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Singer Gregory Isaacs dead at 59

London -- Jamaican reggae singer Gregory Isaacs has died of cancer at his home in London, his family said. He was 59.

The 1970s icon dubbed "Cool Ruler" was known as much for his designer suits, cocaine addiction and brushes with the law as he was for his "lovers rock" songs "Night Nurse," "All I Have is Love," "My Only Lover" and "Slave Master," the Los Angeles Times said Monday.

"I'd say he's one of the three geniuses I've known in the reggae music business, and I've known everyone," producer Gary Himelfarb told the Times. "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. 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."

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI).

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