Jalen Hurts joined Frankie Beverly on stage at his final concert to pay tribute to the Philly icon

Frankie Beverly is “by far my favorite artist ever,” Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts told GQ in a 2023 video interview.

On Saturday, Hurts appeared on stage at Beverly’s farewell concert with his band Maze at the Dell Music Center in East Fairmount Park to give Beverly his flowers — literally — and celebrate Beverly’s impact on music and the city.

“I might have a lot of people in this crowd saying, ‘Well, what is Jalen doing here? This is too far beyond his time,’” Hurts, 25, said on stage. “But I was just raised the right way, and when I tell you Frankie Beverly and Maze have a song for every emotion — ‘Joy and Pain,’ ‘We Are One,’ ‘Golden Time of Day,’ ‘While I’m Alone,’ it goes on and on. I’m so thankful for the person you’ve been for me through your music and what you’ve done to inspire me to keep going, to persevere, to have gratitude, to show appreciation for my loved ones, the people around me, and great music. I just want to say on behalf of Philly. Everyone here in this community, we wanted to thank you.”

Hurts gave Beverly a bouquet on stage wearing an all-white outfit, a nod to Beverly’s signature on-stage dressing style.

As Hurts alluded to, he inherited his love for Beverly and Maze from his mother, Pamela, and that love runs deep. He performed Beverly’s “Before I Let Go” for rookie karaoke at Eagles training camp in 2020, included Beverly and Maze on his Go-To Songs playlist with Apple Music, and often plays Beverly’s songs in the Eagles’ locker room after games and while partaking in one of his favorite hobbies: cooking crawfish.

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“He’s a big old-school cat,” Hurts’ former high school teammate Trey Tutt told The Inquirer in 2022, with Hurts’ music choices ranging from Beverly to Al Green to the Isley Brothers. “He’s singing his favorite old-school jams and making his crawfish. That’s a time when you’ll see him with his guard down.”

“It’s just a vibe,” Hurts said. “Set the mood for the people you’re around and just enjoy that time. Especially going back [home to Houston] now. I remember my dad would always play his music and we just chilled outside. It’s in us. That’s a Hurts thing …”

And it has come full circle for Hurts, as he is helping send off Beverly, who is retiring from live performances after more than 60 years in the music industry. The Dell Music Center show was the last stop on the I Want To Thank You Farewell Tour for Beverly, who grew up in Germantown and worked with Philly sound pioneer Kenny Gamble before moving to San Francisco.