Reggae icon Max Romeo has died. The musician — who’s identified for hits like “Chase The Satan” and “Battle Ina Babylon” — handed away after coronary heart problems in Jamaica’s Saint Andrew Parish. He was 80.
“It’s with deep unhappiness that we announce the passing of our beloved Max,” a publish on his official Instagram reads. “We’re deeply grateful for the outpouring of affection and tributes, and kindly ask for privateness presently. Legends by no means die.”
Max Romeo was born Maxwell Livingston Smith in St. D’Acre, St. Ann, Jamaica. He was 14 when he left house to work on a sugar plantation, and he was 18 when he gained a neighborhood expertise competitors. He moved to Kingston to pursue a music profession. He joined a band referred to as the Feelings in 1965 and their first hit got here the following yr with “(Purchase You) A Rainbow.”
In 1968, Romeo started his solo profession. “Moist Dream” was his first huge hit, and its explicitly sexual lyrics resulted in it getting banned by the BBC Radio, although it nonetheless grew to become a high 10 hit within the UK. In 1969, he launched his debut solo album, A Dream. He adopted it with the extra politically charged LP Let The Energy Fall in 1971. The democratic socialist Folks’s Nationwide Social gathering selected its title observe as their theme track for the 1972 Jamaican basic election.
He unveiled the critically acclaimed Battle Ina Babylon in 1976, which contained his beloved songs “Chase The Satan” and “Battle Ina Babylon.” In 1978, he moved to New York Metropolis and co-wrote and starred within the Reggae musical. In 1980, he did backing vocals on the Rolling Stones’ Emotional Rescue observe “Dance,” and Keith Richards later co-produced and performed on Romeo’s file Holding Out My Love To You.
In 2023, Romeo filed a $15 million lawsuit in opposition to Common Music Group and Polygram Publishing, Inc., alleging that they’d not paid him royalties for his work for greater than 50 years.
