Editing Maxi Priest (section)

==Early life==
Maxi Priest was born in [[Lewisham]], London, the second youngest of nine siblings. His parents had moved to England from Jamaica to provide more opportunity for their family and he grew up listening to [[gospel music|gospel]], [[reggae]], [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]], [[funk]] and [[soul music]]. He first learned to sing in church, encouraged by his mother, who was a [[Pentecostal]] missionary.

Priest grew up listening to Jamaican artists such as [[Dennis Brown]], [[Burning Spear]], [[Coxsone Dodd]]'s Studio One, [[John Holt (singer)|John Holt]], [[Ken Boothe]], [[Beres Hammond]] and [[Gregory Isaacs]] as well as singers like [[Marvin Gaye]], [[Al Green]], [[Cat Stevens]], [[Steve Winwood]], [[the Beatles]], [[Phil Collins]] and [[Frank Sinatra]].

As a teenager, he lifted speaker boxes for the [[Jah Shaka]] and [[Negus]] Negast sound-systems. He was a founder member of [[Saxon Studio International]], and it was with Saxon that Maxi began performing at neighbourhood youth clubs and house parties.

His music is sometimes influenced by [[R&B]], which he blends with reggae. Priest lost his cousin [[Jacob Miller (musician)|Jacob Miller]] in a car crash on 23 March 1980. Miller was the frontman in the popular reggae group [[Inner Circle (reggae band)|Inner Circle]], as well as a reggae icon who had worked with [[King Tubby]] and [[Augustus Pablo]].<ref name="Campbell1405">{{cite news |author=Campbell |first=Howard |date=9 May 2014 |title=Family ties: Maxi Priest, Jacob Miller, Heavy D |newspaper=[[Jamaica Observer]] |url=http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/Family-ties--Maxi-Priest--Jacob-Miller--Heavy-D |access-date=10 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140511124441/http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/Family-ties--Maxi-Priest--Jacob-Miller--Heavy-D |archive-date=11 May 2014}}</ref>

Two of Priest's sons are also singers; [[Marvin Priest]] (born Marvin Cornell Elliott) and Ryan Elliott, who was in the 1990s boy band, [[Ultimate Kaos]].