Maxwell: Biography of an Artist

Full name: (Information removed by request.)
Born: May 23, 1973 in Brooklyn, NY. Raised in New York City.

Maxwell's lineage is a mixture of Puerto Rican and black Caribbean. He was born and raised in New York, and when he was just three years old, his father died in a plane crash. As a result, Maxwell grew up shy and turned to religion. He first began singing in his Baptist church and became serious about music in the early '90s when he was 17. It was at this time that he began writing his own songs using an inexpensive Casio keyboard that a friend gave him. Among his first non-spiritual musical influences was early-'80s R&B like Patrice Rushen, SOS Band and Rose Royce. By 1991, he was performing on New York's club scene.

A perfomer by night, Maxwell waited tables by day. Eventually he recorded a demo tape and in 1994 he was signed by Columbia Records and began working on his debut release. The album, which was eventually named Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite, is a concept album that follows an adult romance from first encounter to its last. After it was finished, however, Columbia had doubts about the album's potential and shelved it for over a year. It was finally released in February 1996, but was initially slow to gain interest. Eventually though, the album's songs caught on and Urban Hang Suite went on to sell over two million copies.

The follow-up to Urban Hang Suite, the live, seven-song EP MTV Unplugged, was released in July 1997. The album sold over half a million copies and his next two albums, 1998's Embrya and 2001's Now, both sold over a million copies each. But after Now, Maxwell took a six-year break from the music business before starting to record new music. When asked about the long hiatus during interviews, he's said he just needed a break from the music business. His fourth studio album, due out in July 2009, is part of a planned trilogy of albums called BLACKsummers'night.

Maxwell is the singer's middle name. He has said that he does not use his real name in order to protect his family's privacy.
Despite being a highly respected artist, as of mid-2009, Maxwell has never won a Grammy award.
There have been rumors for years that he is gay or bisexual, however Maxwell has neither confirmed or denied most of the rumors about his sexuality. But he has frequently, however, talked about dating women.
Although he was raised in Brooklyn, Maxwell now lives in Manhattan.

1996: Urban Hang Suite
1997: MTV Unplugged
1998: Embrya
2001: Now
2009: BLACKsummers'night
2010: blackSUMMERS'night
2011: blacksummers'NIGHT

"I didn't expect it to be so long, but I can't tell you how great it was ... anonymity is a very special thing." Maxwell on May 13, 2009 during an interview on L.A. radio station KCRW, regarding his long hiatus from music.