The Time (Band)

The Time were a funk and dance-pop ensemble of the early- and mid-80s. They were prominent protégés of Prince.

The band was assembled under a clause in Prince's contract with Warner Bros. that allowed him to recruit and produce other artists for the label. Inspired by the 1980 film The Idolmaker, about the life of music promoter and producer Bob Marucci – the svengali figure behind such 50s/early-60s teen idols as Fabian and Frankie Avalon – Prince decided to put together a poppy funk group that would serve as a pet project and an outlet for further hits and material in the vein of his own early albums – while he himself went on to explore other genres and styles in his own career.

By 1981, he had built The Time out of an existing Minneapolis funk unit, "Flyte Tyme" (from the Donald Byrd song), which featured Jellybean Johnson on drums, Jimmy Jam and Monte Moir on keyboards, and Terry Lewis on bass. To this base were added Jesse Johnson (on guitar) and a lead singer named Morris Day, drawn from another local band, Enterprise. Prince had used an Enterprise song, "Partyup", on Dirty Mind, and his selection of Day was essentially a reward; he had originally tapped Alexander O'Neal – yet another player in the Minneapolis "Uptown" funk scene – for the vocalist slot, but O'Neal wanted too much money.

The band went on to release three albums during the course of their main career, each a solid slice of jammy, rock-infused 80s funk, generally light and humorous in tone, strongly influenced by Parliament – and, of course, Prince. Although they scored numerous hits (including "The Bird", Jesse Johnson's very catchy "Jungle Love", "777–9311", "Jerk Out", "Get It Up", "Gigolos Get Lonely Too", and "Cool", mostly on the R&B charts) during the early 80s, they never approached superstardom, or developed a reputation for innovation or artistic brilliance in the manner of Prince. Though Day made a charismatic and alluring frontman, many have called his songwriting weak and self-indulgent, citing it as a reason that The Time never went on to even greater success.

In 1983, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who had begun writing songs and branching out into production work of their own (working with SOLAR to produce Klymaxx and with Tabu Records to produce the S.O.S. Band), were stranded in Atlanta by a blizzard and failed to make it to a Time concert in San Antonio, for which they were fined and then fired. Whether their firing was due to the incident or to their increasing independence has never been clear. The duo were replaced with Lisa Coleman (keyboards) and Jerry Hubbard (bass).

It was Day who left next, choosing to pursue a solo career in 1985 after a successful acting turn in Prince's Purple Rain film. The band disintegrated soon thereafter, with Jesse Johnson also opting to go solo. Meanwhile, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis went on to become one of the most successful songwriting and production teams of the 80s and 90s.

Several members of The Time reunited in 1990 and have remained together since.

Discography

• The Time (Warner Bros., 1981)
• What Time Is It? (Warner Bros., 1982)
• Ice Cream Castle (Warner Bros., 1984)
• Pandemonium (Paisley Park Records, 1990)

External link

• Unofficial homepage