Rudolph Isley, Founding Member of the Isley Brothers and Co-Writer of ‘Shout!’, Dies at 84

variety.com:

A.D. Amorosi Rudolph Isley, one of the founding members of the seminal soul and funk band the Isley Brothers died Wednesday at his home in Olympia Fields, Illinois.

He was 84; no cause of death was officially cited, although TMZ, which first reported his death, said that a heart attack was suspected.“There are no words to express my feelings and the love I have for my brother,” Rudolph’s brother and Isley Brothers co-founder Ronald said in a statement to Variety. (The brothers, with Rudolph on the left, are pictured above.) The group’s relatively low profile belies their status as pioneers of rock and roll: Their hits across several decades include such oft-covered hits as “Shout!” (cowritten by Rudolph), “Twist and Shout,” “It’s Your Thing,” “That Lady” and many others.

Rudolph also famously co-wrote “Testify,” a 1964 track featuring a young, up-and-coming young guitarist named Jimi Hendrix. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 — by Little Richard, no less — and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2022.

Rudolph sued Ronald — the longtime lead vocalist of the still-active group with guitarist Ernie — earlier this year over lost profits and Ronald’s tight hold over the group’s trademark, which seemed to reflect his longtime status as “The Quiet Isley.” Despite that title, Rudolph was the smoothest of Isley singers and its sharpest dresser (he was originally responsible for the band’s furs, canes and wide-brimmed hat era of the 1970s).