Maxwell was born on May 23rd, 1973, in Brooklyn, New York. His father died in an aircraft accident when he was only 3 years old. His strong religious history was shaped by the experience of losing his parent. He spent most of his childhood as a loner because, in his own city, he found it impossible to mingle with children. His fellow students dubbed him “Maxwell House Coffee” and sometimes referred to him as “the quiet nerd who sat at the back of the classroom”
As a loner, young Maxwell had spent hours writing a bunch of songs in his apartment. He was mainly influenced by the traditions of West Indian music he encountered within his home and hip-hop as well as soul music from the outside in the early ’80s when he created the songs. “More than anything I went and found the sounds that I liked,” he remembered. “I wasn’t necessarily influenced by everything that was around me when I grew up, but having family from four islands in the Caribbean made for a wealth of influences.”
While he had started singing when he was a boy, before he was 16, Maxwell did not imagine pursuing a serious career in music. He started studying how to play musical instruments when his friend loaned him a keyboard. He was eager to learn by himself, because he had no one to guide him. He shut himself in his room and spent much of his days there, polishing both the music and the composition of songs with his abilities.
As a teenager, Maxwell had to financially help himself. He had two jobs, as a film theater employee and as a waitress, to pay for his school tuition and to buy musical instruments that he was involved in studying. Via his internship, he learned how to improve his social skills, greatly strengthening the meaning of’ contact with others’ and communicating on a more intimate basis with others.
Maxwell had recoded four prototype songs at the age of 19, and showed them at many gatherings in clubs in New York City. He was supported by his on-stage experience to improve his faith. Three years later, he was signed to Columbia Records in 2004, and people began to recognise his potential. With more than 300 original songs in his bag, he partnered with songwriter Leon Ware and guitarist Wah Wah Watson on his debut release. In 1996, he dumped “Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite” and took the attention of people as the effort sold more than 500,000 million units and was nominated for Grammy Awards for Best R&B Song.
His second record, titled Embryo, appeared in shops two years later. On Billboard Hot 200, it stood at number 3 and once again made him place among the competitors for the Best Grammy Awards R&B Song. In addition, he was nominated for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the annual event for his performance of the song “Matrimony: Maybe You” on the album.
In 2001, Maxwell released another studio album, “Now” which became his first album to chart on the Billboard Hot 200 at the top spot. He came back in 2009 with ‘BLACKsummers’night.’ On July 7, he launched it in the United States and presented “Pretty Wings” one of the singles on the record, at the 2009 BET Awards. Maxwell is setting off a tour this summer to support his 2009 release.