Reggae singer Max Romeo, who is known for his hit Chase the Devil, has passed away at the age of 80. A statement made on the musician's official Facebook page on Saturday, April 12, 2025, confirmed the news.
According to a report by The Guardian, citing a statement by Romeo's family, he passed away in Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica, on Friday due to heart complications.
"We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of love and tributes and kindly ask for privacy at this time. Legends never die," the post on Facebook read.
Romeo is a Jamaican singer who began his career performing with a music group called The Emotions. He went solo in the 1960s. He rose to fame with his 1968 hit Wet Dream, which was banned by BBC Radio for its strong lyrics.
The Democratic Party in Jamaica adopted Max Romeo's single Let the Power Fall as its theme song during the 1972 election season
Max Romeo was born Maxwell Livingston Smith in St. D’Acre in St. Anne, Jamaica, on November 22, 1944. According to his profile on All Music, he ran away from home as a fourteen-year-old and began working on a sugar plantation. At the age of eighteen, he won a talent competition, prompting him to move to Kingston to pursue a career in music.
In the mid-1960s, the musician teamed up with Kenneth Knight and Lloyd Shakespeare to form the Jamaican trio The Emotions. While initially unsuccessful, the group went on to record several hits, including (Buy You) A Rainbow.
By 1968, he had embarked on a solo career, with Wet Dream being his breakthrough hit. According to The Guardian, owing to its explicit lyrics, BBC Radio banned the track. Nevertheless, it spent six weeks on the British singles charts.
The musician's early hits include Belly Woman, Wine Her Goosie, and Mini-Skirt Vision.
In 1970, Max Romeo launched Romax, a record label and music system. However, it wasn't a success. A year later, he released his second album, Let the Power Fall. It featured a number of politically influenced songs advocating for social justice. This included Puppet on a String, Before the Next Tear Drop Falls, and Let the Power Fall.
The Democratic Party later adopted the latter track as their theme song during the 1972 Jamaican general election. People celebrated the song for promoting a vision of a more just Jamaica. Max Romeo, alongside Bob Marley, another reggae legend, toured with the Democratic Party during the election season.
Max Romeo would go on to record several songs featuring social, religious, and political themes. This included Three Blind Mice (1975) and Chase the Devil from his album War Ina Babylon (1976), which is hailed as his best work.
In 1978, Romeo moved to New York and co-wrote a musical, Raggae, in which he starred. In 1980, he appeared as a backup vocalist on The Rolling Stones' album Emotional Rescue. The band's frontman, Keith Richards, returned the favor by co-producing Max Romeo's album Holding Out My Love to You. However, the Jamaican musician failed to break through the American market.
Upon returning to his home country, his later works didn't gain much popularity.
In 2014, Max Romeo released the album Father and Sons, a collaboration with his sons Ronaldo and Romario. The pair is part of the duo Rominal. The musician's daughter also followed in her father's footsteps and records music under the name Xana Romeo.
The reggae artist is survived by his children.
