BIOGRAPHY Maurice Wade was born in 1979 outside of Chicago, IL. Being the son of two very musically inclined people, Maurice grew up in a family where music was very predominant. His father, paternal uncle and maternal uncle all played guitar and or bass; his mother sang; his maternal grandmother both sang and played piano, his paternal grandfather played piano, and his maternal grandfather played conga drums. Maurice began to take violin lessons at the age of 3 and piano lessons at the age of 5. Although he did not continue playing either instrument past elementary school, Maurice discovered his vocal ability at about 10 years of age. Thoroughly enamored with Mariah Carey, he sang her songs and many others, entertaining students and teachers alike. Thus the foundation had been laid for a life of musical creation. As part of a high school project, Maurice wrote his first song at the age of 14. Not long after that, his infatuation with Mariah Carey led him to begin writing and recording his own music in hopes of one day meeting the female vocalist. Though he eventually would realize that he and Mariah Carey would never become what he had hoped as a little boy, Maurice found a new passion - songwriting and music production. Writing song after song and recording on rudimentary amateur equipment would get him the recognition of industry professionals, but never enough to matter. Even still, his uncle Clifton Waddell from Maurice's childhood on would do everything in his power to cultivate and encourage Maurice's talent and love of music. From recording in his basement studio to making efforts to get Maurice in touch with business professionals - all the way down to purchasing multiple copies of the very albums he would assist in producing, Clifton has and continues to be one of Maurice's best supporters. At the age of 21, Maurice settled on his stage name Mayí~Ari and began work on his first album. Between his ministry as one of Jehovah's Witnesses (including traveling to and from Nicaragua to assist with the preaching work there) and varying forms of secular employment, it would be approximately five years until the formation of his independent record label (Colmena Records) and the release of his first album. Written, produced, performed and distributed by himself, "Mayí~Ari" would be the first of four album releases to date. The second, "Hymenoptera", would include several forms of music, as would the third and fourth albums, "Formicidae" and "P. Clavata". Always putting music second to what he calls his "real career", Mayí~Ari is still very heavily involved in his volunteer ministry with Jehovah's Witnesses, so music has been relegated - by his choice - to hobby status. "Because my ministry is volunteer," he says, "I have to work a regular job to support myself financially. That doesn't leave me with hardly any time at all for my music. I would love to be able to live off of my music, but I know that the chances are very slim. I've often told myself to just give up, that its not worth the effort. But the truth is, I don't make music for money. I make it because I love it. I make it because... I have to. Over the years, even though I don't have much time for it, I've gotten remarkably better at my craft, and I continue to improve. I don't know if i will ever make a dime doing what I do, but I've tried to stop, and the fact of the matter is, I can't. Paycheck or not, I will be making music until I die." Now 35 years of age, Mayí~Ari is dropping his fifth and final release - a five-track EP. This release exposes Mayí~Ari's greatest weakness and the most powerful inspiration for his music - love lost. "I'm such a sucker for being in love, even when I know ahead of time that its a bad idea," he says. "I have realized for some time now that Mayí~Ari has become little more than a whiner about his problems with women. 'P. Clavata' was supposed to close the book on that guy once and for all and give rise to a different kind of musician - one with more self-confidence and a completely different approach to women and music. Unfortunately, right while I was putting the finishing touches on that album, the girl I came to call my "little lady" showed me that Mayí~Ari was still very much alive. Without being able to stop it, the situation went south, the emotional turmoil took over and the songs pretty much wrote themselves. "As I look back over the summer of 2014 when this all went down, I am now more determined than ever to put Mayí~Ari to rest once and for all. I feel like now he mostly just complains about his heartbreaks, and I'm to the point now where even I myself am sick of hearing it. But I realize now more than ever that try as I may, I cannot stop the music that comes from deep within my heart; so I am going to have to heal the fiber of my very being in order to silence the pain of so many loves lost. This is a change I've known I need to make for awhile now - one that 'P. Clavata' was SUPPOSED to represent. I've been hurt too much, I've been let down too often. But as life would have it, plans changed. One last heartbreak slipped under the radar, and this final episode inspired me to write some really good music. And because these songs are breakthrough tracks for me with respect to my craft, I just won't feel right until they are out there for the world to hear. But this last situation also got me to the point that I'm at now - more ready than ever for the needed transition to finally take place. It won't be easy and it won't be quick, but it WILL happen. So this EP is not only a farewell to Mayí~Ari and his brokenhearted love songs, but it is also a tribute to the girl that brought about the pain that drove him to finally make a change in his life for the better." The title of Mayí~Ari's final project is "Little Lady: The EP." Though this is his final release, Mayí~Ari is not done with music. Be prepared for him to quietly resurface under a different name and with a brand new identity.