Maze (band)
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Maze, also known as Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly and Frankie Beverly & Maze, is an American
soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...
band founded by Frankie Beverly in
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in 1970. Under its original name Raw Soul, the band moved to
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and was introduced to
Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. (; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He helped shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player an ...
. Gaye took the group on the road with him as one of his opening acts, and in 1976, he suggested that they change their name from Raw Soul. Maze released nine
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albums from 1977 to 1993. Their well-known songs include "Happy Feelings," "While I'm Alone," "Golden Time of Day," “Southern Girl,” "The Look in Your Eyes," "Joy and Pain," " Before I Let Go," "We Are One," " Back in Stride," " Can't Get Over You" and "The Morning After." The band has maintained a large and devoted following.


Career

Frankie Beverly started the band as Raw Soul in 1970. They recorded a couple of singles on the small Gregar
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, but without any major hits. With a few personnel changes, a move from Philadelphia to the
San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...
in 1971, and an introduction to
Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. (; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He helped shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player an ...
, the band became an immediate success. Gaye took the band on the road with him as one of his curtain-raising acts, and in 1976, he suggested that they change their name from Raw Soul to something more appealing. And so, with a lot of back and forth throwing names around, founding member Roame came up with the name Maze. Maze signed a
recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...
with
Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...
in 1976, and released their debut album, ''Maze featuring Frankie Beverly'', in 1977. Hit singles from that album include "Happy Feelin's", "While I'm Alone", and "Lady of Magic", giving them their first
gold record Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
and earning Maze a devoted following. They had success with the albums ''Golden Time of Day'' (1978), ''Inspiration'' (1979), and ''Joy and Pain'' (1980). The group has said that their hit single “Southern Girl” was dedicated to all southern women from Virginia to Texas. Their next recording was ''Live in New Orleans,'' three quarters of which was recorded at the Saenger Theatre, on November 14–15, 1980. Three of those songs were on the US R&B
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, including "Running Away", " Before I Let Go", and "We Need Love to Live". By that time, the band had a reputation in
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and enjoyed a following in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
with promotional support from the
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DJ Robbie Vincent. In May 1985, Maze sold out eight nights at the
Hammersmith Odeon The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly and still commonly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Pa ...
. The band released their next album, ''Can't Stop the Love'' in March 1985, which featured the group's first number one R&B hit "Back In Stride." The Top 5 follow-up, "Too Many Games" was also featured on the album. The latter single became the band's biggest hit in the UK, where it peaked at number 36 on the UK Singles Chart. In 1989, they signed with Warner Bros. and released the hit album ''Silky Soul'', plus ''Back to Basics'' in 1993, and released the
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DVD recording at
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's
Hammersmith Odeon The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly and still commonly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Pa ...
in 1994. The two albums also attained gold disc status. They had another number one R&B success with "Can't Get Over You". In 2009, a tribute to the hits of Maze was released. Called ''Silky Soul Music: An All Star Tribute to Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly,'' it included modern stars performing Maze's biggest hits with Maze acting as the backing band. In recent years, it has become tradition for the audience to honor the group by dressing in all white attire, as the group has often worn while performing. On September 2, 2011, their percussionist and background singer, McKinley "Bug" Williams, died suddenly of an apparent
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
. On May 9, 2023, it was reported that due to a labor dispute with Frankie's management, long-time Maze band members, Jubu, Vance Taylor, Larry Kimpel, Calvin Napper and Daniel Weatherspoon along with original member Roame left and started their own group, TMF "The Music Forever" Formerly of Maze. However, Beverly remained and began performing with new band members hired via Frankie's management. Frankie Beverly hung up his microphone in July 2023 with his final two concerts being held fittingly in his Hometown of Philadelphia at the Dell Music Center. Following Beverly’s retirement, the band formerly known as “Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly” plans to carry on as “Maze Honoring Frankie Beverly.” The new lead singer is Tony Lindsay, formerly of Santana. On September 10, 2024, Frankie Beverly passed away from a heart attack while at home at the age of 77.


Discography


Studio albums


Live albums


Compilation albums


Singles


Videos

*''Live in New Orleans'' (1981) *''Live in Los Angeles'' (1986) *''Live in London'' (1994) *''Live in Philly'' (1996)


References


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maze African-American musical groups American soul musical groups American funk musical groups Musical groups established in 1970 Musical groups from Philadelphia 1970 establishments in Pennsylvania