Maverick Sabre listens to Bob Marley to cheer him up.
The ‘Let Me Go’ hitmaker – whose real name is Michael Stafford – feels better when he hears the late singer-songwriter’s hits, and the 21-year-old star is hoping his music will have the same ”positive” affect on people.
He said: ”Music’s about unity, positivity, love. That’s what I want my music to be about. I want it to break down walls. I want my shows to have people of different races, different ages. Everybody’s there – enjoying it. Like with Bob Marley – everyone in the world can listen to him. I’ve never heard anyone say ‘Bob Marley’s s**t.’
”And you know that for me is what music’s all about. I was doing the dishes the other night – feeling a bit down. I put on ‘No Woman No Cry’ and it made me feel better!”
Maverick – who was runner-up in the voting for the 2012 Brits Critics Choice Award, which was won by Emeli Sande – has found hip-hop music to be a big influence in his career mainly because of the genre’s lyrical directness.
He added to the Yorkshire Evening Post newspaper: ”It’s a melting pot. But what really drew me in to hip-hop was the directness. There was no dilly-dallying about. You got it in one line. You felt that straight away. If someone wanted to say something, they said it. You felt that.”