The Time (band)
| The Original 7ven | |
|---|---|
 Morris Day and The Time, 2013 |
|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Funk , new wave , pop music , R&B , soul |
| founding | 1981 as The Time , 1995 |
| resolution | 1990 |
| Founding members | |
Lead vocals |
Morris day |
| Jesse Johnson (until 2011) | |
| Terry Lewis | |
| Jellybean Johnson | |
| Monte Moir | |
Keyboard |
Jimmy Jam |
| Current occupation | |
Lead vocals |
Morris day |
bass |
Ricky Freeze Smith |
Drums |
Jellybean Johnson |
Keyboard |
Monte Moir |
Keyboard |
Andre 'Padre' Holmes |
guitar |
Torrell 'Tori' Ruffin |
guitar |
Christian Crooks |
| former members | |
Keyboard |
St. Paul Peterson (1983-1984) |
bass |
Jerry Hubbard (1983-1984) |
Keyboard |
Stanley 'Chance' Howard (1996-2007) |
The Time , also known as Morris Day and The Time or The Original 7ven , is an American funk band founded by Prince in 1981 . Aside from lead singer Morris Day, founding members included Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis . In 2011, The Time temporarily changed its name to The Original 7ven, but since Prince's death in April 2016 the band has performed again under The Time or Morris Day and The Time.
history
founding
In April 1981 Prince formed the band The Time from parts of the cast of Flyte Tyme, a funk band from Minneapolis , Minnesota around high school friends Terry Lewis and Jimmy Harris , who had been playing together since 1973. Inspired by the film All My Stars , Prince wanted to keep his basic musical intentions in funk and R&B through this side project in order to be able to experiment with elements from other genres in his solo career at the same time. Thanks to his previous first commercial successes, he was able to negotiate a contractual agreement with his record company Warner Bros. Records , which allowed him to publish various side projects (sometimes under different names).
Musical beginnings
Originally, Prince had, in addition to Jimmy Harris and Terry Lewis, the other former Flyte Tyme member Alexander O'Neal intended for the band. He turned down the offer to become the band's singer, but on the grounds that he wanted to be part of the group “only with the prospect of a little money”. Then Prince decided to hire his school friend Morris Day as a singer and completed the line-up with Jellybean Johnson, Jerome Benton and Jesse Johnson .
Prince took over the duties of a songwriter and producer for the band , whose content orientations mostly included topics such as sex, parties and money. This was a clear departure from the sometimes spiritual and socially critical content that he dealt with on his solo records from this time.
Therefore, Prince was solely responsible for the musical and lyrical events on the debut album The Time , which was not noted in the liner notes when it was released. The vocal parts were taken over by Morris Day, who sang them under the direction of Prince. Jamie Starr is named as the producer , which was taken for a pseudonym of Prince by many, but according to Prince himself this is not true.
Although the band had never played together, Prince took them on his tour in 1981 for his solo album Controversy , where The Time acted as the opening act and was introduced to a wider public.
Exclusion of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
During the 1999 tour in 1983, up-and-coming band members Terry Lewis and Jimmy Harris commuted between concerts with Prince and The Time and the production of the SOS Band's album On the Rise . It is said that Terry Lewis and Jimmy Harris missed a concert date for their own band in San Antonio due to traffic problems due to a snow storm. Because of this, Prince is said to have thrown the band members Harris and Lewis out of the group with a comparatively low salary payment of 3,000 US dollars . In an interview with the music magazine Rolling Stone, Prince denied this allegation and attributed this decision to the band leader Morris Day.
The phase during the second album What Time Is It? was the last for the time being with the participation of Harris, Lewis and also Monte Moir, who decided in the course of the expulsion to also leave the band. This second album was also produced under Prince's sole responsibility.
High phase and separation 1984–1985
The third album, Ice Cream Castle , brought two decisive turning points in the band's history. Three members were replaced by Mark Cardenas, Paul Peterson and Jerry Hubbard, and Prince involved band members for the first time in the album production. The album also contains by far the most famous song The Bird and gave the band their greatest commercial success to date. A fact that is not least due to the appearance of the band in the Prince film Purple Rain . Still, The Time never got beyond the status of a respectable success.
Due to the commercial success of Purple Rain , Prince returned to his solo projects. This prompted the rest of the band members - partly wanted, partly out of necessity - to pursue other projects as well, such as in the band The Family or Jesse Johnson's solo career. There has therefore never been an official separation.
Reunification and renewed separation in 1990
At the insistence of his label Warner , Prince involved the original cast of The Time in the production of the soundtrack of his second film Graffiti Bridge , according to the record company also in order to stick to the recipe for success of Purple Rain . Although Graffiti Bridge was released as a solo album by Prince, it is largely based on the never-released The Time album Corporate World . Prince had started working on a new album for The Time in June 1989 and got songwriting support from founding members Jerome Benton and Morris Day. The ex-members Terry Lewis and Jimmy Harris, now with a Grammy Award-honored Janet Jackson producers, were reactivated by Prince for the band and the following album Pandemonium . Pandemonium consisted mostly of leftover session material from the previous albums and was at most grossly revised by the band. With the single release Jerk Out , The Time had their biggest hit to date on this album. However, this fact could not prevent the renewed abrupt separation of the band. Various creative demands and efforts in the differently developed artists had repeatedly led to disputes, most recently during the video shoot of the last single Chocolate to this day .
