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Maximum pleasure
2/ 6/2006
PREVIEW: Maxi Priest., Manchester Academy
MAXI Priest brings his blend of reggae, R&B and pop to the
city tomorrow (Saturday).
The London-born Rastafarian has had a string of hits in Britain,
the US and Jamaica over the past 20 years and is probably best
known for Close to You (1990) or That Girl (1996).
In fact, he's the most successful solo reggae artist in the world
behind Bob Marley, so says his PR blurb, but that's probably where
the comparisons end as the dancehall/pop/R&B mishmash is a
different beast to traditional reggae.
The youngest of nine children of Jamaican immigrants, Maxi was
originally a carpenter, building speaker boxes for Saxon
International Soundsystem.Before long his voice was pumping out at
live dancehall sessions with artists such as Smiley Culture.
He then got his big break in 1984 with a version of Mi God Mi King
with Paul "Barry Boom" Robinson.
It became the first UK reggae single to top the charts in
Jamaica.
Maxi's first album, You're Safe, in 1985 was more Bob-inspired than
his later offerings, coming before he started working with Jamaican
producers Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare. Covers of Robert
Palmer's Some Guys Have All the Luck and Cat Stevens' Wild World
took him again to the top of the charts.
Maxi worked with Shabba Ranks and almost every other notable
musician, making crossover reggae throughout the 90s and scoring
some of his biggest hits.
But he has since moved even further away from his beginnings, using
his soulful and silky voice to record romantic tracks and mixing
rap, rock and hip hop for the 1999 album CombiNation. He'll be
accompanied in Manchester by a 10-piece band, playing tracks from
his 10th album 2 The Max, which includes dancehall anthems Full
Hundred and Believe in Love.
Maxi Priest play Academy 2 on Saturday June 3. Tickets priced
£18. Call 0161 832 1111 .
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