Singer, songwriter and keyboardist Frankie Beverly, the leader and co-founder of the iconic Los Angeles soul band Maze, has died, aged 77, according to his family.
“He lived his life with pure soul as one would say, and for us, no one did it better,” wrote Beverly’s family in a press statement. “He lived for his music, family, and friends. Love one another as he would want that for us all.”
Rarely seen without his trademark baseball cap, Beverly rose to fame fronting Maze, a California-based R&B aggregation that became renowned in the ‘70s and ‘80s for silky mid-tempo groove ballads like their US R&B chart-topping singles ‘Back In Stride’ and ‘Can’t Get Over You.’ The uniqueness of their sound combined with their potent and often transcendent live performances resulted in eight gold albums in their native USA between 1977 and 1993, including Golden Time Of Day, Joy And Pain, and Silky Soul. Their popularity extended across the Atlantic to Europe, particularly the UK, where they became a huge, must-see live attraction and famously sold out eight consecutive concerts at the Hammersmith Odeon in May 1985.
Born Howard Stanley Beverly in Philadelphia in 1946, Beverly was raised on gospel music before being smitten by doo-wop and in particular, the music of Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers. Dubbed “Little Frankie,” he earned nickels and dimes as a child singing for passersby on street corners. Later, he led a doo-wop act called The Blenders and after they folded, he toured with The Silhouettes for a year. In 1963, Beverly made his first recording as a member of a Philly group The Butlers. Later billed as Frankie Beverly & The Butlers, the group recorded for several local Philly labels, including Gamble, a small indie run by rising songwriter/producer, Kenny Gamble, who in the early ’70s became famous as half of Gamble & Huff, who founded Philadelphia International Records.
In 1969, 23-year-old Beverly formed a new group, Raw Soul. The outfit’s debut single, ‘You Left Me’ – produced by soul-jazz organist, Charles Earland, for the Philly indie label, Eldorado – was released in 1970 and attributed to The Raw Soul Featuring Frankie Beverly. The band next surfaced as Frankie Beverly’s Raw Soul on the small RCA-distributed New York label, Gregar, and released a clutch of 45s between 1971 and 1973. Failing to make the commercial impact in their native Philly, Raw Soul upped sticks to San Francisco in a bid to improve their career prospects. In California, they came on the radar of Motown superstar, Marvin Gaye, who hired them as his backing band. He also hired them as his support act, but with the proviso, the band changed its name. Gaye purportedly came up with the name Maze, which the band adopted. Their association with Gaye led to a record deal with Capitol Records.
At Capitol Records, Maze patented a distinctive smooth style that went against the disco-funk grain that was dominating black urban music in the late ’70s. Characterised by mellow, laidback grooves and sumptuous slow jams, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly quickly attracted an army of admirers and became one of the biggest self-contained R&B bands of the late ’70s and 1980s with a raft of bestselling albums and hit singles. In 1989, they left Capitol for Warner Bros, where they released their final studio album, 1993’s Back To Basics.
The cause of Beverley’s death has not yet been revealed.
“MASTER OF THE GROOVE” – FRANKIE BEVERLY 1946-2024
