Chris Jasper obit

Legendary Isley Brothers member and soul music star Chris Jasper dies

 

He was not on the list.

(February 24, 2025) 2025 has been devastating to soul music fans, but this one cuts me the deepest. We are absolutely devastated to inform SoulTrackers of the death of Chris Jasper, legendary keyboardist and important songwriter for the Isley Brothers, and for more than three decades a pioneering independent soul music artist. He was 73 and died just two months after a diagnosis of cancer. Chris’s family has provided us with a statement, which you can read here.

There is no doubt that among the great soul/funk groups of the 70s and early 80s, the Isleys were the one of the baddest. They had the look down better than anyone; they had the smoke coming up from the ground in their concerts; and, more importantly, they could move from smoking funk songs like “Fight The Power” and “That Lady” to sweet ballads such as “For The Love of You” and “(At Your Best) You Are Love” with a seamlessness no one else could match. And while it is clear that Ronald Isley’s magnetic voice and Ernie Isley’s searing guitar solos were deserving of the kudos they’ve continued to receive to this day, Chris Jasper’s influence on the unique sound of the Isleys has often been overlooked. His keyboard and moog work was the underpinning of the group’s great dance tunes and was a key to their classic ballads such as “Groove With You” and “Between the Sheets.”

Born in Cincinnati as the youngest of seven, Jasper moved to New York after high school, earning both an undergraduate degree and, ultimately, a law degree. The brother-in-law of the Isleys (his older sister Elaine married Rudolph), Jasper was part of the younger trio (with Ernie and Marvin Isley) that joined the veteran Isley Brothers (Ronald, O’Kelly and Rudolph) for the legendary 3+3 album in 1972. It blew the dials off of Soul Radio as perhaps the first album that truly merged the hypnotic metal sounds that Hendrix created with the infectious funk that James Brown and his descendants had been making for 10 years. Jasper and the younger Isleys brought a fresh, raw sound to the group and top-notch songwriting skills to boot.

After 13 years and 11 gold albums, the 6-member Isley Brothers group split, and the three younger members formed Isley/Jasper/Isley. I/J/I recorded three albums on Columbia/Epic, scoring big time with “Caravan of Love,” one of the definitive soul songs of the 80s (later remade and taken to #1 by the Housemartins) and a tune that bore the clear imprint of Jasper as its principal writer and vocalist.

Isley/Jasper/Isley split in 1988, and Jasper elected to go solo, creating his own Gold City label and signing a distribution deal with CBS. His first album, Superbad, continued the smooth, keyboard-laden sound that I/J/I had shown in their three discs, and scored a #1 R&B hit with the title cut. He followed with the equally impressive Time Bomb CD before shifting his focus to Gospel music with 1992’s Praise the Eternal.

He continued to record regularly over the next thirty years, with over a dozen solid albums in various styles. In 1992, Chris was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. In 2016, he was awarded the National R&B Society Lifetime Achievement Award. And we awarded him Lifetime Achievement Award at the SoulTracks Readers’ Choice Awards in 2020.

Chris became a favorite of SoulTracks readers over the years, as he continued to show incredible skills as a singer, songwriter and player more than half a century after we first heard him.

I was blessed to get to know Chris and his wife of 42 years, Margie, and it is perhaps fitting that one of the most recent recordings of his that we covered was “It Started With a Kiss,” a musical love song to Margie.

Chris was a dedicated and loving husband and father. In addition to Margie, a New York-based attorney and author, he is survived by his three sons Michael, Nicholas, and Christopher. We will be mourning this sad passing for a long time to come, even as we celebrate this talented performer and fine man.