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Maxi Priest VibeZ

Fifty-seven tracks from a south London singer who became one of reggae's biggest international stars without ever leaving the tradition behind.

Maxi Priest

Max Alfred Elliott was born in Lewisham, south London, to Jamaican parents — one of nine children, in a Pentecostal household. He took his stage name after converting to Rastafari, and came up through the Saxon Studio International sound system, the legendary south London operation that also produced Smiley Culture and Tippa Irie.

What he became is unusual: a British singer working in lovers rock — the romantic, soul-influenced strain of reggae that is genuinely a British invention — who then broke internationally on a scale almost no reggae artist from anywhere has matched. His cover of Cat Stevens' "Wild World" and the American number one "Close To You" made him a global star.

He has kept working for four decades and remains one of the most respected voices in the music.

What to listen for

"Close To You" is the biggest — a number one in America in 1990, which for a British reggae singer was close to unprecedented.

"Wild World" is the Cat Stevens song and the record that broke him in Britain, and his version is warmer than the original by some distance.

"Housecall" with Shabba Ranks is the essential dancehall crossing — the combination of a smooth singer and a rough deejay is one of Jamaican music's oldest formats, and this is among its most successful outings.

"Marcus" opens the set, and the reference is to Marcus Garvey — a reminder that the lovers rock singer has roots material too.

"Should I (Put My Trust In You)" and "Just A Little Bit Longer" are the deeper cuts his British audience holds closest.

"In The Springtime" is a Peter Tosh song, and "Message In A Bottle" takes on The Police — who were themselves borrowing from reggae, which makes the circle complete.

"Strollin' On" features Drummie Zeb of Aswad, who died in 2022 and was one of the central figures in British reggae.

Go deeper

Maxi (1987) and Bonafide (1990) are the albums.

For lovers rock proper: Janet Kay's "Silly Games," Carroll Thompson's Hopelessly in Love, and the Dennis Bovell productions. It is one of Britain's genuine musical inventions and remains badly under-documented.

And Aswad and Steel Pulse are the two British reggae bands whose catalogues everyone should know.

Listening note: play this one loud and outdoors. Maxi Priest's records were built for open air — carnival sound systems, beach bars, car windows down — and the production breathes in a way that headphones almost make too intimate. The bass is meant to move air.

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