hope that through the years, that happens to be one of the records we want to keep people together with. Yes.

Baltin: Verdine and I spoke about this, and we talked about the fact that everybody dances to “September” as well. He danced to “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now.” So what songs did you guys dance to at your weddings?

Ronald: One of our records, I danced to “For the Love of You.”

Ernest: “For the Love,” “This Old Heart Of Mine,” “Work To Do.” “Who’s That Lady?” Yeah, there’s plenty of stuff in our catalog, man. You could do a wedding that you just played the Isley Brothers songs and along with it being the Isley Brothers that the other folks doing the songs. The Beatles would be doing “Twist and Shout” as they did, Bruce Springsteen does “Shout.” Billy Joel. Everybody. Ringo Starr does “Work To Do.” You could have a whole evening of music, of party music, and it would be from the Isley’s catalog.

Baltin: Take me through the tour plans next year. And with so many guests on the record, do you have ideas of how you’ll do some of these songs live?

Ronald: Oh, yeah, we’re going to probably do a tour with some of the people that’s on that album, 2 Chainz, Rick Ross, and we do a lot of shows with Snoop Dogg. We were planning to do songs with Quavo and Takeoff and it’s just terrible that that happened to Takeoff. But we’re going to do songs with a lot of the rappers.

Baltin: Do you appreciate it more now? Is it more fun for you now because you have been through so much and you’ve seen so many ups and downs?

Ronald: Yeah, we’re the only group. We’re the only group from 1959 to today. That’s 63 years. And we have a record on the charts now, that’s been number one for six weeks. Nobody, no group in the world, in the United States of the world, [chuckle] or Russia or China, or anywhere has done that. We’re the only one.

Baltin: A lot of people now who are fans of Quavo or Takeoff or Beyoncé or whatever, are just discovering the Isley Brothers and the incredible history. So what do you want people who are just getting into the band and people who are discovering this record to take from it?

Ronald: Take this is God’s blessing. It’s a blessing that we had on our lives from the beginning to now and on and on. And I want everybody to understand that and be able to say, “Wow, look what the Lord did for them.”

Ernest: Thanks to all the music lovers, the music fans who have supported us and continue to support us the way that they have. And wow, just thank you.