Credit: Courtesy of Hard Rock Live
Born in Brooklyn to a Haitian mother and a Puerto Rican father, soul singer Maxwell developed a love for gospel and funk at an early age. When he started writing songs in his late teens, he took inspiration from a variety of secular sources — he cites Prince, Marvin Gaye, Sade and Anita Baker as influences.

By the early 2000s, Maxwell had established himself as a major star in the R&B world. At that time, he also realized he had only three records left on his contract with Columbia, so he launched a trilogy that began with 2009’s BLACKsummers’night. In 2016, he followed that album up with blackSUMMERS’night, and he just recently released “We Never Saw It Coming,” his first piece of new music in two years.

Earlier this week, he announced a fall tour. He performs on Nov. 24 at Hard Rock Live.

A presale begins at 10 a.m. on Thursday, and tickets go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. on Friday.

This article appears in Jul 18-24, 2018.

Jeff has been covering the Cleveland music scene for more than 25 years now. On a regular basis, he tries to talk to whatever big acts are coming through town. And if you're in a local band that he needs to hear, email him at jniesel@clevescene.com.