From sound-system speaker boxes to reggae fusion's first stars

Max Alfred Elliott, who became Maxi Priest, was born in Lewisham, London, in 1961, the second youngest of nine siblings. His parents had moved from Jamaica to give the family more opportunity. He grew up with gospel, reggae, R&B, funk and soul, learned to sing in church, encouraged by his mother, a Pentecostal missionary, and listened to Dennis Brown, Burning Spear, John Holt, Gregory Isaacs, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Cat Stevens and Frank Sinatra.

His first work in music was physical. As a teenager he lifted speaker boxes for the Jah Shaka and Negus Negast sound systems, and he became a founder member of Saxon Studio International, with which he began performing at youth clubs and house parties. Independent singles followed, including “Sensi”, and those early discomix releases earned his reputation among both the dancehall and the conscious roots reggae audiences around the Lloyd Coxsone and Jah Shaka sound systems.

His first album, You're Safe, came out in 1985 and contained covers such as Delroy Wilson's “Dancin' Mood”. In 1986 he teamed with musicians from Aswad, the lovers rock singer Carroll Thompson and others to make their own version of Van Morrison's “Crazy Love”, which appeared on his second album, Intentions. The real breakthrough was Maxi, released in 1987 (Maxi Priest in the US and Canada), which along with his cover of Cat Stevens' “Wild World”, recorded with Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, established him as one of the top names in the field.

He is best known for singing reggae with an R&B influence, a style known as reggae fusion. He was one of the first international artists to find success in it, and one of the most successful reggae fusion acts of all time. Two of his sons, Marvin Priest and Ryan Elliott, are also singers. His music still carries the mark of the church, the sound systems and the soul records he grew up on.