The online tributes to Frankie Beverly in the wake of his death on Wednesday offered a fascinating study in contrasts. Black Americans wrote about his band Maze as a fact of life, invoking memories of family parties, summer barbecues and picnics to which they had inevitably provided the soundtrack: “Any time I heard Golden Time of Day or Happy Feelings, I knew it was a good time to be had in my neighbourhood”, as actor and director Tyler Perry put it. Indeed, over time, Maze’s music seemed to take on a symbolic quality: they were the band film-makers reached for if they wanted musical shorthand for Black family life on their soundtrack; when Beyoncé wanted to put a distinctly African American stamp on the Coachella festival, it was Beverley’s music she turned to, covering the 1981 single Before I Let Go.
To British soul fans, Beverly was something else entirely: a connoisseur’s choice. The flop singles he released with the Butlers in the 60s were highly prized by northern soul DJs and collectors. And, in the 80s, Maze became the ultimate if-you-know-you-know band among denizens of the underground soul scene. Championed by taste-making DJs Robbie Vincent and Greg Edwards, they never had a huge hit, but could pack out huge venues. In 1982, before any of their records had even made the charts, they sold out the Hammersmith Odeon. Three years later, as their biggest single, Too Many Games, stalled just inside the Top 40 – its sales boosted by its instrumental B-side Twilight, a massive floor-filler on the soul scene – they sold out six consecutive nights at the same venue.
