New York (Top40 Charts/ Shore Fire Media) - New Ambassador of Soul
Maxwell has entered the history books at Billboard with "
Pretty Wings" and "Bad Habits," the two singles from the approaching-platinum album 'BLACKsummers'night.' Billboard's Gary
Trust writes "For the first time in the 16-year history of the Adult R&B radio airplay chart, one act monopolizes the top two slots on the survey."
Maxwell has also earned some of the best reviews of his career, and is playing to bigger crowds than ever before on his current arena tour, selling out Madison Square Garden in NYC (his largest ever hometown show), the Verizon Center in Washington DC, the Spectrum in Philly, and more. Plans are in the works for additional touring in 2010.
The Billboard achievement continues the remarkable momentum behind BLACKsummers'night' (Columbia), "one of the best records of 2009" (NY Post).
Other recent highlights include:
*Additional sold-out arena shows in Detroit, Richmond, and Atlanta, on his 18-date North American fall tour.
*Early "Album of the Year" buzz in the LA Times' Grammy forecast: "A seductive, yet devastatingly heartbreaking record. Look for it on year-end lists, and look for it in this field."
*A glowing profile in the Washington Post Oct. 2: "Call it a comeback that no one saw coming - including Maxwell. His latest album, 'BLACKsummers'night,' debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart in July, officially ending a multiyear hiatus from the stage, the radio and the ever-bourgeoning blogosphere. Now the prodigiously gifted, intensely private 36-year-old is enjoying the biggest tour of his career."
*Outstanding live reviews from the opening dates of the tour:
"Jazzy, wild soulfulness... a stellar concert."- NY Post.
"Maxwell wowed the crowd at Madison Square Garden."- MTV.
"Maxwell transformed the Coliseum into a mass of screaming, undulating female fans."- Richmond Times-Dispatch.
"For the sold-out crowd, the temperature couldn't get hot enough as [Maxwell] showed fans just what they'd been missing during his almost eight-year hiatus,"- Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"He gave his hit single "Pretty Wings" star treatment, letting each word, each wrong and each heartache linger. When he finished... fans yelled for more."- Charlotte Observer.
