Funk legend and Maze founder Frankie Beverly has died. He was 77.
His family posted a message on Facebook reading, in part, "He lived his life with pure soul as one would say, and for us, no one did it better. He lived for his music, family and friends. Love one another as he would want that for us all."
He was born Howard Stanley Beverly in Philadelphia on December 6th, 1946. He started out singing gospel in church and then formed a doo-wop group called The Blenders. Beverly started Maze -- originally called Raw Soul -- in 1970. But it wasn't until he became friends with Marvin Gaye and moved to San Francisco that he found stardom. The group went on to put out nine gold records and had two number-one hits on the Billboard R&B singles chart -- "Back in Stride" and "Can't Get Over You."
He passed away yesterday (Tuesday). There's no word on a cause of death. (USA Today)