Born in Harlem, USA, now hailing from the Bronx, New York, Maurice or just simply “The Voice” has been on the airwaves for the last twenty-six years. Having a devout Christian mother, Myrtle Fuller and a number one New York gospel promoter, Deacon Watts, for a father, it is not hard to see where Maurice “The Voice” Watts inherits his love of music. Hailing from a family that is enriched with musical talent, mostly gospel, Maurice began his journey along this road as a youngster who would tag along with his dad, at that time the manager of the gospel quartet, “The Mellotones”, to their singing engagements. He picked up on everything and learned the “ins and outs” of the music and entertainment business.

In 1980, Deacon Watts became a radio personality at WHBI (known today as WNWK 105.9), and Maurice joined him in 1982. Maurice assisted his dad on the “Road To Glory” gospel show and filled in for him when needed. Through a fortunate twist of fate in April of 1992, Maurice and his father and their Road To Glory gospel show were summoned to WHCR 90.3 FM. As a result of this union, Maurice’s talents were greatly highlighted as would soon become a very demanded Master of Ceremony for various events in New York.  He spent more time displaying his vocals behind the microphone just as he did during his years as the bass singer for the popular Bronx, New York Gospel quartet balladeers, “The Ecstatistics”.

On July 1, 1988, Maurice married his partner for life Tammy “Sweet-T” Watts. This union brought Maurice’s first son into his life. His name is Eugene a/k/a “Voice Jr”. Eugene has grown up to be a very fine and respectable man. He’s made both Maurice and Tammy very proud of him. He’s served as a member of our United States Air Force and now is police officer in his current home town.

In 1990, Maurice suffered one of the worse tragedies in his life. His best friend in the world his mother passed away. She had been sick for most of his life and he was the only child living with her. Her death was something that Maurice learned to deal with by keeping his head up and continuing to thrive for his goals in life

Although Maurice loved being in the studio and on the air with his father and The Road To Glory program, there was a void that he hoped against hope to fill. It was his deep desire to host his own radio show where he could mesmerize a receptive listening audience with the best in love songs, slow jams, and ballads old and new. He never considered himself to be a dancer although always priding himself in his ability to slow grind and the sensual way he felt when doing so with that special someone, he wanted to give this feeling over and over to others.

On one September afternoon in 1992, with nothing but a dream and a quarter, Maurice made a call to Frank Allen, then program director at WHCR, to explain his ideas and the format for the kind of radio show he would like to bring to WHCR. After doing so, he asked Mr. Allen to give it some thought and maybe let him cover for an absentee host one night for an hour. Surprisingly, Frank replied “how about 4 hours, two nights per week beginning two weeks from now.” To say that Maurice was overwhelmed is obviously an understatement! However, due to his job he had to decline one night and selected Friday night the night for lovers to air his show. Frank then inquired, “What would you call the show?”, to which Maurice replied, “The Love Zone“.

Maurice has acquired a vast listening audience and has been rendering them hopelessly in love, musically, since October 2, 1992. “THE LOVE ZONE” soon zoomed to the #1 spot on WHCR’S programming schedule! Every Friday night at 8pm lovers and would be lovers found themselves tuning in to “THE LOVE ZONE” to hear the smooth deep voice of the man himself. As one listener put it, “It’s Friday evening, the end of a seemingly never ending week, the job, the school, buses, trains, deadlines and bedtimes. The tension is built up. You can feel the nerve endings tingle. You’ve got to relax, you’ve got to come down. You saunter over to the stereo, turn on the tuner and what comes out is hard- hard rap, hard core, hard reggae, hard, hard, hard – as you go up and down the dial until the tuner locks in on 90.3 FM. The voice coming from the speakers is as smooth and sexy as the music behind it, and the brother is saying to you he has the antidote for exactly what ails you, promising to relax your mind, your body and your soul. So there you are and there you stay … engulfing everything that this man with this very sensual sexy voice has to offer you.

