Group founder and leader Frankie Beverly was born and raised in the musical city of Philadelphia, and began singing as a child in church. In the early 70s he moved with his new group to San Francisco, where he met Marvin Gaye, who took a liking to the group and helped them land a contract with Capitol Records under the new name Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly.
The group’s Capitol debut was a Soul smash, yielding the hit “While I’m Alone” and hitting the Soul top 10. Over the next decade, Maze released a series of well crafted, well received albums that uniformly hit top 10 Soul and pulled onto the Top 100 pop charts based on sales among black audiences. The group also released a number of memorable singles, including “Joy and Pain,” “Southern Girl,” “Love Is The Key,” “Back In Stride” (a #1 Soul hit) and “Can’t Get Over You” (another #1).
Maze followed in 1993 with Back to Basics, another hit album that confounded critics who felt that the group’s best days were behind it. Inexplicably, it became the band’s final release, despite hitting the Soul top 5 and the Pop top 40. Since then, Maze, now consisting of Beverly, keyboardist Carl Wheeler, bass guitarist Robin Duhe, and percussionists McKinley “Bug” Williams and Roame, has been silent on record, save a 1996 Anthology.
- “While I’m Alone”
- Nate Dogg - “G-Funk”
- “I Need You”
- 50 Cent - “Hustler’s Ambition”
- Young Jeezy - “Talk to ‘em”
- “Joy & Pain”
- A Tribe Called Quest - “Go Ahead in the Rain”
- Eastsiders ft Snoop Dogg - “Feels So Good”
- LA the Darkman - “Spring Water”
- MC Solaar - “Galaktika”
- Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock - “Joy & Pain”
- “Before I Let Go”
- Allure ft Tone & AZ - “Head over Heels”
- CEO - “Hit Me with the Beat”
- Eric B - “I Can’t Let You”
- Funky 4 - “Do You Want to Rock (Before I Let Go)”
- K-Solo - “Your Mom’s in My Bizness”
- Keith Murray - “The Rhyme”
- Kid ‘N Play - “Gittin’ Funky”
- Lakim Shabazz - “Getting Fierce”
- Steady B - “Use Me”
- “We Are One”
- WC - “Better Days”
- “Happy Feelin’s”
- Tupac - “Can U Get Away”
- “Twilight”
- Goldie - “A Sense of Rage”
(via the-breaks.com)
I think Frankie Beverly and Maze are amazing. Frankie is so sexy. I was able to witness the best concert I have ever seen in Washington D.C. on November 23, 2007. I’ve always been a fan but after watching them live. I have not stop thinking about it. I would love to see them again. I even want to join their fan club.
Sincerely
Marcella Brown