It was a source of frustration to Frankie Beverly, who has died aged 77, that he and his group Maze never enjoyed huge pop success, though they cracked the mainstream Top 30 with their albums Golden Time of Day (1978) and We Are One (1983). However he could also reflect that the group’s enduring status and faithful audiences allowed him valuable creative freedom.
While musical trends came and went, whether that was hip-hop or house, Maze were able to plough their own singular furrow. “I never saw us as just an R&B group or just a pop group either,” reflected Beverly. “It’s not easy to tag us.”
Throughout the 1970s and 80s they notched up a string of unforgettable hits on the R&B charts. They scored their first Top 10 single with Workin’ Together (1978), and further landmark releases include Feel That You’re Feelin’, Southern Girl, Running Away, Before I Let Go, Love Is the Key, Too Many Games and I Wanna Be With You. Back in Stride (1985) and Can’t Get Over You (1989) both went to No 1, and Maze topped the R&B album chart with Can’t Stop the Love (1985) and Silky Soul (1989).
“I wish more people did know who I was,” Beverly told the Baltimore Sun in 1994, “but if it’s at the expense of me giving up this thing we have, then I just have to wait until they find out. ’Cause whatever we have, whatever this thing is that we seem to have a part of, it’s a cult kind of thing.”
Though they last released an album in 1993 (Back to Basics), they were able to carry on touring and filling concert halls into the 2020s, with Beverly’s supple and sensual voice always at the core of their sound. As ever, he would wear his trademark white slacks, shirt and baseball cap.
In 2009 the New York Times critic Ben Ratliff described how “the band’s shows are rehearsed rituals, working up to a rare and special audience feeling: deep, sentient serenity, not the usual kind of lose-yourself pop catharsis.”
Beverly observed of their live shows that “when you’re cookin’, it starts cookin’. It doesn’t matter how many people is in the room. It’s just a special thing. It’s probably the most powerful form of art.”
The floaty, mesmerising grooves of tracks such as The Morning After, I Wish You Well or Golden Time of Day typified Maze’s enduring appeal, and their 1981 hit Before I Let Go earned a special accolade when Beyoncé recorded it as a bonus track on her Homecoming: The Live Album (2019). “I was blown away,” said Beverly. “This is one of the high points of my life.”
He was born in Philadelphia and grew up in the city’s East Germantown district. His father was a truck driver while his mother organised the family home. He attended Germantown high school, and took his first musical steps as a schoolboy by singing gospel music in a local Baptist church where his father was a deacon. “I grew up in church, and even as a child I loved singing,” he said.
He was baptised Howard, but was so enthralled by the doo-wop records of Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, such as Why Do Fools Fall in Love, that he adopted Lymon’s first name. Other early influences included Lloyd Price and Sam Cooke.
His first experience as a professional singer came when, as a 12-year-old, he went on a year-long tour with the Silhouettes, a Philadelphia R&B and doo-wop act who topped the US charts in 1958 with Get a Job. “They’d heard that I could sing like Frankie Lymon and the next thing I knew, they were at my house asking my parents if I could go on the road with them,” Beverly said.
He then formed his first group, the Blenders, and in 1963 he assembled the Butlers, later known as Frankie Beverly and the Butlers. They recorded several singles, including She’s Gone (1969) for the producer Kenny Gamble, who later formed the influential Philadelphia International Records with Leon Huff.
Beverly now moved away from the vocal harmony sound in favour of a more soul and funk direction, not least because of the influence of San Francisco’s Sly and the Family Stone. Now playing guitar and keyboards, he renamed his band Raw Soul, and relocated to California and the flourishing San Francisco music scene.
They struggled initially, barely surviving on infrequent club gigs. “We were going through hell,” Beverly recalled in 1978. “San Francisco was no Disneyland … We didn’t have any bread and we were out in the street.”
They eventually managed to record singles for Eldorado Records and Gregor Records, which helped them build a local following. The Gregor release Color Blind (1971), a rejection of racism, signalled Beverly’s preoccupation with social justice. Their big break came when Marvin Gaye’s sister-in-law saw them play and recommended them to her famous relative.
He invited them to be his opening act on tour in 1976, and facilitated a meeting with Larkin Arnold at Capitol Records, which secured them a record deal. It was at Gaye’s urging that Beverly changed his band’s name to Maze (Beverly also appeared on Gaye’s No 1 hit single Got to Give It Up, using a milk bottle as a cowbell). “He loved me like a little brother,” Beverly said of Gaye.
The band achieved lift-off with their debut album, titled Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly (1977). It reached No 6 on the US R&B chart, sold half a million copies and delivered the singles While I’m Alone and Lady of Magic, which reached 21 and 13 respectively on the R&B singles chart.
Earlier this year Beverly announced his intention to retire from music, and led the band on a farewell US tour. In April this year, a street in Philadelphia’s East Germantown was renamed Frankie Beverly Way. The group plan to recruit Tony Lindsay as lead vocalist and continue as Maze Honoring Frankie Beverly.
In July Beverly received a special award from the Essence festival in New Orleans, Maze having played at the inaugural event in 1995 and then returned for 14 consecutive years. In 2012 Beverly and Maze received Black Entertainment Television’s BET lifetime achievement award.
Beverly kept his personal life private, but had been in a longstanding relationship with Pam Moore, a TV news journalist.
He is survived by his son, Anthony.
• Frankie (Howard Stanley) Beverly, musician, singer and songwriter, born 6 December 1946; died 10 September 2024
