Less than six months after performing his farewell Atlanta show, Philadelphia-born soul troubadour Frankie Beverly died on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, according to a statement released by his family via Instagram.
“He lived his life with pure soul as one would say, and for us, no one did it better. He lived for his music, family and friends,” the family said.
Beverly, along with his band Maze, had just completed a farewell tour this year. The “I Wanna Thank You Farewell Tour” came to State Farm Arena on March 22, 2024.
The AJC’s Christopher A. Daniel called it a “bittersweet night,” noting that “the feel-good anthems were sang so loudly from the audience they almost drowned out the veteran performer’s warm baritone voice.”
“I’m blessed that all of you know all of these songs,” Beverly told the crowd.
Born Howard Stanley Beverly on Dec. 6, 1946, Beverly left school at 16 and started a band called the Butlers in his native Philadelphia before heading west, because, as he told the AJC in 1985, “we decided we’d gone as far as we could go in Philadelphia. It’s kind of like boot camp. You learn what you need to know, but it’s not the place you want to stay, so we figured we’d move out to California.”
He came to the attention of Marvin Gaye, who helped get Beverly and his band, by then known as Maze, signed to Capitol Records. They released their debut, “Maze featuring Frankie Beverly,” in 1977.
Though the band never reached the Top 40 on the Billboard charts, they had numerous R&B hits and became a perennial concert draw over a career that spanned more than 45 years.
And despite the lack of mainstream chart success, Maze had nine gold albums, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, which denotes sales of 500,000 units.
“Golden Time of Day,” “Happy Feelin’s,” “Joy and Pain,” “Southern Girl” and the No. 1 R&B hit “Back in Stride” are among the band’s best known songs. Beyoncé covered his song “Before I Let Go” on “Homecoming: The Live Album” and the track plays over the accompanying film’s credits. The song originally appeared as on the 1981 Maze album “Live in New Orleans” as one of four studio tracks.
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