Frankie Beverly, the husky, white-clad Philadelphia soul singer whose band Maze had a decades-long love affair with New Orleans, died Sept. 10, his family announced Wednesday. He was 77.

Beverly’s catalog of classics with Maze includes “Joy and Pain,” “Before I Let Go,” “Back In Stride,” “Running Away,” “We Are One” and “Happy Feelin’s.” For generations of black fans, Maze’s music was ingrained in their lives, the soundtrack to countless social gatherings.

Maze’s 1981 album “Live in New Orleans,” recorded over two nights at the Saenger Theatre, is widely regarded as one of the greatest concert albums of all time, especially in the R&B/soul genre.

Beverly’s death comes just two months after the Essence Festival of Culture honored him at the Caesars Superdome. Beginning in 1995, Maze closed out the first 15 years of Essence Fest, which led to a massive Electric Slide on the Dome floor.

Beverly and her company recently appeared annually on the Congo Square Stage of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

Beverly last performed in New Orleans on May 25, when Maze headlined a sold-out Smoothie King Center. Most of the 14,000 fans in attendance wore white, matching Beverly’s traditional stage attire.

Sweaty nights in New Orleans

Howard Stanley Beverly was born in Philadelphia and sang gospel and doo-wop as a youth. He formed a band called the Butlers, which eventually relocated to the Bay Area of ​​California and was renamed Raw Soul. The group caught the attention of Marvin Gaye, who hired Beverly and company as an opening act. It was reportedly Gaye who convinced the group to change the name to Maze.

After opening for ConFunkShun at the Municipal Auditorium around 1978, Maze returned to headline the ILA Auditorium on South Claiborne Avenue. The venue was sweltering, the walls covered in condensation.

“It was one of the best performances I’ve ever done,” Beverly said during a 2006 interview. “The walls were sweating. I’ll never forget that performance.”

That weekend turned into a month-long local residency, as Maze records sold like hotcakes. The warm reception in the Big Easy surprised Beverly. “I never thought we’d do well in the South. We weren’t as funky as Cameo. We had that California thing. We were making songs. I didn’t know the South would embrace us.”

New Orleans embraced the band “like we were born and raised here,” Beverly continued. “It was like a disease here.”

Maze recorded the 1979 album “Inspiration” at Studio in the Country in Bogalusa. On November 14 and 15, 1980, they recorded several shows at the Saenger for a concert album. Beverly had convinced Capitol Records that New Orleans would be the optimal setting for such a recording.

He was right. During “Joy and Pain,” the audience hijacked the show; a thousand voices repeated the chorus a capella: “JOY . . . and pain! SUN-SHINE . . . and rain!”

After the release of “Live in New Orleans” in 1981, Maze’s popularity soared, especially in Europe. The Saenger crowd “gave us a classic record,” Beverly said. “To this day, the No. 1 live R&B album is James Brown’s ‘Live at the Apollo.’ But I think our ‘Live in New Orleans’ has to be a close second, because of the effect it had on our career.”

On August 19, 2006, Maze returned to New Orleans for the first time since Hurricane Katrina. A sold-out crowd of 14,000 filled what was then the New Orleans Arena for a hugely emotional night. During the encore, Beverly reached down to grab the hands of fans, who grabbed him and didn’t let go. His voice cracked with emotion as he continued to sing.

“I almost lost it,” he later recalled. New Orleans fans “have been there from the beginning. They never let us down. They grabbed my hand like I was something.

“I feel honored that I am being looked at like this. It almost scares you: how can I live up to this?”

After Maze closed the first 15 Essence Fests, a new regime at Essence Magazine decided it was time for a change, much to the chagrin of many longtime Beverly fans.

In 2015, Maze returned to Essence in response to fan demand. In 2019, Essence hosted a tribute to Beverly. Mayor LaToya Cantrell presented Beverly with a key to the city. Ed Lewis, co-founder of Essence Magazine and Essence Fest, honored Beverly’s legacy. Beverly then performed a five-song, 30-minute set with Maze.

Even though Maze stopped releasing albums with new material after 1993’s “Back To Basics,” audiences continued to come to the concerts.

“Our thing came out of being a legitimate act,” Beverly once said. “That’s just as powerful, if not more powerful, than selling records. It comes down to getting the reputation of ‘so-and-so is coming to town, I gotta go there.’ I don’t think you can do better as an artist.”

Saying goodbye

Earlier this year, Beverly announced that he would be doing one last tour before retiring. The I Wanna Thank You Farewell Tour also featured the O’Jays and the Whispers. In a sign of Maze’s continued presence in New Orleans, all 14,000+ tickets for the May 25 tour at the Smoothie King Center sold out.

This was a reimagined version of Maze , but the show itself, with its focus on communal nostalgia, felt like a particularly good night from the early years of Essence Fest. It was a collective, feel-good, family-reunion-style lovefest with a soundtrack that most attendees grew up with.

Beverly’s final performance turned out to be on July 6 at the Dell Music Center, an amphitheater in his hometown of Philadelphia. The next day, he flew to New Orleans to receive his flowers on the final night of Essence’s 30th anniversary.

He watched as New Orleans natives Luke James, Anthony Hamilton and former Santana frontman Tony Lindsay sang with Maze. Every now and then, Beverly could be seen leaning back in a chair behind the stage, nodding and swaying to the music he was making.

Just before 1 a.m., former Mayor Marc Morial led a delegation to the stage that included Cantrell, Lewis and Sen. Royce Duplessis. They saluted Beverly as they presented him with framed tokens of appreciation.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, my people,” said Beverly, who had noticeably slowed down in recent years.

“Thank you for this nod. Thank you for your compassion. And I’m going to make you proud of me very soon….Thank you and I love you from the bottom of my heart.”