Ron Isley recently visited “The Breakfast Club” and recalled his special friendship with the late Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin.
Kim Whitley initiated the convo by asking the Isley Brothers if they had ever written a song for someone else that they wish they could get back.
That’s when Ron Isley said they were trying to get $15,000 for “It’s Your Thing,” and they wanted Aretha Franklin to sing it.
One time, you know, I think we was thinking about the money, and I said, hey, Aretha Franklin should do ‘It’s Your Thing.’
And so, we were trying to get 15 thousand dollars for it.
And, uh, Aretha Franklin was late at the studio, and she didn’t come in.
Charlamagne interjected and asked Ron Isley if Aretha took the record or if he wanted her to hear it.
Ron responded:
She was one of my girlfriends at the time…
She was late getting to the studio and she didn’t do the song.
The hosts of the show immediately tried to dig deeper into his relationship with Aretha, but Ron Isley started backpedaling off of the girlfriend in the romantic sense and explained his relationship with Aretha more like a female friend.
It wasn’t like the girlfriends that you guys have now, you know?…
It was just like, we were talking about music, talking about doing music, and, uh, she was…
I have on my telephone from that time till now. Aretha Franklin, we talked like two or three times a week.
Even when she died…
We were the best of friends.
The Isley Brothers said that Aretha Franklin eventually did end up recording “It’s Your Thing,” and Luther Vandross produced it.
Watch the clip of the Isley Brothers interview from “The Breakfast Club” below:
The OGs have been spilling all of the tea as of late.
It was just last week that Smokey Robinson openly discussed his affair with Diana Ross.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or join the convo on our socials. (Facebook, Instagram).
