Frankie Beverly of Maze, singer of “Before I Let Go”, dead

Frankie Beverly, the soul singer and founder of the “Before I Let Go” band Maze, died on Sept. 10. He was 77. “He lived his life with pure soul, as you would say, and for us, no one did it better,” his family said in a statement on Instagram. “He lived for his music, his family and his friends.” Beverly first formed the group The Blenders as a teenager and later a new group called The Butlers. He soon moved that band from Philadelphia to San Francisco (to avoid confusion with Philadelphia Soul), renamed it Raw Soul and met Marvin Gaye. Raw Soul opened for Gaye’s tour and in 1976 Gaye convinced Beverly to change the band’s name to Maze. Around this time, Maze signed with Capitol Records and released their first album, Maze with Frankie Beverlyin 1977. The band released seven more studio albums in the 1990s, including two number-one R&B hits. They also had two number-one R&B singles, “Back in Stride” (1985) and “Can’t Get Over You” (1989).

But Maze was best known for the 1981 single “Before I Let Go,” which rocked the New York Just said, “has become a unifying black anthem and an inexhaustible source of joy.” Beyoncé even covered the song as a bonus track on her 2019 Homecoming Live album. Beverly told Billboard afterwards: “This is one of the highlights of my life.”