The Time (band)

The Time (band)
Place of origin	Minneapolis
Genres	Minneapolis sound

For the Yugoslavian band, see Time (Yugoslavian band).

The Time
The Time performing as The Original 7ven at Club Nokia in Los Angeles in 2013
Background information
Also known as	The Original 7ven, Morris Day and the Time
Origin	Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Genres	Funk soul funk rock R&B Minneapolis sound
Years active	1981–1985, 1990–1991, 1995–present
Labels	Warner Bros., Paisley Park, Saguaro Road
Members	Morris Day Jellybean Johnson Monte Moir Torrell "Tori" Ruffin Ricky "Freeze" Smith
Past members	Jesse Johnson Jerome Benton Jimmy Jam Terry Lewis Mark Cardenas St. Paul Peterson Rocky Harris Gerry Hubbard Stanley "Chance" Howard Robert GI' Grissett Jr Ricky "Freeze" Smith Morris Hayes Brice Myles Jeff McNealy

The Time, also known as Morris Day and the Time and The Original 7ven, is an American musical group founded in Minneapolis in 1981. Their work has been a part of the formation of the Minneapolis sound, featuring a mix of soul music and dance music with funk, rock n roll, and more. Led by singer-songwriter Morris Day the band members are known for having been close Prince associates, and are arguably the most successful artists who have worked with Prince, achieving particular popularity with R&B fans with tracks such as "The Bird", "Cool", and "Jungle Love". Former members Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis went on to a prominent production career after they left the band in 1983, while Day and guitarist Jesse Johnson recorded solo material in addition to their work with the Time.

Career

Prince and formation

The Time 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 musical film The Idolmaker (1980), about a rock promoter, Prince decided to put together a pop-funk group that would serve as an outlet for material in the vein of his own early albums, while he explored other genres and styles in his own career.

By 1981, Prince had built The Time out of an existing Minneapolis funk/R&B unit, Flyte Tyme, which featured Cynthia Johnson on lead vocals and sax, Anton (Tony) Johnson on guitar, David Eiland on saxophone, Jellybean Johnson on drums, Jimmy Jam and Monte Moir on keyboards, and Terry Lewis on bass. To the last four were added Jesse Johnson on guitar and a lead singer and childhood friend named Morris Day, as well as Jerome Benton, who was a promoter drawn from another local band called "Enterprise", who became Day's comic foil.

Success

The band went on to release four funk albums, generally light and humorous in tone, strongly influenced by Funkadelic, Parliament, James Brown and Sly Stone. Although they scored numerous hits during the early 1980s, including "Cool" (1981), "Jungle Love" (1985), "777-9311", "Get It Up" (1981), "Gigolos Get Lonely Too", and "The Walk", mostly on the R&B charts, they never approached superstardom.

During the 1982–83 1999/Triple Threat tour, The Time served as Vanity 6's backing band from behind a curtain, before playing their own hour-long set. They liked the arrangement because the band saw it as free money. Terry Lewis said, "I'll play behind Vanity 6 for thirty minutes for $250. No problem. I was going to have to do the sound check, anyway." Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who had begun writing songs and producing albums 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 Jerome had to mime playing bass guitar on stage while Prince played Lewis's part off stage, and Lisa Coleman stood in for Jimmy Jam. Subsequently, the duo were fined and then fired, although Prince would state in a 1990 Rolling Stone interview: "I didn't fire Jimmy and Terry. Morris asked me what I would do in his situation. You got to remember, it was his band." Whether their firing was due to the incident or to their increasing independence has never been clear. Monte Moir took the opportunity to leave as well, and would also work with Jam and Lewis. The three were replaced with Mark Cardenas and Paul Peterson on keyboards and Rocky Harris on bass. This new line up, with Jerry Hubbard replacing Rocky Harris, was featured in Prince's Purple Rain film. The Time rode the wave of popularity created by the movie and hit singles "Jungle Love" and "The Bird".

First split

Day left after arguments with Prince, choosing to pursue a solo career in 1985 after a successful acting turn in Purple Rain. With Jesse Johnson also opting to go solo (taking other Time members Cardenas and Hubbard with him), the band disintegrated. The remaining members (Benton, Jellybean Johnson and Peterson) were reformed into a new short-lived project called The Family. Meanwhile, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis went on to become one of the most successful songwriting and production teams of the 1980s and 1990s.

