The world of entertainment has lost another important icon. Frankie Beverly, the lead singer and songwriter of the soul and funk band Maze has passed away. His death was announced in a statement by his family, posted to his Instagram account. It did not say where Beverly died or cite the cause.
For more than 50 years, Frankie Beverly provided the soundtrack to countless summer family reunions and live concerts. His warm but impassioned vocals became a staple at most Black celebrations across the country.
Born Howard Stanley Beverly on Dec. 6, 1946, in Philadelphia, Frankie was raised in North Philadelphia where he was influenced by the doo-wop music of the 1950s and ’60s. He changed his name to Frankie after the lead singer of Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers.
In 1970, Beverly formed the group called “Raw Soul” and moved to San Francisco where Marvin Gaye took notice of him and his group. Gaye eventually took the group under his wing, brought them on tour with him and changed their name to Frankie Beverly and Maze. The music was sweaty, funky and soulful.
By 1976, Marvin Gaye had orchestrated a deal with Capitol Records for Beverly and Maze. The group released a debut album in 1977 under Capitol Records and released at least eight more albums not including live recordings over the next several decades, including “Silky Soul” in 1989 and “Back to Basics” in 1993. Four years after Gaye’s death, Beverly paid homage to “the voice with a velvet touch” on the track “Silky Soul,” which samples Gaye’s “What’s Going On.”
By the 1980s, Frankie Beverly and Maze had become a well-oiled touring machine. “Before I Let Go” peaked at No. 13 on Billboard’s R&B chart after its release in 1981 on the band’s fifth album. In the more than four decades since, the song became a signature for the group and for Beverly, whose vocals ignite the track and elevate it to a communal response, particularly at Black gatherings.
Earlier this year Questlove, during a sit-down with Beverly for his podcast, called the song “the national anthem of life,” in part for its ubiquity in Black celebrations. The song is often an end-of-the-night anthem: Beverly and Maze used it as a set-ender, and for many years it was the anthem that closed the annual Essence Festival. Frankie Beverly and Maze had been a staple at the Essence Festival since its beginning. On the closing night of this year’s festival, many members of the audience inside Caesar’s Super Dome wore white in honor of their favorite performer, who was always decked from head to toe in his chic white outfits.
Beverly received many honors and accolades, but the most special one happened in May of this year when a street was renamed in his childhood neighborhood of East Germantown to Frankie Beverly Way.
Black Music Month co-founder and media personality Dyana Williams spearheaded the project saying, “We can’t let the elders, those who pave the path for any and every artist that exists now go unrecognized. While the street renaming is an honor for the artists it’s also a sense of pride for the city of Philadelphia.”
Frankie Beverly made his transition on September 10; he was 77 years old. Condolences go out to his son Anthony Beverly, his life partner and former Boston reporter Pam Moore, and his forever manager Reve Gibson. Rest in peace Frankie Beverly, you made us very happy for a very long time.
