What time is it? Time to celebrate Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
They've been called to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Not bad for a couple of R&B sidemen in suits and fedoras from Minneapolis.
It's certainly deserved. Jam and Lewis are the most successful producer/songwriting duo ever in popular music. They have produced 16 No. 1 songs on Billboard's Hot 100 — third most of all time, behind only Beatles maestro George Martin and the ubiquitous Max Martin (Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry).
In the '80s and '90s, Jam and Lewis' No. 1's were everywhere — Boyz II Men's "On Bended Knee," George Michael's "Monkey" and many Janet Jackson smashes, from "Miss You Much" to "That's the Way Love Goes." And the producers also accounted for 26 No. 1 R&B songs.
Jam and Lewis didn't just have a moment. They helmed No. 1 songs in three consecutive decades — a rare feat — and delivered 41 Top 10 pop songs in that stretch.
Always in demand, they've worked with a wide range of artists — from the Spice Girls and Rod Stewart to Michael Jackson and Celine Dion — and earned many accolades including five Grammys, Oscar and Emmy nominations, and induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Not to mention more than 100 gold and platinum records.
On Nov. 5, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis will join fellow Minnesotans Bob Dylan and Prince in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It's about damn time.
Tracy Nguyen, special to the Star Tribune
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'Minnesota magic'
Wearing matching J&L ballcaps instead of their trademark fedoras, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis discussed their careers in a recent Zoom interview from their respective Los Angeles homes. Here are excerpts.
Dylan, Prince, Jam and Lewis. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. How does that sound?
J: Sounds wonderful.
L: Great company. Minnesota magic.
Janet Jackson will have a prepared speech to induct you. Have you written your acceptance speeches? Or are you going to wing it?
J: I think there'll be a lot of winging going on. I'll jot a few notes down.
L: I'm certainly a moment guy. I may jot a few things down. I don't want to forget some people. I tend to keep it short.
Let's go back to the day you first met at Upward Bound in junior high at the University of Minnesota. What was your first impression of one another?
J: I'm surprised my mom let me do that. I just remember Terry sitting on the bed in the dorm with a red, black and green bass, and he was playing Kool & the Gang. My first thought was "I gotta get to know this dude."
L: Down in the lunchroom, I saw Jam playing piano and a bunch of girls gathered round. I thought I had to be a part of that and get to know that young man.
What's the smartest advice you've gotten from one another?
J: Terry taught me about being unselfish by example. The way he raised his kids and watching the way he operated just really informed me how I needed to be. He made me a better person.
L: Tolerance. It's difficult for me to tolerate the nonsense.
What have been the keys to success as a partnership?
J: It started with trust. Terry would always have these visions of what we should do. I remember being in the Time on the Controversy Tour [with Prince] and Terry said, "I'm going to L.A." I said, "I'll go. Where we going to stay?" He said, "We'll figure it out." I just trusted him.
L: The lost art of honor. Meaning what you say and saying what you mean. My definition of honor is doing the right thing when no one's looking.
Describe one another.
J: My first adjective would be unselfish. He commands respect. You don't always like what Terry says but you love him for telling the truth. He always sees where we need to be and he's plotting out how to get there.
L: First thing I'd describe about Jimmy Jam is he's "Senator." He's the person that can walk in any room and break the ice. He can bring sides together. He can finesse. Ultra-talented musically and one of the best orators ever. He's been a great father and husband. He's true to his word, which is something that is hard to find.
What are you most proud of?
L: I would say the diversity of music we've created across genres, whether it be pop, R&B, gospel, theme songs, Olympic songs, unification of North and South Korea songs.
J: It makes me feel good that we're a duo. Our philosophy stems back to the very first interview you did with us, Jon Bream, the first thing you said, "You guys are the hottest producers. How does that feel?" We said, "We don't want to be the hottest producers. We just want to be warm for a long time." I think consistency is underrated.
What is the legacy of Jam and Lewis?
L: I'd like to be remembered as a really nice, cool guy. The music stuff will take care of itself. Music is what I do, it's not who I am.
J: I just want to be remembered as a nice guy. And I hope we're remembered for leaving music in a better place.
L: Prince used to ask me: "How do you balance it all?" I used to tell him, "Dude, there is no balance." You have to serve what needs to be served. Your family needs you, you have to deal with your family. You can't be a rock star that day. Being successful human beings has been part of our process the whole time no matter what.
What's the smartest thing you ever did?
J: I would say the two of us getting together.
L: Making good decisions is underrated. We move back to Minneapolis [from Los Angeles] and buy our own studio at a time when everybody's telling you not to buy it. Then once we got that one going, we bought an even bigger studio. Not just for us but to give other people opportunities.
Biggest regrets?
