Maxi Jazz Artist Bio

Maxi Jazz (born Maxwell Fraser in Brixton, London, on 15 June 1957; died 23 December 2022) was an English Sōka Gakkai musician, rapper, singer-songwriter and DJ. He is best remembered as the lead vocalist of British band Faithless from 1995 to 2011 and again during 2015.

Fraser founded The Soul Food Cafe System as a DJ in 1984, having discovered hip-hop a year earlier. He transferred this sound to pirate radio station LWR in 1987.

In 1989 The Soul Food Cafe Band was picked up by Tam Tam Records, the dance wing of Savage Records), and the album Soul Food Café was recorded. Fraser founded Namu Records in 1992 in order to release the band’s material in the form of three E.P’s and the band toured as a support act to various artists, including Jamiroquai in Amsterdam; Soul II Soul in Barcelona; Galliano in Switzerland; and Jason Rebello in Brazil. After the band dissolved, Fraser worked throughout Europe, and took time out to collaborate with Jah Wobble on the “Invaders Of The Heart” album, followed by live dates with the Wobble Collective.

Fraser met Rollo Armstrong in a studio and went on to form Faithless, together with Jamie Catto and Sister Bliss. As a Soka Gakkai Buddhist, Fraser’s strong beliefs and the band’s own strong individual beliefs, contrasted with the name Faithless., which was chosen during the writing of the song Salva Mea. Rollo had asked Fraser to write a song about frustration, which was something to which Fraser could relate from his own experiences. The subject matter of Fraser’s lyrics ranged from upbeat to melancholic. His work covered a range of personal and social issues, including current affairs and social commentary.

In 2006 Fraser provided the vocals for the hit Tiësto track, Dance4life. It was one of the biggest trance hits of the year. He also sang alongside Robbie Williams on the collaborative album 1 Giant Leap in the single My Culture.

Fraser celebrated his 50th Birthday on June 15th 2007 in Hyde Park, London by Headlining the O2 Wireless Festival 2007. In the Encore He was greeted by thousands of fans singing happy birthday.

In 2015, he began fronting a newly assembled band of musicians named Maxi Jazz & The E-Type Boys. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.