Maxi Priest Biography

The British reggae vocalist known as Maxi Priest was born Max Alfred Elliot in 1962 in Lewisham, London. Young Max’s family heritage is from Jamaica, and he grew up in in an environment which encouraged exposure to a variety of different music, including gospel, R&B, and pop in addition to reggae. Max’s earliest experiences as a performer were in his local church, singing for the choir under the guidance of his mother, who was a Pentecostal missionary.

When Maxi was a teenager, he began performing around his local neighborhood at parties and clubs, earning a growing local appreciation for his talents. Maxi Priest’s earliest albums were self-released, until in 1986 he burst onto the scene with Intentions, which rose into the top 100 on the UK charts. The album spawned the singles “Strollin’ On,” “In the Springtime,” “Crazy Love,” “Let Me Know,” “Woman in You,” and the smash hit “Some Guys Have All the Luck,” which reached into the top twenty on multiple charts.

Since that time, Maxi Priest has released the additional albums: Bonafide (1990, his most successful to date); Fe Real (1992); Man with the Fun (1996); CombiNation (1999), 2 the Max (2005), and Refused (2007.) The albums gave audiences the additional singles “Wild World,” “Close to You,” “Peace Throughout the World,” “Just a Little Bit Longer,” “That Girl,” and “Watching the World Go By.” In addition, Maxi Priest as appeared as a featured artist on a number of other singles, including: “Housecall” (with Shabba Ranks); “Set the Night to Music” (with Roberta Flack); and “Waiting in Vain” (with Lee Ritenour.)

Maxi Priest holds the distinction of being only one of two British reggae acts to have reached number one on the American billboard charts, with the hit single “Close to You.” Maxi Priest continues to perform and record, and recently delighted fans with his first album release in nearly seven years; Easy to Love arrived in 2014.