World of Jamaican Music

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An illustrated map of the creators of Jamaican music and how they are connected.

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Max Romeo

Artist. Reggae, dub

Active
1968-2025
Sunrise
November 22, 1944, St. Ann, Jamaica
Sunset
April 11, 2025, St. Andrew, Jamaica (heart complications)

Max Romeo, born Maxwell Livingston Smith, was a singer whose recorded career ran from 1966 to his sunset in 2025 and turned on two very different records: "Wet Dream," a double entendre banned by the BBC and a British hit anyway, and War Ina Babylon, made at the Black Ark seven years later.

He was born in Alexandria, below Browns Town in St. Ann, and moved to Kingston at ten to live with his father after his mother emigrated; he ran away after clashing with his stepmother and was partly raised by strangers. He took a job in sales for Ken Lack's Caltone label, and it was Lack, overhearing him singing to himself at work, who offered him an audition. With Kenneth Knight and Lloyd Shakespeare he formed the Emotions, whose "(Buy You) A Rainbow" reached the Jamaican top ten in 1967. He also sang with the Hippy Boys, a band he later said he had formed himself, whose members included Aston and Carlton Barrett.

"Wet Dream" (1969) came about by default. Romeo had written words to a Derrick Morgan riddim, "Hold You Jack," and when Morgan and several other singers turned the song down, Bunny Lee talked him into cutting it himself. The BBC banned it; it spent twenty-five weeks on the British chart and reached the top ten. Romeo maintained in interviews that the song concerned a leaking roof. An album, A Dream, followed in 1969, and further records in the same vein.

Niney the Observer turned him toward Rastafari subject matter at the turn of the 1970s, in "The Coming of Jah," "Rasta Bandwagon" and "Maccabee Version." "Let the Power Fall" (1971) was taken up by the People's National Party as a campaign song for the 1972 election. Revelation Time (1975), produced with Clive Hunt and Pete Weston and carrying one Lee Perry track, "Three Blind Mice," was reissued by United Artists in 1978 as Open the Iron Gate.

War Ina Babylon (1976) was cut at the Black Ark with the Upsetters, produced by Perry and issued by Island, with harmony vocals from Barry Llewellyn and Earl Morgan of the Heptones, Marcia Griffiths and Cynthia Schloss. It carried "One Step Forward," "Uptown Babies" and "Chase the Devil," and is grouped with Junior Murvin's Police and Thieves and the Heptones' Party Time among the Black Ark albums Island released; Peter Mason calls it "one of the cornerstone records of roots reggae." Romeo and Perry fell out after it and did not work together again for years, though they were reconciled before Perry's sunset.

