Maxwell (musician)

American R&B singer

Gerald Maxwell Rivera (born May 23, 1973), known mononymously as Maxwell, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to prominence following the release of his debut studio album Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite (1996), which received widespread acclaim and spawned the hit singles "Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)" and "Sumthin' Sumthin'". He followed up with his second and third albums Embrya (1998) and Now (2001), both of which received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); the latter became his first to debut atop the Billboard 200 chart. His 1999 single, "Fortunate" was released for the R. Kelly produced soundtrack to the film Life, and saw his furthest commercial success as it peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. After an eight year hiatus, Rivera returned with the release of his fourth album BLACKsummers'night (2009), which became his second to peak atop the Billboard 200 and won two Grammy Awards—Best R&B Album and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance—from six nominations; its single, "Pretty Wings" was nominated for Song of the Year. His fifth album, blackSUMMERS'night (2016) was supported by the single "Lake by the Ocean" and met with continued success. Rivera has won three Grammy Awards, six Soul Train Music Awards and two NAACP Image Awards. He was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and Congressional Black Caucus in 2019 for "his innovative contributions to the music industry as a singer, songwriter, and producer".

Maxwell was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of a Haitian mother and a Puerto Rican father. His mother grew up in a devout Baptist household in Haiti. Maxwell's father died in a plane crash when Maxwell was three years old. Maxwell grew up in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York.

After receiving a low cost Casio keyboard from a friend, Maxwell began composing music at age 17. Already a fan of what he described as "jheri curl soul", which was the trademark of early 1980s R&B acts such as Patrice Rushen, S. O. S. Band and Rose Royce, Maxwell began to teach himself to play a variety of instruments. Despite facing ridicule from classmates for being shy and awkward, he progressed and continued to develop his musical abilities, and he also adopted the look of a more bohemian style outwardly in his clothing, growing long sideburns and letting his hair grow out wildly and combed in an extreme style, or sometimes putting his hair in long thin braids. After production for the album was completed in 1995, However, it was shelved for nearly a year, due to issues with Columbia's management, the label's extensive reorganization and record executives' doubts of the album's commercial potential. From August to October 1996, Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite experienced chart growth on both the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums and Billboard 200, It spent seventy eight weeks on the Billboard 200 chart. It became a Top 30 hit in the United Kingdom. The album was later ranked as one of the year's top 10 best albums by Time, Rolling Stone and USA Today. and was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album at the 39th Grammy Awards,

The album spawned four singles. The first single released, " Til the Cops Come Knockin'", debuted on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Singles & Tracks at number 87 in May 1996. Peaking at number 79, the single spent 12 weeks on the chart. The second single, "Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)", debuted on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Singles & Tracks in August 1996 at number 11, eventually peaking number eight. It spent eighteen weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 36 on September 28, 1996. The third single, "Sumthin' Sumthin'", peaked at number 22 on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi Singles Sales. The album's fourth single, "Suitelady (The Proposal Jam)", entered the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Airplay component chart in May 1997, peaking at number 64. (Maxwell contributed the song "Segurança (Security)" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Rio, produced by the Red Hot Organization.) Maxwell released a series of EPs featuring different versions of his songs from Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite, including " Til the Cops Come Knockin'", "Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)", "Whenever Wherever Whatever" and "Sumthin' Sumthin'". These EPs were re released in 2019. "Sumthin' Sumthin': Mellosmoothe" appeared on the Love Jones soundtrack in March 1997. Despite Maxwell's having released only one album, the music video television channel MTV saw his burgeoning popularity and asked him to tape an episode of the concert series MTV Unplugged in New York City. The show was taped live on June 15, 1997, and he performed his own songs as well as covers of songs by Kate Bush ("This Woman's Work") and Nine Inch Nails ("Closer"). (Maxwell clashed with his label about the release of a full album of his session, resulting in the release of only an extended play, or EP instead, containing seven songs.) The MTV Unplugged performance of " Til the Cops Come Knockin" was included as a bonus track on the international release. The episode of MTV Unplugged first aired on the network on July 22, 1997.

