The road to Island ran through London. In 1980 Gregory Isaacs moved to Charisma Records’ Pre subsidiary for Lonely Lover, followed by More Gregory (1981) and its Jamaican hit “Top Ten,” the Guardian records. Both were backed by the Roots Radics, the band he toured Britain with in 1980–81. The two album titles, together with Virgin’s Cool Ruler, gave him the names — Cool Ruler, Lonely Lover — that stuck for life.
Island, 1982
Reggae was in transition. Bob Marley had died in May 1981, and Chris Blackwell’s Island Records had no obvious heir on its roster. In 1982 it signed Isaacs, releasing his records on Island in Britain and on the Mango imprint in the United States, as the Discogs pressing history shows (Island ILPS 9721; Mango MLPS 9721; African Museum at home). The Independent would later call him “the natural heir to Bob Marley’s reggae crown.”
Night Nurse was recorded at Marley’s own Tuff Gong studio and mixed at Compass Point in Nassau, per the credits collated by Riddimguide: Isaacs producing with Radics bassist Errol “Flabba” Holt, Style Scott on drums, Dwight Pinkney and Bingy Bunny on guitars, Steely Johnson on keyboards, Wally Badarou on synthesizer. Eight songs: “Night Nurse,” “Stranger in Town,” “Objection Overruled,” “Hot Stepper,” “Cool Down the Pace,” “Material Man,” “Not the Way” and “Sad to Know (You’re Leaving).”
The hit
The album reached No. 32 in the UK, the BBC reports — his most commercially successful set to date. The title track, a lover’s plea dressed as a medical emergency, was “hugely popular in the clubs and received heavy radio play,” and became the song he would be introduced by for the rest of his life.
Then prison
Instead of capitalising, Isaacs spent six months in jail in Kingston after police found an unlicensed firearm at his home; he also served time for cocaine possession, the Guardian and Los Angeles Times record. He turned the experience into his second Island album, Out Deh! (1983). The drug habit that took hold in these years would shadow the rest of the career.
Afterlife of a song
“Night Nurse” outlived its moment. In September 1997 Sly & Robbie cut it with Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall on vocals; the single reached No. 13 in the UK and sat on their album Friends, which won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album in 1999, per the Recording Academy. In Britain the song later soundtracked a cold-and-flu remedy of the same name.
Listen and dig deeper
- Play Night Nurse, Out Deh!, Lonely Lover and More Gregory in the Listen library. Browse the Roots Radics.
- Previously: Cool Ruler and Front Line (1978). Next: ‘Rumours’ and the dancehall rebirth (1988).
Sources: The Guardian — “Gregory Isaacs obituary” (David Katz, Oct 25, 2010); BBC News — “Night Nurse singer Gregory Isaacs dies aged 59” (Oct 25, 2010); The Independent — Gregory Isaacs obituary (2010); Los Angeles Times — “Gregory Isaacs dies at 59” (Richard Cromelin, Oct 26, 2010); Discogs — Night Nurse master release; Riddimguide — Night Nurse credits; Recording Academy — Best Reggae Album, 41st Grammy Awards.
Editor’s note: This entry is part of the JamaicansMusic online museum — a career timeline assembled from the archive. It is dated to the era it documents; every claim is drawn from the linked sources.