Max Romeo, who has died aged 80, reached his peak as a roots reggae singer in the mid-1970s with two albums, Revelation Time and War Ina Babylon, that focused on Rastafarianism and its juxtaposition with the fraught politics of post-independence Jamaica – ostensibly parochial topics that nonetheless gained him a worldwide audience.
Much of Romeo’s best work was done with the producer Lee Scratch Perry in the mystical Black Ark studio, where he wrote a number of reggae classics, including One Step Forward, Stealing in the Name of Jah and the memorably bombastic Chase the Devil, in which he declared: “I’m going to put on a iron shirt / and chase the devil out of earth.”
Romeo had first emerged in the late 60s with music of a more frivolous nature – notably the single Wet Dream (1969), which reached No 10 in the UK despite being banned from radio airplay for its sexual content. Although the popularity of his subsequent work failed to extend much beyond his mid-70s zenith, he continued to tour and record almost up to his death, notching up more than 25 albums and 75 singles.
Born Maxwell Smith near the village of St D’Acre in northern Jamaica, he ran away from an unhappy home as a preteen, subsequently enduring bleak periods of homelessness and joblessness in the Jamaican capital, Kingston. He then worked as a record salesman while developing his singing in his spare time. After winning a talent competition at the age of 18, in 1965 he joined a group called the Emotions with Lloyd Shakespeare (brother of the bassist Robbie) and Kenneth Knight. They had a local hit in 1967 with (Buy You) A Rainbow.
The following year Romeo went solo, and within a year had hit the big time with Wet Dream. Released first in Jamaica and then in the UK on the Pama label, initially the song received two outings on BBC Radio – until the higher-ups noticed its single entendre content and pulled it from the airwaves. Wet Dream was particularly popular with British skinheads, for whom it became an anthem, and despite official censorship it spent 25 weeks in the charts, in the process establishing Pama as one of the UK’s major outlets for reggae.
Romeo was subsequently able to tour the UK, and the same year released his debut solo album, A Dream, containing more sexually suggestive songs. But by the time his second album arrived in 1971 he had turned his back on such trifles, and was launching into a new phase based around his growing interest in Rastafari. “I just pulled up and said: ‘Wait, I can’t have a catalogue like this for my grandchildren,’” he explained. “So I changed to cultural songs.”
As the mode of Jamaican music began to change from Rock Steady to the slower, more charged form of roots reggae, Romeo became one of its foremost exponents, with many of his songs addressing the struggles between Rastafarianism and the Jamaican establishment. He soon became associated with support for the leftwing People’s National party, led by Michael Manley in opposition to the Jamaican Labour party, and his 1971 song Let the Power Fall on I was adopted as the PNP’s election campaign tune. He was, however, independent-minded enough to offer some criticism of Manley, including in his 1973 song No Joshua No.
The cover of Romeo’s Revelation Time album (1975) featured a hammer and sickle. Its title track proved to be an enduring standout, and along with No Peace, Tacko and Blood of the Prophet, finally established him as a wholly serious figure.
The following year War Ina Babylon, made in close collaboration with Perry, became one of the cornerstone records of roots reggae with four songs – War Ina Babylon, One Step Forward, Chase the Devil and Stealing in the Name of Jah – that rank among the best of the genre.
Soon afterwards Romeo had a severe falling out with Perry, who was known as “the upsetter” for good reason. His next album, Reconstruction, failed to demonstrate the same fire or originality that he had found with Perry, and in 1978 he decided to make a new start in the US.
There he became involved in a Broadway musical flop, Reggae, for which he wrote some tunes, before picking up work as a backing vocalist on the Rolling Stones’ album Emotional Rescue (1980). Keith Richards reciprocated by co-producing and playing guitar on Romeo’s first US-based album, Holding Out My Love to You (1981), but it failed to generate much acclaim.
With his mojo failing and reggae running in an increasingly digital, dancehall direction, Romeo largely disappeared from public view to run a courier service in New York. In 1989 he returned to live in Jamaica, after making a new album, Transition.
That, too, made few waves, but the recordings kept coming, and he was eventually able to find some material comfort through rereleases of old tunes on compilations. His regular issues of new material featured some interesting experiments, including the album In This Time (1999), with the Italian acoustic band Tribù Acoustica, and Pocomania Songs (2006), a collection inspired by the Afro-Jamaican religious cult.
Although sales of his later recordings were modest, he remained a popular live artist, staging his final tour just two years ago with more than 50 dates across Europe.
Two of his children, daughter Xana and son Azizzi, are also recording artists. He is survived by his wife, Charm.
• Max Romeo (Maxwell Livingston Smith), musician, born 22 November 1944; died 11 April 2025
