The Isley Brothers’ journey officially reached a new milestone this week, as the legendary group was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame during a ceremony held on January 28.
According to Variety, the group began performing together in the 1950s—years before the Walk of Fame even existed—and the moment was both historic and deeply symbolic.
Led today by brothers Ronald and Ernie Isley, the group has remained active for more than seven decades, a rarity in popular music. Reflecting on the honor, Ronald Isley described the recognition as surreal, saying, “That’s fantastic and amazing… so many years, man.”
The timing felt especially fitting, as the Isleys are still recording new music and collaborating with contemporary artists well into 2026.
Across generations, their catalog has become part of everyday life—showing up at parties, weddings, road trips, and in film soundtracks ranging from Anchorman to Rush Hour.
Their influence extends further through hip-hop, where their music has been sampled by artists including Ice Cube, The Notorious B.I.G., Kendrick Lamar, Drake, SZA, and Megan Thee Stallion.
According to Sony Music Publishing executive Rachael Conte, the group’s work remains endlessly reusable. “You could take it apart any which way, and it’s gonna be a hit,” she said.
The Isley Brothers hold a unique place in chart history as the only act to land songs on the Billboard Hot 100 across six consecutive decades. Their sound evolved with the times, moving from early R&B staples like “Shout” and “Twist & Shout” to funk-driven classics such as “It’s Your Thing” and the guitar-heavy “That Lady.”
That evolution was shaped in part by an early association with Jimi Hendrix, who played guitar for the group in the early 1960s and left a lasting impression on Ernie Isley.
Despite personal losses over the years—including the passing of brothers O’Kelly, Marvin, and Rudolph—the group’s legacy has remained intact.
Their most recent chart success came in 2022 with a reworked version of “Make Me Say It Again, Girl,” featuring Beyoncé, which topped Billboard’s Adult R&B Songs chart.