Max Romeo, the influential Jamaican reggae artist best known for tracks such as Chase the Devil and War Ina Babylon, has died at the age of 80.
The singer, known to his family and friends as Maxie Smith, died after heart complications in Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica, on Friday.
Romeo rose to fame in the late 1960s with his provocative hit Wet Dream. Despite being banned by the BBC, the song became a UK Top 10 single and spent 25 weeks in the charts, cementing his legacy as one of the world’s most recognisable reggae voices.
“To hear of his passing is quite shocking,” said Max Romeo’s lawyer, Errol Michael Henry. “He was a perfect gentleman, and a gentle soul. He had great love for his family, and he was a legend in his own right. You couldn’t meet a nicer person – which makes the loss more difficult.”
Romeo began his career in 1965 as the lead vocalist for the Emotions, before his music became synonymous with the Jamaican social democracy movement of the 1970s. His song Let the Power Fall on I became a ballad for Jamaica’s People’s National party during its successful 1972 election campaign.
His 1976 album War Ina Babylon, released on Island Records and backed by Jamaican band the Upsetters, is widely regarded as a classic of the roots reggae era. It featured Chase the Devil, a song that has since been sampled by artists across genres, including the Prodigy and Kanye West.
Romeo later moved to New York in 1978, where he co-wrote and starred in the musical Reggae, while he went on to perform backing vocals on the Rolling Stones’ track Dance on their Emotional Rescue album.