And it’s good. Maurice “The Voice” Watts takes you on a 4-hour journey through “The Love Zone” each Friday evening. He takes you down memory lane with some of the sweetest sounds to ever hit the airwaves from the past, and then he lets you cruise to a slow wind to some of the sexy ballads and slow jams of today. As the weeks and months of Friday’s go by, you discover something quite wonderful and unexpected about “The Love Zone” and it’s host; he is very, very personable. Unlike no other deejay you’ve ever experienced, Maurice has a fantastic one-on-one relationship with his entire listening audience. He touches each and every one of them individually, and it’s a real family affair with him – No Nonsense. It seems that anyone connected with “The Love Zone” and Maurice “The Voice” Watts is simply put a “family member”. Through music, he gives of himself to the listeners and feels what they feel when they’re feeling it. When they’re up, he’s up and when they’re down, he takes it to heart and goes through whatever it is with them in an attempt to bring them out of it. “The Voice” invites every one of his official Love Zone listeners to the studio to celebrate their birthday live and on the air with the Love Zone staff, family and the listening audience.

Maurice did not stop there. Due to his popularity and a growing listening audience, he initiated, “THE LOVE ZONE ANNIVERSARY PARTY”! This annual affair took place every October from 1992 – 2006 in Harlem, NY! There is more! Let’s not forget the annual “LOVE ZONE PICNIC”! This summer jam happens every August, which features lots of fun and plenty of celebrities! Things would not be complete without a special celebration for the ladies that is why you will find him honoring the ladies at his annual, “THE LOVE ZONE MOTHER’S DAY DINNER”! Maurice never forgets his loyal fans, being a humanitarian; he has made visits to local hospitals, nursing homes and convalescent centers, showing his concern and to cheer up his listeners! Working towards the betterment of the community, he volunteered his time to help the campaign of Manhattan Borough President, Ms. C. Virginia Fields.

In 1997, the community of Harlem honored him. He was presented with the award: “Radio Personality of the Year!” He has hosted affairs all over the country including events for The United Negro College Fund, The National Black Miss Harlem Fashion Show, and vintage R&B performers such as “Major Harris & The Delfonics” and the forty – fifth anniversary of the classic R&B group “The Dells.” Maurice has made the News media many times, appearing in both, “Starlight Magazine”, and “The New York Daily News.”

In January of 2002, Maurice formed his own distribution company, Voice Distributions. His goal was to provide an online outlet for Classic R&B Soul artists and artists of today to get their products heard on the air and purchased by their fans. On February 4, 2002 Voice Distributions landed their first major recording artist, Mr. Ali Ollie Woodson (former lead singer of The Temptations 1983-1996). Mr. Woodson entrusted Maurice with distributing his new solo CD “Right Here Along” and Maurice didn’t let him down. New York was sent into Ali Woodson heaven every Friday night on WHCR 90.3FM and made sure every one of his fans was able to get their own copy of this wonderful CD.

Since then Maurice has been busy acquiring various well-known major artist’s products. Smokey Robinson, Stephanie Mills, The Isley Brothers, The Temptations, The Manhattans, Ray, Goodman & Brown, Barrington Henderson, G.C. Cameron, Bunny Sigler, Al Mckenzie, Michael Brandeburg have all in some form or another joined the Voice Distributions family including R&B vocal group “The Whispers” whom over the past few years have become good friends with Maurice. They too decided it was time to become a member of Maurice’s distribution company. With all the buzz about his success with other artists, The Whispers joined forces with Maurice and allowed him to be the first online distributor to handle their new and first CD in nine years “For Your Ears Only”. Maurice went straight to work on it the same day, and now so many of their fans have Voice Distributions to thank for putting an end to their nine years of anticipation for a new CD. So make sure you stop by his Online Store.

On February 8, 2002, God blessed Maurice and Tammy with their second son, Maurice Watts Jr,. You can often hear him on the air at his dad’s radio station. He’s become just as famous as his dad from his YouTube video that has over 58,500 views. See him do the Temptations entire dance routine on YouTube CLICK HERE.

On April 26, 2002, Maurice received a phone call at the station while on the air from Ali Woodson. Extending an invitation to Maurice to become the Bass singer for his group “The Emperors Of Soul“. This helped put a seal on Maurice’s life-long dream of performing the hits of his all time favorite group The Temptations. Yes, dreams do come true. Maybe you’ve seen them when they were in your city.

