Chris Jasper passed away on February 23 at the age of 72 after a battle with cancer. Jasper was a member of The Isley Brothers in the ’70s and ’80s. His inclusion in the group, along with Ernie and Marvin Isley, was the official beginning of them as a six-member band. Jasper lived in the same apartment complex as the Isleys in Cincinnati, Ohio, and his sister married Rudolph Isley. Before he joined the group, the three members were the older brothers Ron, Rudolph, and O’Kelly Isley. Jasper studied music at Julliard and C.W. Post, Long Island University, before he worked with the Isleys full time. He wrote, played, and arranged some of their seminal albums. His contributions to the 12 albums released during that time period, including Showdown, 3+3, Go for Your Guns and Between the Sheets, are part of The Isley Brothers most fruitful period.
The group splintered in 1984, and Jasper, Ernie, and Marvin started recording as Isley-Jasper-Isley. It is Jasper singing lead on their hit “Caravan of Love,” which he co-wrote with Ernie. They broke up in 1987 and Jasper became a solo artist. He released 16 albums and had a big hit in 1988 with “Superbad,” which made it to number one on the R&B charts. All of his solo music was released on his CBS-distributed Gold City Records. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Isley Brothers in 1992. In 2014, he earned the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award with the group and they were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2022.