Maxwell's second studio album, Embrya, was released on June 30, 1998, and upon its release it was panned by contemporary music critics. The album received mixed criticism for its more "indulgent sound." In 1999, it won the Soul Train Music Award for Best Male Soul/R&B Album. In a retrospective review for Allmusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that Maxwell "overstuffs his songs with ideas that lead nowhere" and called Embrya "a bit of a sophomore stumble, albeit one with promising moments." Arion Berger, writing in The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), found the songs monotonous and called the album "unfocused and pretentious full of overwrought, underwritten songs with obscure, fancy titles revolving around a sort of sexual gnosticism." Critics have since reappraised Embrya as a groundbreaking forerunner to later trends in Alternative R&B, and Columbia Records reissued the album in 2018 on its 20th anniversary. Despite the negative press, the album sold more than one million copies and garnered Maxwell a new alternative fanbase, but confounded the traditional urban consumers. Embrya was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, losing to fellow neo soul artist Erykah Badu's Baduizm (1997). Later in the year he released "Fortunate", a single written by R. Kelly and featured on the soundtrack for the 1999 film Life. The single peaked at number one on Billboard magazine's Hot R&B/Hip Hop Singles and Tracks chart. To date, the song is Maxwell's most successful single and was Billboard's number one R&B single of 1999. Maxwell's third studio album, Now, was released by Columbia Records on August 14, 2001, in the United States. Following the lukewarm radio success of his previous album, Maxwell stated he felt more comfortable with his artistic direction in the creation of this album, which does not exhibit his previous work's conceptual style. The album sold over 296,000 units in the U. S. in the first week, according to SoundScan, to earn him his first ever number one album. The album was later certified platinum by the RIAA. "Lifetime" was the second single from the album. It was a top five hit on Billboard's R&B/Hip Hop songs chart and peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The third single off the album, "This Woman's Work", a live staple of Maxwell's, charted at number 58 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number 16 on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart. Once again, despite some criticism towards Maxwell's songwriting, La Weekly stated "Now is a disappointment in the wake of 1996's Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite and its 1998 follow up, Embrya." The album was Maxwell's last release before he took a lengthy hiatus from performing.

Recording sessions for a new album took place during 2007 to 2009 at Chung King Studios, Bowery Digital, and Platinum Sound Recording Studios in New York City. The album was produced entirely by Maxwell and musician Hod David. During this time, and after seven years of not performing, he appeared as a surprise musical guest on the 2008 BET Awards, where he performed the song "Simply Beautiful" in a tribute to soul singer Al Green, shocking fans and the audience alike with his ability to still perform well, but also with his new look, his trademark afro and pork chop sideburns gone, replaced with a more relaxed and subdued look. The album BLACKsummers'night was released on July 7, 2009 and received universal acclaim from music critics. Commercially the album was a success, debuting at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart in July 2009, with first week sales of 316,000 copies, serving as Maxwell's highest first week sales. The album produced four singles. The lead single "Pretty Wings" debuted at number one on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart, ultimately spending 47 weeks on the chart. It also spent 18 weeks and peaked at number 33 on the Hot 100 and at number 12 on its Radio Songs component chart. The second single, "Bad Habits", peaked at number four on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs, spending 46 weeks on the chart. The third single "Cold" spent one week at number 62 on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs. "Pretty Wings" was nominated for the "Song of the Year" which was written by Maxwell under his publishing moniker Musze.

On April 17, 2012, Maxwell announced that he and his eleven piece band would embark on a six day tour, MaxwellTwoNight M2N tour 2012 – two nights in three cities, scheduled for the cities of Los Angeles, California – Staples Center (July 20 and July 21); Atlanta, Georgia – Philips Arena (July 27 and July 28); and Newark, New Jersey the Prudential Center (August 3 and August 4). Maxwell was to perform his discography in its entirety. The first day of the tour Maxwell was to perform songs from his first album Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite and second album Embrya. The second day of the tour Maxwell was to perform from his third and fourth albums Now and BLACKsummer'snight, respectively. Maxwell was to debut never performed songs from his BLACKsummer'snight trilogy. lt was also announced that proceeds from the M2N tour merchandise would support the "Obama Biden 2012" re election campaign. However, the tour was canceled due to vocal hemorrhaging. After two years of occasionally performing and planning, he disclosed during an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in May 2014 that he had been working on his fifth studio album for "the past three years" and has been recording in Miami. On December 18, 2014, Maxwell announced on the social media site Twitter the second installment of his trilogy blackSUMMERS'night would be arriving sometime in winter 2015. On April 7, 2016, Maxwell released his first solo single in 6 years titled "Lake by the Ocean", and also revealed his long awaited fifth album blackSUMMERS'night. He performed it on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on May 5, 2016. It was his first television performance in seven years. The full length album was released on July 1, 2016 and charted at number three on the Billboard 200 while garnering widespread acclaim from critics.

In October 2018, Maxwell released the single "Shame", which he said was a preview of his upcoming album Night, the final installment of his album trilogy. In April 2019 as he was re issuing his earlier EPs in digital format, Maxwell said that he was scheduling a string of performances for mid 2019. Maxwell closed out the Hollywood Bowl’s Summer Season with a 3 night run in September 2023.