In January, 2004, with the success of Voice Distributions, Maurice became the central contact for a lot of his artists fans and promoters to reach them. This lead to Maurice starting another company, Voice Booking Agency. He focuses on booking entertainment for large and small corporate and convention clients, concert series, festivals, resorts and private functions. Tavares, Heatwave, Dennis Edwards, The Chi-lites, Morris Day & The Time, Chante Moore, The Sugarhill Gang, Kurtis Blow, The Dramatics, Black Ivory, Soul Generation, Meli’sa Morgan and others have become members of VBA. So make sure you stop by Voice Booking Agency.

On October 1, 2004, during his 22nd. Radio Anniversary, Maurice was serenaded by his all time favorite female vocalist, Ms. Patti LaBelle. This was a night he’ll never forget as Mary Wilson, Gerald Alston, Martha Reeves, Kurtis Blow, Force MD’s, Russell Thompkins Jr, The Chi-lites and so many of his friends in the industry celebrated this event with him.

On February 2, 2005, Maurice’s year started off with the birth of his first grandchild, “Elisha-Maurice”. His oldest son Eugene named him after Maurice for being one of the most powerful men in his life. The other person was his grandfather Elisha Boyd. On March 10, 2005, Maurice was presented an “Award Of Appreciation” from legendary rapper Kurtis Blow & The Hip Hop Church for his participation in helping to start their church project for the youth.

On August 6, 2005 Judy Cook started a fan club in honor of Maurice. After 23 years in the industry she felt he really did deserve to have one. Now his fans from all over the world now have a place to come together and express their love and appreciation for him.

On April 26, 2006 Maurice decided it was time to return to his gospel roots on the radio. It’s been 14 years since he left the “Road To Glory” gospel show with his father, and every day since he’s always long to go back. No, he hasn’t given up his baby “The Love Zone” but he has created a new 24 hour internet gospel radio station. That’s right now people all over the world can listen to some of the best gospel music on the internet at GospelZone247.com hosted by Maurice.

In October 2006 Maurice along with DJ Howie D whom together make up “The Kings Of Old School” DJ & Master of Ceremony company, were invite to England to play at Sam Roberts birthday party. The listeners and fans over there loved them so much that they almost didn’t let them return to the United States. Upon returning to the states they continued their 2006 world tour through Georgia to Mississippi for his new fan club president Ms. Maxine Jackson’s 50th birthday party before returning back to New York City. So keep them in mind for your next event, and remember like Maurice often says “Aint No Party! Like An Old School Party!”

December 5, 2006 is a night Maurice says he will never forget. After 24 years in the business he finally received the honor of hosting a show at the world famous Apollo Theater, featuring his all time favorite male group The Temptations. Another highlight of the evening occurred when his good friend actor/singer Leon pushed the door to their dressing room open and re-enacted his role as David Ruffin from the movie. “You can’t do this show without me!” “I’m David Ruffin!” Everyone in view burst out with laughter.

2007 started off with Maurice meeting up with his all time favorite female vocalist Ms.Patti LaBelle who thanked Maurice on stage at the Bergen PAC theater for playing her music over the years. This lead up his exclusive interview he did with her on January 26, 2007 on his live radio show The Love Zone that aired on New York radio station WHCR 90.3FM. Listen to it here! Further along into the year Maurice had the privilege to meet the legendary “Ice Man” Mr Jerry Butler who said Maurice has one of the most captivating voices he’s ever heard. Coming from Mr Butler this really meant a lot to Maurice.

We can not imagine Maurice just sitting in the studio and playing music as some well paid deejays do. Oh no!! Maurice lives for and loves what he does for his listeners through his music and in the Love Zone. Recently he created a Love Zone web cam chat room and A 24 hour internet radio station at www.LoveZone247.com so that his listeners can never be without their music. Hey! It’s a family thing – it’s very personal and he’s been doing it for FREE for over 32 years! What else can be said…..

Written by Friends and Family of “The Voice”…….updated: January 28, 2007