Born July 15th, 1951, in Denham Town, Kingston, Gregory Anthony Isaacs would rise through the ranks of Jamaican music to become the man we remember as The Cool Ruler. His first artistic successes came with Rupie Edwards, who recorded Gregory with a group known as The Concords. Though the music was outstanding (check out “Don’t Let Me Suffer”), financial reward was not forthcoming.
But a patient man rides donkey, and over the next few years Isaacs worked feverishly on songs with producers as varied as Prince Buster to Winston Sinclair, raising money to start his “African Museum” label in 1973. With a stream of hits including “Loving Pauper”and “Love Is Overdue”, the singer used this breakthrough to record all over Kingston in order to fund his label.
As Isaacs’ fame became set in stone in West Indian communities worldwide, the music began to morph into the heavier and more serious-minded Roots era. As thousands of slum-trapped Jamaicans turned to Ethiopia, Isaacs followed the Rastafari path, growing dreadlocks and recording Roots anthems such as “Beautiful Africa”, “Black A Kill Black” and “Thief A Man”.
Throughout the 70’s and early 80’s, the singer continued to record hit after hit of mostly Roots and Lovers based productions which shook the dancehalls at home and abroad. Righteous protest songs such as “The Border” and “Slave Master” contrasted with Gregory’s yearning cries of lost love in “Tumbling Tears” and the bubbling “Private Secretary”. With the commercially successful release of “Night Nurse” in 1982, Gregory struggled with crack cocaine addiction, which would sadly stay with him for the rest of his life. Regardless of these demons, Isaacs continued to record prolifically throughout the 80’s and 90’s, where he comfortably moved amongst the new Digital craze sweeping the island, including “Here Comes Rudie”, “Big All Around” and the legendary “Rumours”.
Despite rumours upon rumours about Gregory over the years, his place in history as one of the island’s greatest vocalists is secure, with new material frequently released and lost gems reissued. This month we will take a look at some of our favourite works from the late great Cool Ruler.