Gregory Isaacs
The Cool Ruler made restraint feel dangerous. Gregory Isaacs could turn heartbreak, street pressure and prison walls into a murmur that pulled the whole riddim closer.
Gregory Isaacs emerged in Kingston during the 1970s and built his career partly through self-determination, co-founding the African Museum label with Errol Dunkley. His narrow, conversational phrasing made love songs feel private while records such as “Mr Cop,” “Thief a Man” and “Slave Master” kept social reality nearby. By the late 1970s and early 1980s, “Soon Forward,” “Night Nurse” and a long sequence of albums established him internationally as the Cool Ruler and one of lovers rock/reggae’s essential male voices. Isaacs recorded prolifically and unevenly across decades, but at his best no singer made understatement carry more weight. He died in 2010.