Ernie Isley recently shared a special story about meeting Paul McCartney, where the two musicians ended up performing Twist and Shout together. This was a significant moment because both the Isley Brothers and the Beatles had huge hits with their own versions of the song. Ernie wasn’t part of the Isley Brothers at the time, but he remembers how the Beatles’ 1964 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show changed music forever. He was watching with his brothers and guitarist Jimi Hendrix, who was staying with them at the time, and they could feel how big the Beatles’ influence was. With that said, McCartney also kicked off his tour in Columbia recently as well.
“Hendrix was in our home the night the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan in ’64,” the youngest Isley remembers in the latest issue of Guitar World. “I was on the left side of the couch, Marvin [Isley] was on the right, and Jimi was in the middle.”
Even though the Isley Brothers were initially worried about the British Invasion and its impact on their career, they later found out that the Beatles were inspired by their music. The Beatles’ version of Twist and Shout was based on the Isley Brothers’ hit.
Years later, at an event in New York, Isley met McCartney, who greeted him warmly and said, “If it weren’t for the Isley Brothers, the Beatles would still be in Liverpool.” The two then took the stage together to perform Twist and Shout. Ernie felt it was an amazing moment, especially since Hendrix had played the song with the Isley Brothers years earlier.
