Like comedian Redd Foxx before “Sanford and Son” or singer Josephine Baker before her Paris fame, Frankie Beverly, who died Tuesday at 77, was a major black American music star who wasn’t a “white celebrity.” Unlike those giants, the R&B singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and bandleader didn’t break the white ceiling. But he probably didn’t care, because he was an icon otherwise.

“In the post-’70s era of soul music, Frankie Beverly was the underrated star,” bestselling author, producer and cultural critic Nelson George told Newsday, in part in a statement. “Perhaps because he never had a real pop hit, Beverly and his terrific band Maze never received the mainstream commercial or critical attention he deserved.”

“Whenever there was a backyard barbecue or an event, Frankie Beverly’s song ‘Before I Let You Go’ was an anthem,” said Roosevelt filmmaker and former rapper Andre Guilty, aka Andreaus13, producer of “The African American News” on Optimum Channel 20.

But, “Frankie Beverly was only known in black communities,” noted New York writer, filmmaker and cultural critic Mike Sargent, co-founder of the Black Film Critics Circle. “For black people, it was integral, meaning a lot of rappers sampled his music,” including 50 Cent (“Hustler’s Ambitions” sampled 1978’s “I Need You”), 2Pac (“Can U Get Away” sampled 1977’s “Happy Feelin’s”) and A Tribe Called Quest (“Go Ahead in the Rain” sampled a live version of 1980’s “Joy and Pain”).

“Frankie Beverly helped provide the soundtrack for up-and-coming rappers when the rap music business was starting,” Guilty said. Also, Sargent said, Beverly and Maze were frequent performers at historically black colleges and universities, including homecomings. “He did this for decades. A lot of HBCU bands play his songs. … Generations came up with this man’s music” because of that.

Less visible, said former Amityville and Wheatley Heights resident Ken “Spider” Webb, the former radio personality for WBLS-FM, “KISS-FM,” SiriusXM satellite radio and others, was Beverly’s leadership quality.

“He was responsible for his band on many levels,” Webb said. “Whether they could make the gig or not, whether they were sick, whether they had family issues, making sure everybody had a passport when you went out of the country, or talking to people and telling them, ‘Well, look, I’m going to depend on you and you’ve got to work with me.’ He was a businessman.”

Beverly and Maze never broke into the commercial mainstream, but filled venues like what is now Flagstar at Westbury Music Fair regularly and for decades. The band did a farewell tour this year, culminating in the San Jose Jazz Summer Fest on August 11, where Beverly passed the torch of Maze frontman to former Santana singer Tony Lindsay.

The streaming Black Star Network premiered a two-hour tribute to Frankie Beverly and Maze on Wednesday night, featuring an hour-long documentary from TV One’s 2017 show, said journalist and Black Star curator Roland Martin. “You could play their music to any generation,” he said, “because they don’t swear, they’re not very sexual — it’s just feel-good, spiritual, soulful music.”