Gregory Isaacs RIP

[Bandana]

Re: Gregory Issacs

OMG


10 years ago, when I first set foot on the island of Jamaica I was broken by grief.

The Cool Ruler sang, and I danced away my grief.

When I landed back in America my first stop was the music store.

Gregory Isaacs - One Man Against the World was my first Reggae Album


RIP Gregory



You touched my heart and my soul with your music


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[Gen]

Re: Gregory Isaacs RIP

[sistactry]

Re: Gregory Isaacs RIP

OMG...i cant believe this, noooo....Gregory, safe journey me lion!! RIP

[Wendy]

Re: Gregory Isaacs RIP

Wow .. he was young. Makes you wonder if that cancer he died of could not have been treated and saved is life. I know Rastafarians have this thing against medicine.

Sad ..sad .. RIP Gregory

[Pepper]

Re: Gregory Issacs

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Nanook</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The Cool Ruler...saw him a few times at DeBuss. I must go dig out my CD's this morning and play a little tribute.

</div></div>

A pure Gregory me a play from morning.
So glad I was able to catch a couple of his shows. No one could wear a hat like Gregory.

RIP Cool Ruler.

[Bandana]

Re: Gregory Isaacs RIP

The first time I saw Gregory was the night I let go of my grief from the death of my Mother.

The last time I saw Gregory was the night my husband showed me that there are still good men in this world.

Gregory, you helped shape the last decade of my life and you never even knew it.



Negril, January 2010




San Francisco, February 2008



hear me a screammm...





Gregory I you!

My prayers go out for your family, your friends, and your fans.

[SistahD]

Re: Gregory Isaacs RIP

<span style="font-size: 11pt">Aye sah!! such sad news! REst in eternal peace Gregory!</span>

[loops]

Re: Gregory Isaacs RIP

Gregory Isaacs, Jamaican reggae artist, dead at 59

By Terence McArdle
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 25, 2010; 10:30 AM

Gregory Isaacs, 59, the Jamaican-born reggae singer who was known as the &quot;cool ruler&quot; for his smooth, romantic singing style and who popularized the reggae subgenre known as lover's rock, died of lung cancer Oct. 25 at his home in London.

Unlike so-called roots rock singers Bob Marley and Burning Spear, who popularized songs that reflected world politics and the Rastafarian culture, Mr. Isaacs was best known for his love songs, many of which he wrote.

With his seductive baritone, he often pleaded for love or begged a lover for understanding. Nattily attired with his fedora hats and sports jackets, Mr. Isaacs conveyed a combination of prowess and vulnerability that invited comparisons to American rhythm and blues singers Tyrone Davis and Marvin Gaye.

Writing in the New York Times, music critic Milo Miles called Mr. Isaacs &quot;the most exquisite vocalist in reggae,&quot; adding that &quot;his lustful songs are not simple seductions or sexual boasts but sensuous daydreams, escapes from tribulation that invite the listener along.&quot;

With the success of his release &quot;Night Nurse&quot; (1982), which he co-wrote, Mr. Isaacs was poised for international stardom.

&quot;Night Nurse,&quot; with its sly innuendo - &quot;I don't wanna see no doc. I need attendance from my nurse around the clock. There's no prescription for me, she's my only remedy&quot; - was a club hit for Mr. Isaacs in 1982.

That same year, he was sentenced to six months in a Jamaican prison for possession of unlicensed firearms.


Mr. Isaacs maintained that he owned the guns for protection from robbers and political violence, which had engulfed Jamaica in the late 1970s, &quot;just like you have a jacket to protect you from the cold.&quot;

It was later reported that he had been arrested 27 times, mostly on drug charges - a fact that may have accounted for his reluctance to give interviews.

Gregory Anthony Isaacs was born July 15, 1951, in the impoverished Denham Town neighborhood of Kingston, where he listened to American rhythm and blues balladeers Sam Cooke and Ben E. King.

After winning several talent shows as a teenager, he first recorded in a duo with singer Winston Sinclair in 1968 and joined a vocal trio, the Concords, that recorded in the era's popular rock steady style.

In 1973, Mr. Isaacs struck out on his own. He started a record company, African Museum, with another Jamaican singer, Erroll Dunkley. There he had several hits in Jamaica with &quot;My Only Lover&quot; (1973), sometimes cited as the first lovers rock record, &quot;Love Is Overdue&quot; (1974) and &quot;All I Have Is Love&quot; (1976).

A prominent company, Island Records, started releasing his recordings in the United States in 1982. Mr. Isaacs was so prolific that the Web site All Music Guide estimated he had appeared nearly 500 albums released in Jamaica, the U.S. and the U.K.

Mr. Isaacs appeared in the 1978 subtitled Jamaican film &quot;Rockers,&quot; a plotless, episodic comedy sometimes described as the &quot;A Hard Days Night&quot; of reggae music. He played a local locksmith haggling with two tourists over the price of unlocking their car and is later seen performing in a night club.

Mr. Isaacs was married multiple times, and a complete list of survivors could not be confirmed.

He continued to record and tour throughout the 1990s. However in 2007, the London Daily Telegraph reported that addiction to crack cocaine had caused the singer to lose his teeth - a problem that affected his singing.

That year he told the Daily Telegraph, &quot;It was the greatest college ever, but the most expensive fee ever paid - the Cocaine High School. I learnt everything - and now I've put it on the side.&quot;

[Bandana]

Re: Gregory Isaacs RIP



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[goldilocks]

Re: Gregory Isaacs RIP

:

Life's work well done, Gregory Isaacs, you will be missed!

[Nanook]

Re: Gregory Isaacs RIP

In reference to his reluctance to give interviews, I believe a few years ago he did do an in depth one with someone, I don't recall details or even when it was for sure but I remember reading it, and it was very good.