He moved to New York later in the decade, appeared in the Broadway musical Reggae in 1980, and recorded "Holding Out My Love to You" (1981) with Keith Richards. The Prodigy sampled "Chase the Devil" on "Out of Space" in 1992. He continued to record and tour almost to the end, latterly with his son Romario and his daughter Azana, who records as Xana Romeo, and in 2023 sued Universal Music Group and Polygram Publishing over five decades of unpaid royalties. He departed in St. Andrew on April 11, 2025, aged eighty; the cause was heart complications.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. The Rough Guide notes that "Wet Dream" was high in the UK charts in 1969 "in spite of a BBC ban," and that the title track of War Ina Babylon is a remix of "Sipple Out Deh," released in Jamaica in 1975. Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 103, 175, 177.
  2. Katz says he was born Maxwell Smith in 1944 "in Alexandria, a hillside hamlet below Browns Town," moved to Kingston at ten to live with his father after his mother emigrated, "clashed with his stepmother and absconded," and was "partly raised by strangers after enduring periods of homelessness": David Katz, "Max Romeo Was a Great Social Commentator, Railing against Inequality and Discord," Guardian, April 13, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/apr/13/max-romeo-reggae-war-ina-babylon-chase-the-devil-jamaica. Wikipedia, citing Dave Thompson and the Jamaica Observer, gives St. D'Acre, St. Ann, as his birthplace, has him leaving home at fourteen to work on a sugar estate in Clarendon and moving to Kingston after winning a talent contest at eighteen, and notes that some sources give 1947. "Max Romeo," Wikipedia, accessed October 3, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Romeo. Jon Blistein, "Max Romeo, Reggae Great Behind 'Chase the Devil' and 'Wet Dream,' Dead at 80," Rolling Stone, April 14, 2025, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/max-romeo-dead-obituary-1235317245/.
  3. "Max Romeo." It dates the Emotions and the Caltone job to 1965.
  4. Blistein, "Max Romeo." The Rough Guide notes the Emotions, "fronted by Max Romeo," on Caltone. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 80. The group included Lloyd Shakespeare, elder brother of Robbie Shakespeare. Claude Mills, "Reggae Legend Max Romeo Dead at 80," DancehallMag, April 12, 2025, https://www.dancehallmag.com/2025/04/11/news/reggae-legend-max-romeo-dead-at-80.html. Katz says the song reached the Jamaican top ten in March 1967: Katz, "Max Romeo".
  5. Romeo: "So I formed a band called the Hippy Boys. That was the great Family Man and his brother Carlton Barrett ... and Alva Lewis and Glen Adams." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 105. Wikipedia credits the band's formation to Lloyd Charmers. "The Hippy Boys," Wikipedia, accessed October 3, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hippy_Boys. Katz, in his obituary of Glen Adams, has the band growing out of a 1968 Bunny Lee session and then backing Romeo: David Katz, "Glen Adams Obituary," Guardian, January 6, 2011, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jan/06/glen-adams-obituary.
  6. Bradley: "his own composition, but turned down by John Holt, Derrick Morgan, Roy Shirley and Slim Smith before producer Bunny Lee talked Max into voicing it himself." Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 242. The Rough Guide notes that "Hold You Jack" was "the original of Max Romeo's 'Wet Dream' rhythm." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 104. Rolling Stone has Morgan and the others leaving the session. Blistein, "Max Romeo."
  7. It peaked at number 10 and spent twenty-five weeks on the chart. "Max Romeo," artist page, Official Charts, accessed October 3, 2026, https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/13672/max-romeo/. The Rough Guide says Errol Thompson voiced it at Studio One "in early 1969"; Discogs and Wikipedia date the first UK release to 1968. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 222. "Max Romeo: Wet Dream," Discogs, accessed October 3, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/1504353. "Max Romeo."
  8. Blistein, "Max Romeo." Wikipedia cites the Guardian for the same claim. "Max Romeo."
  9. Rolling Stone names "Belly Woman," "Mini-Skirt Vision" and "Wine Her Goosie." Blistein, "Max Romeo." Katz says most of A Dream was recorded in London with the Rudies: Katz, "Max Romeo".
  10. The Rough Guide credits the composition of "Rasta Bandwagon," issued on Niney's Observer label, to "Maxie, Perry & Niney," and places "The Coming of Jah" on the same label. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 128. Bradley also credits Niney with "Rasta Bandwagon." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 366. Elsewhere the Rough Guide ties the record to the Rasta craze of 1974-75. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 136.
  11. The Rough Guide calls it "another inspirational PNP slogan." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 111. The DancehallMag obituary dates it to 1971, on the album Let the Power Fall, with Bunny Lee producing. Mills, "Reggae Legend Max Romeo Dead."
  12. The Rough Guide dates Revelation Time to 1975 and calls "Three Blind Mice" a local hit for Perry. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 175, 203. The United Artists sleeve credits Clive Hunt as producer; the original pressing lists Perry as an engineer and Pete Weston as co-writer of the title track. "Max Romeo: Open The Iron Gate," Discogs, accessed October 3, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/1411918; "Max Romeo: Revelation Time," Discogs, accessed October 3, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/3016895. Katz says Romeo worked on the album "with arranger Geoffrey Chung at Lee 'Scratch' Perry's Black Ark studio in 1975": Katz, "Max Romeo".
  13. "Max Romeo & The Upsetters: War Ina Babylon," Discogs, accessed October 3, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/3805074. Bradley names "War Inna Babylon," "One Step Forward" and "Chase the Devil." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 364.
  14. The Rough Guide names "Norman," "One Step Forward" and "Chase the Devil" and calls the Island LP "Max's best-selling album"; it also mentions Jah Lion's Black Ark set on Island. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 175, 177-78. Peter Mason, "Max Romeo Obituary," Guardian, via Inkl, accessed November 5, 2026, https://www.inkl.com/news/max-romeo-obituary.
  15. The Rough Guide: "producer and singer went their separate ways after this"; Perry's "White Belly Rat" (1977) was "supposedly aimed straight at former associate Max Romeo." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 176, 178. Rolling Stone says they "reconciled years later." Blistein, "Max Romeo." Katz recalls that Romeo's appearance in London in the late 1980s "had a galvanising effect" on Perry: Katz, "Max Romeo".
  16. Wikipedia says he moved to New York in 1978 and co-wrote the musical with Michael Butler; Rolling Stone calls it "the 1978 Broadway musical Reggae." "Max Romeo." Blistein, "Max Romeo." Richards plays guitar on the album. "Max Romeo: Holding Out My Love To You," Discogs, accessed October 3, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/1897648. Katz says the musical "flopped at the box office" and that Romeo was an uncredited backing vocalist on the Rolling Stones' Emotional Rescue (1980): Katz, "Max Romeo".
  17. Blistein, "Max Romeo." Claudia Gardner and Claude Mills, "Exclusive: Reggae Legend Max Romeo Files US$15 Million Lawsuit Against Universal Music Over Unpaid Royalties," DancehallMag, October 3, 2023, https://www.dancehallmag.com/2023/10/03/news/exclusive-reggae-legend-max-romeo-files-us15-million-lawsuit-against-universal-music-over-unpaid-royalties.html.
  18. The suit was first filed on December 15, 2022, and amended on September 29, 2023. Gardner and Mills, "Max Romeo Files Lawsuit." His daughter Azana Smith records as Xana Romeo. Mills, "Reggae Legend Max Romeo Dead." Bradley quotes Romeo as reckoning he received only JA$2,500 for the War Ina Babylon album. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 474. Katz names his daughter Xana and his son Azizi among the children whose careers began at the studio he built at his home at Treadways, near Linstead, and says his final tour, in 2023, took in fifty-six cities: Katz, "Max Romeo".
  19. Mills, "Reggae Legend Max Romeo Dead." Blistein, "Max Romeo."

World of Jamaican Music: the whole map