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Max Romeo, Reggae Great Behind ‘Chase the Devil’ and ‘Wet Dream,’ Dead at 80
Max Romeo, the celebrated reggae artist best known for songs like 'Chase the Devil' and 'Wet Dream,' has died at the age of 88.
Born Maxwell Livingston Smith in Northern Jamaica, Romeo left home at the age of 14 and was working on a sugar plantation when he won a local talent competition that allowed him to travel to Kingston and embark on a music career. Romeo went in a more spiritual direction for his 1975 album, Revelation Time, but continued economic issues, protest movements, violence, and another round of impending elections made politics unavoidable as he prepped his 1976 masterpiece, War Ina Babylon. In the following years, Romeo left Jamaica, briefly relocating to New York City where he co-wrote and starred in the 1978 Broadway musical Reggae and provided backing vocals on the Rolling Stones’ “Dancing” off Emotional Rescue.
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