Jamaican reggae and roots reggae star Max Romeo passed away today in the company of his family. He had been hospitalised over the past few days, but died earlier today (April 11). He was 80 years old.
The Chase the Devil singer passed away from heart complications.
Romeo achieved chart success in Jamaica and in the United Kingdom. He had several hits with the vocal group the Emotions. After a short unsuccessful solo adventure, Romeo started a new band, The Hippy Boys, which would more or less morph into (Lee “Scratch” Perry’s) The Upsetters.
He scored a massive hit with the song “Wet Dream” (1968) included overtly sexual lyrics and launched a new style of reggae. The song Wet Dream was never banned in Jamaica but after it was released in England and after being played twice by the BBC, it was promptly banned. The song hit the British charts and stayed there for 26 weeks, moving from number 30 to the top spot and then back down the charts. When it got to number two and seemed poised to claim the top spot, The Beatles’ Get Back debuted at number one.
He is known for such iconic works as the critically acclaimed album, Let the Power Fall. Released in 1971, it included a number of politically charged songs, most advocating the democratic socialist People’s National Party (PNP), which chose his song “Let the Power Fall” as their theme song for the 1972 Jamaican general election.
In 1976, Romeo released War Ina Babylon, an album perceived as his best work. The politically and religiously themed album included the popular single “Chase the Devil”, which would become one of his most known songs. In a BBC interview recorded in 2010 Romeo describes the meaning of the song. He explains that the devil is everything negative in our minds, the iron shirt is our strength of spirit that allows us to cast out the devil. The song has been covered several times by artistes such as Dreadzone, UK band The Prodigy, Madness and Earl Sixteen. Kanye West has used resung samples from “Chase the Devil” to produce Jay Z’s song “Lucifer”, which appeared on Jay Z’s 2003 release, The Black Album.
In 2023, he filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Group and Polygram Publishing, Inc. for $15 million, claiming that he had not been given royalties for his work for over 50 years
