Meet one of the only three RnB artists that defined and shaped a new genre of music called neo-soul back in the late 90’s.
Maxwell is back in 2016! He started his career in 1991, along with fellow founders D’Angelo and Erykah Badu, Maxwell was enormously important in defining and shaping the neo-soul movement that rose to prominence over the latter half of the 90’s.
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Drawing his greatest inspiration from the R&B legends like Marvin Gaye, Prince, and Stevie Wonder, Maxwell recorded some of the most ambitious R&B music of his time, becoming wildly popular and often earning critical raves in the process. What was more, his recurring theme of romantic love and loyalty for one person set him apart from the vast majority of his bump'n'grind lover-boy contemporaries.
Maxwell was a religious child having lost his father in a plane crash when he was 3 years old. The death of his father made him become deeply spiritual and so he started singing in a choir in their church. By the time he turned 18 in 1991, he progressed rapidly as he performed in the New York club scene, despite ridicule from classmates who couldn’t imagine the shy, awkward teenager doing anything of the sort. Throughout the 90’s, Maxwell’s songs became soundtracks for conception, if you know what I mean.
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Starting in 2002, Maxwell stopped performing and nobody really ever asked why. He didn’t resurface until 2008, when he surprised everyone at the BET Awards with a tribute performance to legendary 70’s soul singer Al Green. In 2009, Maxwell dropped the album BLACKsummers’night to critical acclaim and brought along with it the sweet soulful immensely popular radio-friendly R&B song Pretty Wings.
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Then after a seven year-hiatus again, Maxwell bursts out in the music scene early 2016 with an announcement that he will be releasing the second installment of his trilogy album. He released three singles off blackSUMMERS’night on the internet; Lake by the Ocean in April, 1990x and Gods in June and the groovy nu-disco neo-soul song All the Ways Love Can Feel just last week.
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Maxwell reported that the new album is “loosely based on the concept of a night out for a woman named Black Summers,” and added that the final album of the three, which is nearly finished and presumably titled blacksummers’NIGHT, would have "a political slant."
The album has now been released in iTunes just hours ago. You can also stream the new album on Spotify.
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