On February 10, 2008, The Time played for the first time since Lewis and Harris were kicked out again on the same stage. The original cast accompanies the appearance of the artist Rihanna on the occasion of the 50th presentation of the Grammy Awards.
Name change in 2011
In September 2011 the band announced that they would henceforth be called The Original 7ven , as Prince owned the naming rights to "The Time". In December 2011 guitarist Jesse Johnson left the band. Ultimately, the name The Original 7ven was only temporary, because since Prince's death in April 2016, the band has performed again as The Time or as Morris Day and The Time.
Current creative phase (since 2016)
On the occasion of Prince 's death in April 2016, a tribute evening was held in honor of the musician on October 13, 2016 at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota , on which, among other things, Morris Day and The Time also performed.
On January 28, 2020, another tribute concert for Prince took place in the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles . The motto was "Let's Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute to Prince" and The Time played the songs Cool , Jungle Love and The Bird . The concert aired on U.S. television on April 21, 2020, the fourth anniversary of Prince's death.
Discography
Studio albums
| year | Title music label |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 1981 |
The Time Warner Bros. Records |
- |
US50  (32 weeks)US |
First published: July 29, 1981
Sales: + 500,000 |
| 1982 | What time is it? Warner Bros. Records |
- |
US26th (33 weeks)US |
First published: August 25, 1982
Sales: + 500,000 |
| 1984 | Ice Cream Castle Warner Bros. Records |
- |
US24  (57 weeks)US |
First published: July 9, 1984
Sales: + 1,000,000 |
| 1990 | Pandemonium Warner Bros. Records / Paisley Park Records |
UK66 (1 week) UK |
US18th (16 weeks)US |
First published: July 10, 1990
Sales: + 500,000 |
| 2011 | Condensate Saguaro Road Records |
- |
US58 (1 week) US |
First published: October 18, 2011
as The Original 7ven |
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 1981 | Get It Up The Time |
- | - |
First published: June 26, 1981
|
| Cool the time |
- |
US90 (7 weeks) US |
First published: November 1981
|
|
| Girl The Time |
- | - |
First published: Winter 1981
|
|
| 1982 | 777-9311 What Time Is It? |
- |
US88 (3 weeks) US |
First published: July 30, 1982
|
| The Walk What Time Is It? |
- | - |
First published: November 1982
|
|
| 1983 | Gigolos Get Lonely Too What Time Is It? |
- | - |
First published: March 9, 1983
|
| 1984 | Ice Cream Castles Ice Cream Castle |
- | - |
First published: June 8, 1984
|
| Jungle Love Ice Cream Castle |
- |
US20 (25 weeks) US |
First published: October 11, 1984
|
|
| The Bird Ice Cream Castle |
- |
US36 (13 weeks) US |
First published: December 12, 1984
|
|
| 1990 | Jerk Out Pandemonium |
- |
US9 (15 weeks)US |
First published: June 28, 1990
Sales: + 500,000 |
| Chocolate Pandemonium |
- | - |
First published: August 1990
|
|
| 2011 | #Trendin Condensate |
- | - |
First published: September 27, 2011
as The Original 7ven |
literature
- Uptown: The Vault - The Definitive Guide to the Musical World of Prince : Nilsen Publishing 2004, ISBN 91-631-5482-X .
Web links
- Morris Day and The Time can be available for your next corporate or special event! ( Memento from February 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Website of the booking agency with band information from Morris Day & The Time
- Singles Discography on 45cat.com
- Discography on rateyourmusic.com
- Charts and data
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mn0000919812
- ↑ http://www.purplemusic.mynetcologne.de/the_time.html?line-up.html See line 18
- ↑ Interview with Prince in the Los Angeles Times , November 21, 1982
- ↑ Article about the beginnings of the tape ( Memento of the original from April 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ 1990 Rolling Stone interview with Prince
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ http://www.purplemusic.mynetcologne.de/the_time.html
- ↑ http://www.drfunkenberry.com/2011/09/14/the-band-formerly-known-as-the-time-returns-with-new-music-listen-no/
- ↑ http://www.drfunkenberry.com/2011/12/15/jesse-johnson-announces-he-is-leaving-the-original-7eventhe-time/
- ↑ Jon Bream: Prince tribute shows why he is missed. In: StarTribune.com. October 14, 2016, accessed October 14, 2016 .
- ↑ Chuck Arnold: Grammy salute 'Let's Go Crazy' proves nothing compares 2 Prince. In: nypost.com. April 21, 2020, accessed April 24, 2020 .
- ↑ admin: The Best Moments From 'Let's Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute To Prince' [Videos]. In: liveforlivemusic.com. April 21, 2020, accessed April 24, 2020 .
- ↑ a b Chart sources: US
- ↑ The Time in the Official UK Charts (English)
