Frankie Beverly, iconic musician, hailed by Black community

Like comedian Redd Foxx before “Sanford and Son” or singer Josephine Baker before her fame in Paris, Frankie Beverly, who died Tuesday at age 77, was a major Black American music star who was not “white famous.” Unlike those giants, the R&B singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and bandleader did not break the white ceiling. But he doubtlessly did not care, because he was otherwise an icon.

“In the post-'70s era of soul music, Frankie Beverly was the underappreciated star,” bestselling author, producer and cultural critic Nelson George told Newsday, in part, in a statement. “Perhaps because he never had a real pop hit, Beverly and his great band Maze never got the mainstream commercial or critical attention he deserved.”

“Whenever there was a backyard barbecue or an event anywhere, Frankie Beverly’s song 'Before I Let Go’ was an anthem,” said Roosevelt filmmaker and former rapper Andre Guilty aka Andreaus13, producer of “The African American News” on Optimum Channel 20.

But, “Frankie Beverly was well known just in Black communities,” observed New York writer, filmmaker and cultural critic Mike Sargent, co-founder of the Black Film Critics Circle. “For Black folks, it was integral, meaning a lot of rappers sampled his music,” including 50 Cent (“Hustler’s Ambitions” sampled 1978’s “I Need You"), 2Pac (“Can U Get Away” sampled 1977’s “Happy Feelin's”) and A Tribe Called Quest (“Go Ahead in the Rain” sampled a live version of 1980’s “Joy and Pain”).

“Frankie Beverly helped the soundtrack of spawning rappers when the rap music business started,” said Guilty. As well, said Sargent, Beverly and Maze were frequent performers at historically Black colleges and universities, including at homecomings. “He did this for decades. A lot of HBCU bands do his songs. … Generations came up knowing the music of this man” because of that.

Less visible, said former Amityville and Wheatley Heights resident Ken “Spider” Webb, the former radio personality for WBLS-FM, "KISS-FM," SiriusXM satellite radio and others, was Beverly’s leadership quality.

“He was responsible for his band on many levels,” said Webb. “If they could make the gig or not, if they were sick, if they had family problems, making sure everybody's got a passport if you're going out of the country, or talking to people, telling them, 'Well, hey, look, I'm going to be dependent on you and you have to work with me.’ He was a businessman.”

Beverly and Maze never broke out in the commercial mainstream, but filled venues like what is now Flagstar at Westbury Music Fair, regularly and for decades. The band did a farewell tour this year,  culminating at the San Jose Jazz Summer Fest on Aug. 11, where Beverly passed the Maze frontman torch to former Santana vocalist Tony Lindsay.

The streaming Black Star Network premiered a two-hour tribute to Frankie Beverly and Maze on Wednesday night, incorporating an hourlong 2017 documentary from TV One, said journalist and Black Star curator Roland Martin. “You could play their music in front of any generation,” he said, “because they aren’t cussing, they aren’t highly sexual — it’s just feel-good, spiritual, soulful music.”