Alex Isley's forte is dreamy, left-of-center R&B imbued with soul. The singer, songwriter, arranger, and producer established herself with independent solo projects including a handful of EPs, the solo full-lengths Dreams in Analog (2013) and L U X U R Y (2015), and a duo recording with Jack Dine, Marigold (2022). At the same time, Isley excelled as a featured artist and background vocalist heard on songs by Scarface, Kendrick Lamar, and PJ Morton, among other artists spanning rap, jazz, and pop. Her duet with SiR on Robert Glasper's "Back to Love," recorded for the soundtrack of Run the World, was nominated for two Grammys. Since teaming with Terrace Martin for I Left My Heart in Ladera (2023), Isley has signed with the Warner-affiliated Free Lunch label and released the Darhyl Camper collaboration "Hands" (2025).
A longtime Los Angeles native born in Westwood, New Jersey, Isley is the daughter of the Isley Brothers' Ernie Isley. Classically trained by her maternal grandmother, an opera singer, Isley studied jazz theory and performance at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, and continued at UCLA, where she finished with a degree in jazz studies. In 2012, she debuted with Love/Art Memoirs, an EP that introduced her predominantly mellow if strongly expressive approach to R&B. The full-length Dreams in Analog was out the next year with a guest appearance from We Are King's Paris Strother. Another album, L U X U R Y, sweetened by an intro with a string section Isley arranged, arrived at the tail end of 2015. By that point, Isley had an even lengthier list of recordings to which she had contributed in various supporting roles. These included Robin Thicke's Paula, Scarface's Deeply Rooted, and Bryson Tiller's T R A P S O U L. More notably, Isley fronted the Decoders' cover of Chaka Khan's "What Cha' Gonna Do for Me," and she sang background (uncredited) on Kendrick Lamar's Grammy-winning "These Walls."
Isley put out a couple singles and was heard on PJ Morton's The Piano Album before she released her next two EPs, The Beauty of Everything, Pt. 1 and The Beauty of Everything, Pt. 2, in 2018 and 2019. During the latter year, Isley appeared on Tank and the Bangas' Green Balloon, and with Jack Dine recorded another EP, Wilton. Isley was busier still in 2020. She released two of her best-known slow jams, "Gone" and the Masego-assisted "Good & Plenty" (both made with Dine), appeared on the season four soundtrack of Insecure (as the featured artist on Cautious Clay's "Reaching"), and contributed to a few projects led by "These Walls" producer Terrace Martin, such as Dinner Party: Dessert. She and Dine teamed up again for the full-length Marigold in 2022.
Isley's first move in 2023 was "Brown Eyed Girl," an acoustic ballad recorded with her father Ernie, who also wrote it. Next came "Back to Love," her collaboration (as a co-writer and duettist) with Robert Glasper and SiR for the soundtrack of the television series Run the World. Shortly thereafter, she and Terrace Martin released I Left My Heart in Ladera, highlighted by the romantic slow jam "2 Step in the Living Room" and a cover of Sade's "Paradise." At the 66th Annual Grammy Awards the following February, "Back to Love" was nominated in the categories of Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song. Along with Syd, Isley was one of the initial signees to the label division of Free Lunch Agency, which entered a partnership with major-label Warner Records. "Hands," her label debut, arrived in February 2025
