Wow, Maxwell makes Women’s Work his own right now

by | Sep 21, 2026 | Music

from Washington D.C. July 1, 1998 © copyright John Mathew Smith 2001 Date 27 October 2010, 12:02 Source Maxwell (musician ) Author Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
English: Maxwell at Essence Festival of Culture 2025 Photo taken by Gabriel Brooks Date 4 July 2025, 13:53:24 Source Own work Author Gabriel Brooks. This photo was taken during Essence Festival 2025 as part of the WikiPortraits initiative. In collaboration with AfroCROWD. All photos from this event » This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

Maxwell's Lineage: From Brooklyn Churches to Neo-Soul Pioneer

Gerald Maxwell Rivera was born on May 23, 1973, in Brooklyn to a Haitian father and a Puerto Rican mother. His father died in a plane crash when Gerald was only three years old. This event made him a very religious child, and it was then that he started singing in his Baptist church. This wasn't the background of a deliberately crafted R&B artist, but of a reflective individual who saw music as spiritual long before it became a commercial enterprise. Maxwell - Singer, Songwriter, Record Producer +2
It wasn't until he was 17 that Maxwell took music seriously, after a friend handed him a cheap Casio keyboard. This matters because he didn't grow up in a home where music was a regular part of life, and he didn't go to an elite music school. Since he was already a fan of what he called "jheri curl soul"—a style associated with early 1980s R&B groups like Patrice Rushen, the S.O.S. Band, and Rose Royce—he started teaching himself to play a range of instruments. iheartWikipedia
He said his influences came from the early 1980s: "In the early 80s there was the ideal blend of computerized instrumentation with a live feel; later on the music became too focused on hip-hop and some of the dynamics were lost." This attitude—integration rather than competition, machines serving humanity rather than replacing it—defined his entire aesthetic. encyclopedia

The R&B Auteur: Maxwell's Artistic Philosophy

Maxwell, drawing his main inspiration from the idea of the R&B auteur, looked to artists such as Prince, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder—men who composed, played several instruments, produced recordings and rejected the idea of specializing in separate areas. Although his classmates ridiculed him, by 1991 he was performing in the New York club scene, despite their inability to imagine the shy, awkward teenager taking part in such activities. amazoniheart
In 1994, Maxwell joined Columbia Records after establishing himself in the New York club scene, and his first album, "Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite", came out in 1996. Together with co-founders D'Angelo and Erykah Badu, Maxwell helped define and shape the neo-soul movement, which became prominent in the second half of the 1990s. holicanallmusic

Why Kate Bush: The MTV Unplugged Moment

This is how your editorial arc comes into play: Maxwell's MTV Unplugged episode, recorded at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in May 1997, included cover versions of Kate Bush's 'This Woman's Work' and Nine Inch Nails' 'Closer'. Maxwell took the eerie industrial rock song, which dealt with self-hatred and obsession, and turned it into an energetic gospel-style jam. Wikipediasoulbounce
The person who interpreted Kate Bush's vulnerability wasn't a singer performing one of her songs—he was an auteur who sensed a similar artistic spirit. The depth of her compositions, her refusal to make commercial concessions, and her emotional and technical skill all matched Maxwell's own beliefs. Just as you reached Maxwell through Kate Bush's original work, he did so too. It wasn't a traditional cover; it was a conversation.

This Womans Work Live

Pray to God you can cope
I stand outside
This woman's work
This woman's world
Oooh, it's hard on the man
Now his part is over
Now starts the craft of the father

I know you have a little life in you yet
I know you have a lot of strength left
I know you have a little life in you yet
I know you have a lot of strength left

I should be crying but I just can't let it show
I should be hoping but I can't stop thinking
All the things I should've said that I never said
All the things we should of done that we never did
All the things I should've given but I didn't

Oh darling make it go
Make it go away
Give me them back to me
Give that little kiss
Give me your hand

I know you have a little life in you yet
I know you have a little strength left
I know you have a little life in you yet
I know you have a little strength left

I should be crying but I just can't let it show
I should be hoping but I can't stop thinking
Of all the things we should've said that were never said
All the things we should've done that we never did
All the things that you needed from me
All the things that that you wanted from me
All the things I should of given but I didn't
Oh darling make it go away
Just make it go away now

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Suggested by SME
Maxwell - This Woman's Work (Official Music Video)

This Woman's Work (Live from MTV Unplugged, Brooklyn, NY - May 1997)
Artist
Maxwell
Writers
Kate Bush
Licensed to YouTube by
SME (on behalf of Columbia); SOLAR Music Rights Management, CMRRA, UNIAO BRASILEIRA DE EDITORAS DE MUSICA - UBEM, Sony ATV Publishing, LatinAutor - SonyATV, LatinAutorPerf, LatinAutor, BMI - Broadcast Music Inc., and 7 Music Rights Societies

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Kate Bush - THIS WOMAN'S WORK - Jennie Abrahamson & Gothenburg Symphony

Kate Bush talks about writing, This Woman's Work.