Gregory Anthony Isaacs was born on 15 July 1951 in Fletcher’s Land, Kingston, Jamaica. He was also known as the “Cool Ruler”. His earliest musical influences came from artists like Sam Cooke, Percy Sledge, Delroy Wilson, Atton Ellis and Ken Boothe. In the 1960s Isaacs performed in a vocal trio called the Concords after he had been encouraged by Byron Lee to sing. After the group split up in 1970 he formed his own label named African Museum. In the 1970s, he4 became one of the most popular artists in Jamaica releasing a number of singles under his own label and these hits included “My Only Lover”, “Sinner Man” and “Mr Cop’. He joined forces with producers including Sly& Robbie of Taxi Record and he recorded the pair’s first hit in 1979 “Soon Forward”. Isaacs also got into production with Gussie Clarke of the Music Works Label. Isaacs made releases on VP Records, Trojan, Virgin’s Front Line and Tad’s Record. He later signed with Island Records which led to the international release of “Night Nurse” in 1982 and “Out Deh!” in 1983.
Tad Records released “All I Have Is Love”, “Mr Brown” and “Hard Drugs” which became an anti-drug anthem popular in Jamaica. Isaacs continued to record on his label in the 2000s and performing in live shows. He performed at the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2007 in Jamaica and that same year he collaborated with the Spanish Rap Group Flowklorikos for their album “Donde Duele Inspira”. He released the album “Brand New Me” in 2009 and it was nominated for the Grammy Awards in 2010. Isaacs recorded his last album ‘Isaacs Meets Isaacs” which featured Zimbabwean Reggae Artist King Isaacs and the album was also nominated best Reggae Album at the 2011 Grammy Awards. During his career, Isaacs released more than 500 releases. He died of lung cancer on 25 October 2010 at his home in London.
