The Legacy Of Gregory Isaacs: The Cool Ruler Of Reggae

Reggae legend Gregory Isaacs

Once you love music, including reggae, then you will know who Gregory Isaacs is. He doesn’t need any introduction as a reggae star, probably one of the most popular and versatile reggae singers the world has ever produced. The smooth-enchanting voice of the Gregory, since from the seventies continue to steal the heart of ladies throughout the world until he succumbed to illness.

Throughout the course of his prolific career as international reggae star, Gregory Isaacs produced classic reggae tunes hard to resist. He is known to record over five hundred albums, igniting the reggae world, including Britain, America, and Jamaica, his native country, although he lived in the United Kingdom in all his career.

On stage, the well dressed cool reggae legend stole the heart of thousands of reggae fans worldwide and on numerous occasions, flowers are given to him on stage. Some of his hit which made him famous was his 1982 Night Nurse album. He recorded great singles including ‘Hard Drugs, Not The Way, Mr. Brown and a host of others.

The smooth-voiced dancehall crooner behind the genre’s landmark 1982 LP Night Nurse — passed away on October 25, 2010, at his London home following a year-long battle with lung cancer, the BBC reports. Isaacs was 59. “Gregory was well loved by everyone, his fans, and his family, and he worked really hard to make sure he delivered the music they loved and enjoyed,” Isaacs’ wife Linda said. “He will be greatly missed by his family and friends.”

Over the course of his prolific career — in which he releases an estimated 500 albums within Jamaica, the UK, and the U.S. — Isaacs collaborated with reggae, dub and dancehall icons like Lee “Scratch” Perry, King Tubby, Sugar Minott, Freddie McGregor, Dennis Brown and Errol Holt.

The writer, Joel Savage, and Gregory Isaacs
After spending the Seventies building a reputation as both a top-notch roots reggae singer and a soulful “lovers rock”-style crooner, Isaacs recorded his masterpiece Night Nurse at Bob Marley’s Tuff Gong Studios in 1982, the year after Marley’s death.

Isaacs was poised to become a worldwide star when Night Nurse climbed to Number 32 on the British charts but instead found himself sentenced to six months in a Jamaican prison on illegal firearm charges. (Isaacs’ police record is almost as prolific as his discography, with over 50 reported arrests in his lifetime.)

Dubbed the “Cool Ruler” by fans, Isaacs wrestled with drug addiction throughout his career, eventually losing his teeth and jeopardizing his legendary voice from persistent drug use, but he continued to make music, releasing his final album, Brand New Me, in 2008.

Read the interview I had with Gregory in Belgium before his death in the book Passion Of Reggae And African Music.