Art of Jamaica

Next up in our Unsung series is Gregory Isaacs. Gregory was born on July 15, 1951, in the Fletcher's Land area of Kingston, Jamaica. He entered several talent shows and was first noticed by Bryon Lee. Bryon brought him and Winston Sinclair to record a duet titled "Another Heartbreak" (click on the video below to hear this track). It has no success. Gregory then joined a trio called The Concords. They spent the next couple years recording and releasing singles but did not gain the interest of the Jamaican audience.  The Concords ended in 1970 and Isaacs went at it alone for the next couple years. Isaacs persisted despite his failures and set up his own record store and label, African Museum, in partnership with Errol Dunkley in 1973. Under this label, Isaacs released his first hit "My Only Lover." This is credited as the first lover's rock record ever made. To finance more recordings made by African Museum's label and shop, Gregory recorded...

T he National Gallery of Jamaica was established in 1974 & currently has two branches. One in downtown, Kingston & the other in Montego Bay, St. James. It is said to be the oldest & largest public art museum in the Anglophone Caribbean. Its first collection contained 237 paintings & 25 sculptures.   Currently, they have four permanent galleries at the Kingston Branch. These are: l  The Historical Galleries l  The Edna Manley Galleries l  The Kapo Galleries l  The A.D Scott Collection                                                                 INFORMATION ON THE PERMANENT GALLERIES The Historical Galleries portrays Jamaica from its original inhabitants, the Tainos through colonization. First the Spanish enslaved the Tainos  then th...