He was often the brother people pictured when thinking of the famous group the Isley Brothers, and Ronald Isley has been a force in the industry for half a century. He was born on May 21, 1941 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Before he had even reached his teens, he started singing as the Isley Brothers with his brothers O'Kelly, Rudolph and Vernon. The group experienced tragedy early on as Vernon died in a bicycling accident in 1955, leaving Ronald as the group's lead singer. They cycled through a few unsuccessful singles before hitting gold with the single "Shout" in 1959 on RCA Records. Even though it wasn't a massive chart success, it sold a million copies.

They left RCA a few years later and signed with Want, where they released a cover of "Twist and Shout" in 1962. From there, they started their own label before signing with Tamla, affiliated with Motown, in 1965. They had even more success with "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)." The group wanted more creative control, however, so they went back to their own label, releasing "It's Your Thing" in 1969. They had many more hits throughout the 1970s including "Fight the Power (Pt. 1)," "The Pride" and "Don't Say Goodnight."

The group suffered another loss in 1986 when O'Kelly passed away from a heart attack. Rudolph left for a career in the ministry, and the group reformed with Ronald and younger brothers Ernie and Marvin. He continued releasing albums with the Isley Brothers and released a collaboration album with composer and arranger Burt Bacharach in 2003. In 2005, the 63-year-old singer made the headlines for marrying former JS singer and Isley Brothers backup singer Kandy Johnson, who was 28 years old at the time. A year later, years of not paying his taxes caught up with Ronald Isley, who was sentence to 37 months in prison for tax evasion. He is set to be released early in 2010.