T-Neck Records

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T-Neck Records was a record label founded by members of the R&B/soul group The Isley Brothers in 1964, which became notable for distributing the first nationally-released recordings of Jimi Hendrix, their guitarist, and which later became a successful label after the Isleys began releasing their own works after years of recording for other labels, scoring hits such as "It's Your Thing" (1969) and "That Lady" (1973).

History

Conception

The Isley Brothers had been recording music professionally since 1957 and had struggled with the release of many of its recordings. Encouraged by the million-selling success of their 1959 single "

Following the label's formation, the Isleys decided to record a couple of compositions with their band, which included a then-unknown guitarist named Jimi Hendrix (who was going by Jimmy Hendrix or Jimmy James at the time). One of the label's first – and one of its only – releases at the time, was a gospel-influenced soul record titled "Testify", which was released as a single in 1964.

There were at least three versions of the song: the first version featured Hendrix's guitar work. This version is sought after and has been rarely heard due to its poor distribution. A second version was issued in two parts (much like "Shout" had been) and featured more vocalizing from the Isleys. This version was later issued on the Isleys' best-ofs, The Isley Brothers' Story, Vol. 1: Rockin' Soul (1959-1968) and It's Your Thing: The Story of the Isley Brothers in 1999. A third more abbreviated version was recorded in 1971 with the Isleys redoing their vocals with new lyrics by Ron Isley on a Hendrix tribute album, In the Beginning: The Isley Brothers and Jimi Hendrix, shortly after Hendrix's death in 1970.

After that record failed to chart, the brothers decided to have T-Neck distributed briefly by

In early 1969, the brothers decided to reactivate the T-Neck label, which Ron Isley would later say was inspired by their stay at Motown due to the fact that Gordy, a black record executive, had virtually helped the label become a multi-million selling company. Ron was made president of the label while his brothers Kelly and Rudy were vice presidents with Kelly being the main leader behind the records' distribution deals. After seeking several labels, the brothers eventually signed a distribution deal with Neil Bogart's Buddah Records, which had agreed to oversee many of the label's releases. The Isleys then formed a new publishing company titled Triple Three Music, which would be their main publishing company for their works.

The label's first official release was the funk anthem, "

By 1971, the Isleys had changed much of their musical direction away from the boisterous funk styled from "It's Your Thing" into a more subdued form of funk with hard rock elements. The results were the albums, Givin' It Back (1971) and Brother, Brother, Brother (1972), both of which were notable for gospel and funk influenced interpretations of rock songs such as "Love the One You're With" and "It's Too Late", which resulted in chart success. In addition, the 1972 release of Brother, Brother, Brother would include three notable hit singles including the top 40 hits, "Pop That Thang" and "Work to Do". It was also the first official album to include Marvin Isley and Jasper on bass guitar and keyboards respectively. Following that release and another live album, The Isleys Live (1973), the brothers left Buddah after their contract ran out. Seeking a bigger label to distribute their releases, CBS president Clive Davis signed the act to the Epic subsidiary in 1973. Afterwards, Ernie Isley, brother Marvin and Jasper became the new official members of the band.

Major success

The Isleys released their first T-Neck/CBS release with the

In 1975, the brothers reached their peak with the release of the album, The Heat Is On, which was notable for the brothers' sequencing of the sides of the album, with one side featuring uptempo funk numbers and the other showcasing more subtle, softer ballads. Much of its CBS records featured compositions by the younger Isley brothers and Jasper, with Ernie Isley serving duty as lyrical writer, musical composer and multi-instrumentalist, not only playing guitar during sessions but also drums and assorted percussive instruments. Marvin Isley and Jasper were also multi-tasking similar roles. This period of success continued into the late seventies with the releases of platinum-selling albums such as Harvest for the World (1976), Go for Your Guns (1977) and Showdown (1978).

Following this, the Isleys' period of success started tampering down with their double album,

By 1982, the T-Neck label was undergoing financial troubles no thanks in part due to the three elder Isleys' spending habits and failure to pay back taxes after a certain period. During this time, the brothers had signed the R&B band, Bloodstone to their label where they produced what became the band's comeback album, We Go a Long Way Back (1982), with the title track providing them their biggest R&B success since 1975's "My Little Lady". However, Bloodstone's next T-Neck album Party (1984) failed to generate similar success.

Meanwhile, the decade-long 3+3 lineup was dealing with other issues including what later turned into a court battle against the two-halves of the act arguing over royalties and questionable songwriting credits (all of its CBS recordings were credited to all six members but were only issued on Triple Three Music and Three Boys Music giving the three older Isleys shares of the royalties). In 1983, the older Isleys advised the others to leave the band as they dealt with financial issues. Prior to this, the older Isleys managed to have most of Ernie's, Marvin's and Jasper's compositions recorded for

By 1985, with severe financial problems, each of the brothers filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and T-Neck Records folded, giving up much of the label's assets to pay debts and to avoid imprisonment for tax evasion. Shortly afterwards, the group returned as a trio and signed a contract with Warner Bros Records where they recorded the album Masterpiece, released in 1985. Meanwhile, the younger brothers and Jasper had reformed as Isley-Jasper-Isley, recording for Columbia Records where they released the hit, "Caravan of Love" (1985). Ironically, the record was included in the track listing of the Isleys compilation, The Isley Brothers Story, Vol. 2: The T-Neck Years (1969-1985), despite the fact that the record was never issued on T-Neck Records.

Ron Isley is the only original member of the group - Kelly Isley died in 1986, shortly after T-Neck folded; Rudy Isley retired from the music industry in 1989 and later died in 2023. Some of the Isleys' songs recorded under T-Neck have been released on various labels, with permission from Sony Music. T-Neck's pre-1983 catalog is owned by Sony Music via Legacy Recordings.

See also

• List of record labels

References