L: My biggest regret is that I didn't get to make music with Prince again. And we talked about it right before he passed. I absolutely miss that guy. We fought like brothers, but it was always in love.
J: I agree. One of the things I learned from that is I don't like to leave things unsaid. I've gotten good at bugging people even if I don't know them. If I like what they do, I'll reach out to them on social media.
What's the best record you've ever made?
L: Mine is still "Optimistic" [by Sounds of Blackness].
J: That's an easy one. "Optimistic." There are so many stories with that song and the way that song has continued to uplift people no matter what mood they're in, no matter what genre of music they like. That is the beauty of what music can do in its best form. That song explains not only the craft of what we do but who we are as people.
What young artists would you like to work with?
J: H.E.R. is at the top of our list. I'd love to work with Cleo Sol but her husband, Inflo, produces her and I wouldn't want to ruin that. We had Maeta into our studio a couple months back who was the most amazing voice I'd heard in a long time. I keep a list when I hear things I like.
What does Minneapolis mean to you guys?
J: Our home.
L: That's where my mother is. That's where my family, the bulk of them, are. That is our foundation for sure. As a musical community, one of the best in the world to me, still to this day. Love and respect it, and that will never change.
J: Ditto.
What did curating the Super Bowl series on Nicollet Mall in 2018 mean to you guys?
L: That was an awesome time. Only in Minneapolis would you do a concert outside in the freezing cold and people would actually show up.
J: Music is the perfect uniter and that was a great example of it. It typified the greatness of music in Minneapolis and the love of music that people have. And it allowed [us] to put Minneapolis in the spotlight for all the great music. It was a great sense of community. And it was free.
L: That was the greatest part for me — the sense of community. Originally we were supposed to book eight acts. I think we ended up booking over 40 acts. Everybody took less money and did whatever they needed to do to make this whole thing work. The Minneapolis music community is beautiful.
Who was more important to you — Prince or Janet?
L: I won't incriminate myself. I'll start by saying: Without Prince, we probably wouldn't have gotten Janet. Cuz we met Janet at a Prince concert. What comes first, the chicken or the egg?
J: Janet was big fans of ours and came to see [the Time] show. Prince is the foundation for all of us. Like Terry says, the chicken or the egg?
Last year you released your own album, "Jam & Lewis, Volume One." What's up with Volume Two?
J: In progress. We're just making the songs we like and hope everybody agrees with us. And we can do it across all genres of music.
How about a tour?
J: Absolutely. We've never played our own music live. It's our 50th anniversary [of friendship] next year, and it's definitely in our plans to play our own music. We think it lends itself to festivals. I think we'd be open to a residency situation. We're open to doing orchestral dates.
How many fedoras do you have?
L: Too many.
J: Our fedoras are ending up in a lot of places. The Rock Hall just got a couple. The Grammy Museum has one of ours. I have my go-to one. They don't make it anymore. I keep it right here with me. [He puts it on.]
L: I have a bunch of different colors. Those colors aren't valid anymore.
J: I do, too. I just go with the black all the time.
Anything else?
L: We miss you, Minnesota.
J: And we love you. Thank you for being our foundation. The geography is so important to who we've become.
L: And just believing in us. If it weren't for the Pohlad family, we'd still be having our hand out. "Can we get a loan?" [Banker] Carl Pohlad, he was so generous and kind to us.
J: When our collateral was Billboard magazine: "These are our songs and we're going to get paid money for these." We had gone everywhere else and couldn't get anything done.
L: Smartest thing we ever did, probably.
J: I think we're still here because I believe in God's plan. You go to Sunset Sound [recording studio] thinking you're working on a new Time record and you get fired. Literally the day Prince fired us — or freed us, as Terry likes to say — we go over to Larrabee [Studios] and we meet [engineer] Steve Hodge. And he presses play on [S.O.S. Band's "Just Be Good to Me"] and says, "I don't think you guys have anything to worry about." I think the reason we've been able to hang around and be warm for a long time is because God's not done with us yet.
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'They're visionaries, for sure'
"They're very deserving," said R&B star Stokley Williams of the duo being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. "They've done the work, and they got the receipts." Many others in the Twin Cities music scene are feeling the same way about the homegrown heroes earning the honor. Here are tributes and memories from some of them.
Gary Hines, director of Sounds of Blackness, which recorded for Jam and Lewis' label Perspective Records
"They're just phenomenal musicians and extraordinary human beings. At the same time, they're brilliant businessmen, entrepreneurs, mentors. They're visionaries, for sure."
"An example of what they're like: Many times, I would be included in interviews with them, and one time the interviewer asked them, 'You guys could work with almost anybody. What are your criteria for who you decide to work with?' And Terry's answer surprised the interviewer. He simply said, 'Heart.' And then he went on to explain that, of course everyone they work with has the talent, that's not the issue. But their music had to come from the heart because what comes from the heart reaches the heart. And I think that outlook shines across the amazing roster of work that they've done."
