Maxx Kidd, a music industry veteran who helped pioneer go-go music and produced Chuck Brown’s “We Need Some Money,” died March 13 in Chevy Chase, Maryland, according to Billboard has learned. He was 75.
Kidd passed away following a years-long battle with “a variety of health complications,” according to surviving family members.
Born Carl Lomax Kidd on Aug. 18, 1941, Kidd was growing up in West Virginia when he met singer Nat “King” Cole at a nightclub owned by Kidd’s father. That generated an interest a music career, which kicked into gear in 1960 when he moved to Washington, D.C. following a stint in the army. It was there that Kidd parlayed his pre-army job as a Calypso singer for a drive-in restaurant into becoming a member of a local D.C. soul group called The Enjoyables.
Eventually, Kidd began working as a producer for Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom Records, where he collaborated with such artists as Jerry Butler, Gene Chandler and Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers. Two hits by Brown, “Blow Your Whistle” and pioneering go-go hit “We Need Some Money,” are among Kidd’s best-known productions.
Four years later, Kidd played a role in producing and furthering D.C.’s homegrown go-go sound, working with Brown & the Soul Searchers as well as fellow go-go bands Trouble Funk and E.U. (Experience Unlimited).
Kidd also served as an associate producer of the 1986 film “Good to Go,” a crime thriller starring Art Garfunkel that used D.C.’s burgeoning go-go scene as its musical backdrop. Kidd co-produced the film’s go-go/dancehall soundtrack as well, featuring Chuck Brown, Trouble Funk, E.U., Sly Dunbar & Robbie Shakespeare, Ini Kamoze and Redds & the Boys (whose lineup included Kidd).
In addition to establishing his own record label, T.T.E.D. Records, Kidd became an independent promoter and marketer, with a client list that included the O’Jays, the Temptations, Lou Rawls, Van McCoy, Johnnie Taylor and Shalamar.
Kidd is survived by five daughters (Jacqueline McCoy, Yvette “Evie” Kidd, Sabrina Kidd, Joy Kidd, Corie Kidd) and one son (Victor Kidd), 11 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren plus four siblings and a son-in-law.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
Below, Chuck Brown’s “We Need Some Money,” produced by Maxx Kidd: