Frankie Beverly dies soul singer and leader of funk band Mae was 77 Frankie Beverly the influential soul singer who was a founder of the hit making funk band maze died Tuesday September 10th he was 77 his death was announced by family members on Facebook a cause and location of death were not disclosed he lived his life with pure Soul as one would say and for us no one did it better the family statement read in part he lived for his music family and friends born Howard Stanley Beverly on December 6th 1946 Beverly in 1970 formed the band that then was called raw soul in his hometown of Philadelphia he and the band soon moved to California where by the mid 1970s they came to the attention of mtown Legend Marvin Gay who invited the group to serve as his opening act on a tour gay also suggested the name change from raw soul to maze in 1976 maiz signed with Capital Records and released debut album Mae featuring Frankie Beverly the following year the lp yielded several R&B hits including Happy Feeling s While I'm Alone and Lady of Magic the debut would be the first of Ma's nine gold albums through 1992 in addition to the first three singles other hits over the years would include joy and pain golden time of day southern girl the look in your eyes Before I Let Go we are one back in stride can't get over you and the morning after Beverly and Ma enjoyed a Resurgence in recognition in 2019 when their hit 1981 hit Before I Let Go written and produced by Beverly was covered by Beyonce as a bonus track on homecoming the live album this is one of the high points of my life Beverly said in an interview with billboard about Beyonce's cover he added I feel bigger than ever I feel like I have a huge smash out there it's definitely a blessing other people have done my songs but the way she did this was in a class of its own information on survivors was not immediately available