Howard Stanley Beverly born December 6th 1946 in Philadelphia was so taken with the 1950s RB group Frankie Lyman and the teenagers that he changed his name to Frankie ma started out in Philadelphia the early 1970s as RW Soul before heading to the San Francisco Bay Area it was Marvin Gay Who convinced him to change the band's name to Ma and in 1977 helped them release their first album Maze featuring Frankie Beverly on the title track of his 1989 album silky Soul Beverly paid tribute to gay remembering the singer who thrived on the Romantic soul and protest songs that Ma was also known for that kind of Faith you're talking 60s hippie generation Beverly told the Associated Press in 1990 it's missing and I personally feel bad about that we grew up in the 60 say we're ex hippies