Grammy winner and Brooklyn native, R&B superstar Maxwell is coming back to his home borough for a big concert Wednesday night at Barclays Center.
Gerald Rivera, who goes by his middle name Maxwell, says he’s from East New York, Brooklyn and spent a lot of time in Manhattan as a teen and young adult.
“It’s always special. For me I get scared because you can’t mess up when you come back home because they will let you know,” Maxwell said. “So I’m always like really preparing and really practicing and I’m really kind of making sure all of the things are just exactly so, so that everyone can really walk away like they had the greatest time ever.”
“I don’t want people to feel like ‘I want my time back,’” Maxwell added with a laugh.
Maxwell, whose big hits include “Fortunate” and “Pretty Wings,” says he and the other R&B stars performing Wednesday want people to have a great time after so much stress during the pandemic.
“We’re just celebrating love, R&B and soul,” explained Maxwell. “We got Joe and we got Anthony Hamilton and it has just been a great time seeing people out and seeing them enjoy themselves in a way that they haven’t been able to enjoy themselves before.”
The smooth-sounding singer is also proud that Wednesday’s concert is being put together by the Black Promoters Collective, a concert promotion collective helping to keep soul music alive.
And, no surprise from the Brooklyn native, Maxwell says he’s also a big NY1 Fan.
“You guys hit it straight, you give us the news,” Maxwell said. “When I know there’s a flood somewhere and when I know there’s a this somewhere, I get it from you guys.”