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Max Romeo is dead. The Jamaican reggae artist, who shaped the genre with songs like Chase The Devil and Wet Dreams, died at the age of 80.
His lawyer Errol Michael Henry confirmed death with a statement. “The news of his death is quite shocking. He was a perfect gentleman and a gentle soul,” it says. “He had a great love for his family and was a legend for himself. You couldn’t meet a nicer person – that makes the loss all the more difficult,” continues Henry.
Max Romeo: The beginnings
Max Romeo was born on November 22, 1944 in Alexandria in northern Jamaica. He grew up in simple conditions. At the age of 14 he left his parents’ house to work on a sugar cane. He made his musical beginnings after a talent competition. He brought him to Kingston – the Epicenter of the Jamaican music scene. In Kingston he joined the band The Emotions. With them he had the hit (buy you) a rainbow in 1966. The song, produced by Ken Lack, was his first success, but soon more should come.
Max Romeo celebrated his big breakthrough with the provocative song Wet Dream, who reached the top 10 in Great Britain in 1968. The entirely accessible track became an international hit-and made Romeo one of the founders of the rude boy genre. Another big song from his pen was the Devil.
Political issues and the most important work
Later, Max Romeo increasingly turned to spiritual and political issues – and wrote the song Let the Power Fall on I as a campaign anthem for later prime minister Michael Manley. He published his most important work in 1976 with War Ina Babylon, recorded with Lee “Scratch” Perry and his band The Upsetters. The album is considered one of the most important roots regga albums.
In 1978 Max Romeo moved to New York. There he wrote together with Hair-Producer Michael Butler the musical Reggae, In which he himself played two years later he sang background on the Rolling-Stones song. In 1981 Keith Richards returned by producing Romeo’s album holding out my love to you.
Romeo’s songs were frequently sampled in the following decades-including Jay-Z, The Prodigyund Kanye West.
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