Iconic soul singer-songwriter Frankie Beverly, widely acclaimed as the lead singer of the R&B group The Maze, has died. He was 77 years old.
His death was announced by his family on the official Frankie Beverly and Mays Facebook page on Wednesday. The family's statement read as follows:
Grieving the loss of a loved one is a deeply personal and emotional experience.
During this time, we ask for privacy, understanding and the space to grieve in our own way as we work through our feelings of grief, reflection and mourning. This is a time of healing and we would appreciate you respecting our desire for solitude as we honor the memory of our beloved Howard Stanley Beverly, aka Frankie Beverly.
The family urged everyone to continue thinking about his accomplishments and how they plan to live them out, adding, “He lived life with what we call a pure soul. For us, no one did that more than him. He lived for music, his family and his friends. Let's love each other as he would have wanted us all to.”
Beverly, who also produced and played guitar, was the founder and driving force behind the septet and octet group Maze. ebony A magazine once described them as “black America's favorite band.”
of The Washington Post Notes Beginning in the late 1970s, Mays “developed a reputation as an energetic live act and rose to the top of the R&B charts with songs that were later sampled by hip-hop artists such as 50 Cent, Wale, and the New York duo Rob Bass & DJ EZ Rock.”
FILE/CHICAGO – 1986: Singers and musicians McKinley “Bugg” Williams, Robin Dew, Frankie Beverly (Howard Beverly), Ouan Thomas and Rome Lawrie of Mays Featuring Frankie Beverly perform at the Ally Crown Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, 1986. (Raymond Boyd/Getty Images)
Beverly completed her farewell tour with Maze earlier this year and made a guest appearance with the group at the San Jose Jazz Summer Festival in August.
Despite having a fulfilling life in music, Beverly expressed frustration that Mays never made it into the mainstream. post “He seemed to believe that the band's niche status and loyal fanbase gave it a certain protection, allowing it to continue playing its own version of old-school R&B even after hip-hop had begun to dominate the charts,” the article states.
“I want more people to know about me, but if it means giving up what we have, then I'll just have to wait until they find out,” he said. said of The Baltimore Sun 1994.
“Because whatever we have, whatever it seems we're involved in, is like a cult.”
