Like comedian Redd Foxx before Sanford and Son or singer Josephine Baker before her Paris fame, Frankie Beverly, who died Tuesday at age 77, was a major black American music star who was not “white famous.” Unlike those giants, the R&B singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and bandleader did not break the white ceiling. But he undoubtedly didn’t care, because otherwise he was an icon.

“In the post-’70s soul era, Frankie Beverly was the underrated star,” best-selling author, producer and cultural critic Nelson George said in a statement to Newsday. “Perhaps because he never had a real pop hit, Beverly and his great band Maze never got the commercial or critical attention they deserved.”

“Whenever there was a backyard barbecue or an event somewhere, Frankie Beverly’s song ‘Before I Let You Go’ was an anthem,” said Roosevelt filmmaker and former rapper Andre Guilty, aka Andreaus13, producer of “The African American News” on Optimum Channel 20.

But “Frankie Beverly was known only in the black community,” noted New York author, filmmaker and cultural critic Mike Sargent, co-founder of the Black Film Critics Circle. “For black people, he was indispensable, which is to say, many rappers sampled his music,” including 50 Cent (“Hustler’s Ambitions” sampled 1978’s “I Need You”), 2Pac (“Can U Get Away” sampled 1977’s “Happy Feelin’s”) and A Tribe Called Quest (“Go Ahead in the Rain” sampled a live version of 1980’s “Joy and Pain”).

“Frankie Beverly helped create the soundtrack for aspiring rappers when the rap music business started,” Guilty said. Additionally, Sargent said, Beverly and Maze frequently performed at traditionally black colleges and universities, including at homecoming events. “He did that for decades. A lot of HBCU bands play his songs. … Generations have grown up with this man’s music,” and that’s why.

Less visible are Beverly’s leadership qualities, said former Amityville and Wheatley Heights resident Ken “Spider” Webb, a former radio host for WBLS-FM, KISS-FM, the SiriusXM satellite radio station and others.

“He was responsible for his band on many levels,” Webb said. “He cared about whether or not they could come to the gig, whether they were sick or had family problems. He made sure everyone had a passport when they left the country. Or he would talk to people and tell them, ‘Well, hey, look, I’m going to depend on you and you have to work with me.’ He was a businessman.”

Beverly and Maze never made it into the commercial mainstream, but for decades they regularly filled venues like what is now the Flagstar at the Westbury Music Fair. The band did a farewell tour this year, The highlight was the San Jose Jazz Summer Fest on August 11, where Beverly passed the torch of Maze frontman to former Santana singer Tony Lindsay.

Streaming network Black Star Network premiered a two-hour tribute to Frankie Beverly and Maze on Wednesday night, which included an hour-long TV One documentary from 2017, said journalist and Black Star curator Roland Martin. “You could play their music to any generation,” he said, “because they don’t swear, they’re not highly sexual — it’s just feel-good music, spiritual, soulful music.”