Recording sessions for the album took place in 19 at Electric Lady Studios, RPM Studios, Sorcerer Studios and Chung King Studios in New York City, and at CRC recording studios in Chicago, Illinois. Maxwell began working with songwriter Leon Ware and noted guitarist Wah Wah Watson to record his debut Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite in the mid 1990s. He adopted his middle name as a moniker out of respect for his family's privacy. After earning a considerable reputation, Maxwell signed a recording contract with Columbia Records in 1994. Maxwell's performances continued to draw interest and increase the buzz about him, and he was called 'the next Prince' by a writer from Vibe magazine who attended one of his shows. During the next two years, Maxwell wrote and recorded over three hundred songs and played frequently at small venues throughout New York City. The demo engendered interest, and his official debut concert performance at Manhattan nightclub Nell's drew a crowd. Maxwell was able to gain access to a 24-track recording studio and started to record songs for a demo tape, which he circulated among his friends. Initially influenced by early-1980s urban R&B, Maxwell progressed rapidly, and by 1991 he was performing on the New York City club scene. 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. According to him, the R&B of the early 1980s contained 'the perfect combination of computerized instrumentation with a live feel', and that the genre's dynamics later became lost due to the influence of hip hop on R&B. Band and Rose Royce, Maxwell began to teach himself to play a variety of instruments. 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. Career 1990–1994: Beginnings Īfter receiving a low-cost Casio keyboard from a friend, the Brooklyn, New York-native began composing music at age 17. Maxwell grew up in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York. Maxwell's father died in a plane crash when Maxwell was three years old. His mother grew up in a devout Baptist household in Haiti. Maxwell was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of a Haitian mother and a Puerto Rican father. Rivera 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'. He has won three Grammy Awards, six Soul Train Music Awards and two NAACP Image Awards. His fifth studio album, blackSUMMERS'night (2016) spawned the single ' Lake by the Ocean', and was met with continued commercial success and acclaim. In 1999, he released the single ' Fortunate' for the film Life, reaching his furthest commercial success as it peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100.Īfter an eight year hiatus, Rivera returned with the release of his fourth album BLACKsummers'night (2009), which became his second album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 chart and received two Grammy Awards from six nominations: Best R&B Album and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance (for ' Pretty Wings' which was also nominated for Song of the Year). He followed up with his second and third albums, Embrya (1998) and Now (2001), both of which were certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) the latter became his first album to debut atop the Billboard 200 chart. Gaining mainstream success, his recordings have since been cited by music critics for helping popularize the ' neo soul' movement during the 1990s. 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''. Gerald Maxwell Rivera (born May 23, 1973), known mononymously as Maxwell, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer.

Unplugged performance ascension