Stokley Williams, singer for Mint Condition (which also recorded for Perspective Records) and drummer for some of Jam and Lewis' sessions
"They're not just great musicians and producers. They're great examples as businessmen and community members who take care of where they came from, and as human beings. They have a lot of pride about where they came from. They always have a kind word to say to younger musicians and people trying to make it. They give them real words about what to expect, how things are changing. "
"It felt great for us, young artists, being around so much talent and people with real experience. We [Mint Condition] were like the kids of Flyte Tyme. They had like a mini-Motown they were trying to create. And as a drummer, I was able to work with many of the other artists they worked with. They put me on so many records, as percussion, drums, vocals. That was really a special thing for me. People say to me, 'I didn't know you were on this Gladys Knight record, this Usher record, Jon Secada,' whatever. They provided that amazing opportunity for me."
Steve McClellan, former manager at First Avenue going back to when the club was still called Sam's and Uncle Sam's in the late '70s
"Jimmy Jam was the outgoing extrovert in my experience, and Terry was a very private person to 'outsiders,' which is what I considered myself to be. The local music community in the R&B/soul/funk circles was very aware of them both prior to the mainstream acceptance of the Time (the Morris Day version). I was first aware of Jimmy Jam when his group Mind & Matter performed on the old neon dance floor at Uncle Sam's in 1977 or 1978. A clip is available on YouTube, but it does not indicate the exact date. It was filmed for a Saturday morning kids show on Channel 5. Also, I would run into Jimmy Jam working at Hot Licks Record store on Hennepin Avenue right up the block from the club with other music illuminati like Kevin Cole and Ryan Cameron. I had been to the club called Taste, a few blocks from Uncle Sam's, where Jimmy DJ-ed. I hardly remember the 'debut' Flyte Tyme gig in the 7th St. Entry on Sept. 15, 1981. I've just got a copy of the calendar promoting the gig. ... Of course, when the first Mainroom concert by the Time with Morris Day on vocals came around, the concert sold out as quickly as early Prince dates. They had certainly captured the attention of the mainstream by that date."
Jevetta Steele, who worked with them in Sounds of Blackness, in Prince's "Graffiti Bridge" and as a backup vocalist on many sessions
"They started in Minnesota. They made sure the people in Minnesota kept working, recording and performing. They've made sure they've given back to the community they came out of, whether it's Cynthia Johnson or myself, Sounds of Blackness. They've just been constant about supporting Minnesota music and pushing us forward as artists. "
"The way they work as a team is quite brilliant. One will come up with a bass line and the groove, the other will come up with all the nuances. If either one of them isn't satisfied with something, you'll know it. Sometimes they'll do it behind closed doors, so you don't get to see their exact musicality. But they do it together, and it has to be unanimous. They never work divided. I've never seen them fight or disagree with one or another. Whatever that chemistry is, it's really family-centered and full of trust. They always present as a united front."
Morris Day, singer for the Time, from his memoir "On Time: A Princely Life in Funk," remembering working with Jam and Lewis on his solo album "Guaranteed" in 1987
"The music inside me still needed to come out. And I wanted it expressed the best way possible. That's why I reached back to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. A year earlier they'd become the hottest producers on the planet with Janet Jackson. After being fired from the Time, they right away started doing good work. They had big R&B hits with the S.O.S. Band, Alexander O'Neal and Cherrelle — just to mention a few. But their work with Janet broke the bank. The Janet/Jam and Lewis album, 'Control,' put her on the map. She recorded it in Minneapolis, where Jimmy and Terry brought out her true sweet-salty-sparking personality. They gave her dazzling dance grooves that inspired her lyrics declaring her freedom. The whole thing was beautiful. And funky. So funky, in fact, that Prince felt a little threatened."
Cornbread Harris, Jimmy's dad, who has been performing in Twin Cities music venues as a pianist and singer for more than 70 years
"I wrote songs about him [as a kid], and in them I had him flying airplanes or becoming a doctor. I didn't have him becoming a musician. I taught him some things, like how to roll his knuckles over the black keys and things like that. We performed together as a father-and-son thing for a while there, but that didn't last long before he went off and played with Terry and his other friends. Terry, I didn't know too well, but he was always there with him, he seemed to be a good partner. I taught [Jimmy] other stuff, like to be a good guy and don't get on drugs. Basic things. I kind of taught him to walk, and he eventually outran me. Prince came along. Jimmy was mostly a disc jockey then but Prince made him famous. He was kind of out of my sight [after that]; I couldn't follow all the music. But I knew a lot of people thought he was genius, and I am proud."
- Chris Riemenschneider