Thanksgiving service for Max Romeo Saturday

The service of thanksgiving for reggae pioneer, Max Romeo, will be held at Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre on Saturday, May 17, starting at 11:30 a.m.

Max Romeo, whose given name was Maxwell Livingston Smith, died on April 11.

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia Grange, who made the announcement, said that the service will include tributes and live performances.

“I am honoured to have been asked by Max’s family for my support and that of the ministry’s with the arrangements for the service of thanksgiving which I am giving wholeheartedly. Again I express my sincerest condolences to his widow, Sandra ‘Charm’ Smith, his children, including Azana ‘Xana’ Romeo and Azizzi Romeo, who are into music themselves, and to his brothers and sisters, other relatives, friends, and associates in the music fraternity,” Minister Grange said.

The roots reggae recording musician who achieved chart success in Jamaica and in the United Kingdom, had several hits with the vocal group the Emotions. His 1968 song, Wet Dream, included overtly sexual lyrics, although the singer claimed that it was about a leaking roof. A massive hit in Jamaica, the track was banned by the BBC Radio in the UK due to its lyrics and he was also banned from performing at several venues during a tour of the UK.

TOP HIT IN THE UK

Nevertheless, Wet Dream became a Top 10 hit in the UK, where it spent six months in the chart. Further records that came out in 1969 were Belly Woman, Wine Her Goosie and Mini-Skirt Vision, as well as Max Romeo’s début LP, A Dream.

In 1970, Romeo returned to Jamaica setting up Romax, an unsuccessful record label and sound system, and released in 1971 his second album, Let the Power Fall. It included a number of politically charged songs, most advocating the democratic socialist People’s National Party (PNP), which chose Let the Power Fall as their theme song for the 1972 general election, his Wikipedia biography states.

In 1978, Romeo moved to New York City, where he co-wrote (with Hair producer Michael Butler) the musical Reggae, which he also starred in. In 1980, he appeared as a backing vocalist on Dance, on The Rolling Stones album Emotional Rescue. In 1981, the favour was returned when Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones co-produced and played on Romeo’s album, Holding Out My Love to You, an attempt by Romeo to break into the North American market.

Romeo visited the UK again in 1992, recording albums Fari – Captain of My Ship (1992) and Our Rights (1995) with Jah Shaka. He joined up with UK rhythm section/production team Mafia & Fluxy in 1998 for the album Selassie I Forever. A compilation album, The Many Moods of Max Romeo, was released in the UK in 1999.

In 2014, he released the album Father and Sons, a collaboration with his sons Ronaldo and Romario (known as the duo Rominal). His daughter Azana Smith has also started a recording career under the name Xana Romeo.

In 2023, he filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Group and Polygram Publishing, Inc. for $15 million, claiming that he had not been given royalties for his work for over 50 years.

“Let us always remember and celebrate Max Romeo as one whose music gave voice to resistance, love, and truth,” Grange said.