[loops]

Re: Gregory Isaacs RIP

Gregory Isaacs dies at 59; Jamaican singer pioneered reggae style known as lovers rock
One of the genre's major stars in the 1970s, the 'Cool Ruler' had a polished sound and lyrics that focused on tales of love. He was also known for his designer suits and an outlaw persona that included cocaine addiction.
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By Richard Cromelin, Special to the Los Angeles Times

October 25, 2010|7:51 a.m.
E-mail Print Share Text Size la-me-gregory-isaacs-20101026
Gregory Isaacs, the Jamaican singer who pioneered the style of reggae music known as lovers rock and became one of the genre's major stars in the 1970s, has died. He was 59.

Isaacs died Monday at his home in London, the BBC reported. He had cancer.

Known as the &quot;Cool Ruler,&quot; as he styled himself in the title of a 1978 album, Isaacs cut a dapper figure in his designer suits and silk shirts -- an image suited to a style of music that emphasized romantic yearning over reggae's more traditional themes of spiritual and political transformation.

&quot;I'd say he's one of the three geniuses I've known in the reggae music business, and I've known everyone,&quot; said Gary Himelfarb, who recorded several Isaacs albums for his Washington, D.C.-based RAS Records label in the 1990s.

&quot;Gregory was the kind of person who could walk through a room of 20 people and come out the other side and tell you what everybody was wearing,&quot; added Himelfarb, whose professional name is Dr. Dread. &quot;He could sit at a piano and compose incredible tunes. He was really brilliant. He was on a whole other level than your typical Jamaican artist.&quot;

Isaacs also cultivated an outlaw persona -- a &quot;rude boy&quot; in Jamaican slang. He had frequent run-ins with the authorities (he once estimated his number of arrests, mostly on drug- and gun-related charges, at around 50) and suffered from a serious cocaine addiction.

Those tendencies might have held him back from even greater achievements, especially in the U.S. In 1982, shortly after the death of reggae's iconic leader, Bob Marley, New York Times critic Robert Palmer wrote that Isaacs &quot;could be reggae's most likely candidate for stardom in the United States.&quot;

That was the year of his biggest hit, the playfully suggestive &quot;Night Nurse,&quot; but instead of capitalizing on its success, Isaacs spent six months of that year in jail in Kingston, Jamaica. His drug habit contributed to his notorious unreliability and the eventual deterioration of his supple voice, but in recent years he said that he had brought it under control, and reports on some 2009 performances were highly positive.

&quot;Drugs are a debasing weapon,&quot; he said in a 2007 interview with London's Daily Telegraph. &quot;It was the greatest college ever, but the most expensive school fee ever paid -- the Cocaine High School. I learnt everything, and now I've put it on the side.''

Isaacs was born in Kingston on July 15, 1951 and grew up in Denham Town, a poor section of the Jamaican capital. In school, he enjoyed reading, composition and painting, and at home he listened to American R&amp;B on his family's rented radio.

He was drawn to the soulful, romantic sounds of Sam Cooke and the Drifters, and as a teenager he began performing in Kingston's talent competitions. He made his first records in the late 1960s, then sang with the Motown-flavored vocal group the Concords before going solo. He started his own record label and store, African Museum, in 1973 and soon hit his stride.

Isaacs' polished reggae sound was a sleek vehicle, and in his lyrics he focused on romantic pleas and tales of love, both fulfilled and frustrated. His high voice had an effortless, understated ease, and he punctuated his vocals with disarming moans and groans that became his signature.

He was soon a major record seller in Jamaica, and then in Britain, with such hits as &quot;All I Have Is Love,&quot; &quot;My Only Lover&quot; and &quot;Slave Master&quot; (the last from the 1978 movie &quot;Rockers,&quot; in which he played a street thug.) The commercial success of his lovers rock established the sound as a dominant force in reggae.

&quot;Not only in Jamaica but also in England, where he was a major star, an awful lot of the artists in the '80s and '90s chose that form of reggae,&quot; author and reggae scholar Roger Steffens said in a recent interview, citing Isaacs' considerable influence. &quot;Frankie Paul, Sugar Minott and a host of younger artists who basically made love songs for the dance hall.&quot;

&quot;I don't know if I invented it, but I popularized it,&quot; Isaacs said of the lovers-rock style in a 1986 interview with the Toronto Star. &quot;From since I was growing up, I liked love songs -- Smokey Robinson, Sam Cooke. That was the kind of songs getting the girls dancing.&quot;

Though he was identified with lovers rock, Isaacs often moved into social commentary in his music, in such songs as &quot;Border&quot; and &quot;Black Liberation Struggle&quot; -- a combination that led some to liken the singer to American R&amp;B master Marvin Gaye.

Isaacs was a prolific record-maker, though he disputed published claims that he had released about 500 albums -- he figured it was closer to 200. He recorded for a variety of Jamaican labels and three major British companies: Virgin, Island and Charisma.

He had a knack for collaborating with top-flight Jamaican musicians, including the producing team Sly and Robbie and the groups the Heptones and Roots Radics. He also teamed with Dennis Brown, another lovers-rock luminary.

&quot;He had a very long run as a major figure,&quot; Steffens said. &quot;A unique voice. He was highly respected in the music community, and popular all over the world.&quot;

[remo]

Re: Gregory Isaacs RIP

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: goldilocks</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> :

Life's work well done, Gregory Isaacs, you will be missed! </div></div>
Yes,Indeed

RIP my yute

[Bandana]

Re: Gregory Isaacs RIP

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[f0rTyLeGz]

Re: Gregory Issacs

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: loops</div><div class="ubbcode-body"></div></div>
This is how I will remember him... Taking a rough life easy.