Maxwell

Maxwell is one of the standout neo-jazz performers who rose to prominence in the second half of the nineties. This musician was born on May 23, 1973 in Brooklyn, NY. This artist’s real name is kept in secret to guarantee his family’s privacy. The future star lost his father who died in a plane crash when the boy was only three. Soon, Maxwell began singing as a member of the Baptist church. But he did not take music seriously until he turned seventeen when the young man began writing his own material using the simplest and cheapest synthesizer. Considering him too shy for an artistic career, his peers prophesized him a great failure. However, it was early in the nineties when Maxwell became a regular participant of R&B events at NY clubs. After Maxwell was taken up as an official stage name, the musician signed up a contract with Columbia.

Maxwell’s debut record was made in 1994 and was a result of the young artist’s hard work in cooperation with some other, more experienced, colleagues. Called Urban Hang Suite it bore a strong influence by Prince. At that time, such music was leaving into oblivion giving its positions to hip-hop, which made the label’s management think many times before actually releasing the album. In the long run, it was issued only in 1996 and did not sell nicely in the beginning. The breaking point was reached after the release of the album’s second single, Ascension (Never Wonder). It took the long-play only a couple of months to earn the platinum status and bring its maker a Grammy nomination.

Maxwell’s subsequent official release was an acoustic EP recorded during his unplugged performance at MTV. This work pleased far more than only R&B listeners since the musician decided to perform some compositions originally made in completely different genres. Such were This Woman's Work, and Closer. The acoustic version of Whenever, Wherever, Whatever granted the singer with the Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal. All this made Maxwell’s follow-up album highly anticipated. Entitled Embrva, it arrived in 1998 and collected mixed reviews. Some of the critics believed that the artist preferred commercial prosperity to creative evolution. In 1999, Maxwell recorded his, arguably, best song so far named Fortunate as part of the soundtrack to Life. The popular magazine Billboard placed this composition on the number one position in R&B chart. The same year, the musician made two more songs for the movie called The Best Man.

In August 2001, Maxwell was though with his third full-length album,Now, strongly similar to his debut work thank to the same romantic atmosphere. The album debuted first in the charts with its lead-single Lifetime released soon afterwards. Following that, Maxwell’s career sank into a long period of silence. He resurfaced only in 2008 singing Simply Beautiful at the BET Awards ceremony. In a short while, Maxwell gave a streak of impressive concerts making it clear that he was in perfect shape and ready to present his new studio work. It was issued in the summer of 2009 under the title BLACKsummers'night. The singer said that it was the first part of the trilogy he designed. The success of its first single, Pretty Wings, convinced listeners and experts that Maxwell was full of energy and ideas heading with bright future ahead.