The reunion was short-lived, as infighting within the band caused them to disband once again. Morris and Jerome have since remained a team, with both trying out some small acting roles over the next few years.

In June and July 2008, all of the original members of The Time (Morris Day, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Jesse Johnson, Jerome Benton, Jellybean Johnson, and Monte Moir) reunited once again for a series of shows at the Flamingo Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

A January 2009 interview mentions that guitarist Jesse Johnson states he is working with The Time on their upcoming album. The Time appeared at The Fox Theater, in Detroit, Michigan on June 11, 2010, with the original lineup to a packed house. Two days later during what Jimmy Jam dubbed "The Stingy Tour" on June 13, 2010 the "magnificent 7" played a hometown reunion concert in Minneapolis, MN, and, during that concert, announced on stage that a new album was "90% complete", which confirmed information provided in a Billboard profile published a week earlier.

In September 2011, the band announced a name change to The Original 7ven and a new album Condensate which was released October 18, 2011 with the single "#Trendin" released September 20. Concerning the name change, Jimmy Jam said that “the decision was made at that point that we could either continue to, shall we say, negotiate or argue or plead or whatever. We decided to go the route of 'let’s not hold things up because of the name. Let’s embrace the opportunity to move forward in a new era, with a new outlook, with a new album' and that’s what we did. We think the name reflects exactly who we are. We are the Original 7even and that basically, for me, covers it.”

On October 27, 2011, The Original 7ven appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

On November 17, 2011, The Original 7ven opened the Soul Train Music Awards in Atlanta, Georgia. The show was broadcast on November 27.

On February 12, 2017, the original lineup of The Time played a brief two-song set at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California, held at Staples Center as part of a tribute to Prince. The Time's appearance was followed by a performance by Bruno Mars.

The band has been honored with a star on the exterior of the Minneapolis nightclub First Avenue, where both the original roster and the second lineup of the group performed (first in October 1981 and later in the film Purple Rain). The stars on the building recognize performers who have played sold-out shows or have otherwise demonstrated a major contribution to the culture at the iconic venue. Receiving a star "might be the most prestigious public honor an artist can receive in Minneapolis," according to journalist Steve Marsh.

Legal dispute with Prince Estate

In March, 2022, a Los Angeles Times article reported that the Prince Estate had recently informed Day that he “‘can no longer use Morris Day and the Time in any capacity.’” Music industry attorney Erin M. Jacobson was quoted in the article saying that it was more accurate to say the letter said that Day could not claim “‘ownership of the name,’” but there was still opportunity to use the name via an agreement with the Prince Estate that would provide terms for Day to monetarily compensate “‘the trademark owner in exchange for the ability to continue using the name.’”

Members

Current

• Morris Day – lead vocals, backing vocals (1981–1985, 1990–1991, 1995–present)
• Jellybean Johnson – drums, guitar, backing vocals (1981–1985, 1990–1991, 1995–present)
• Torrell "Tori" Ruffin – guitar, backing vocals (1995–present)
• Ricky "Freeze" Smith – bass, backing vocals (1995–2018, 2020–present)
• Sylvester Donald – valet, dancer, backing vocals, percussion (2009–2015, 2021–present)
• Andre "PaDre" Holmes – keyboards, bass, backing vocals (2018–present)
• Christopher Troy – keyboards, backing vocals (2021–present)

Past

• Jesse Johnson – guitar, backing vocals (1981–1985, 1990–1991, 2008, 2011, 2017)
• Monte Moir – keyboards, backing vocals (1981–1983, 1990–1991, 1995–2021)
• Terry Lewis – bass, backing vocals (1981–1983, 1990–1991, 2008, 2011, 2017, 2020)
• Jimmy Jam – keyboards, backing vocals (1981–1983, 1990–1991, 2008, 2011, 2017, 2020)
• Jerome Benton – valet, dancer, backing vocals, percussion (1981–1985, 1990–1991, 1995–2006, 2008, 2011, 2017, 2020)
• Mark Cardenas – keyboards, backing vocals (1983–1984)
• St. Paul Peterson – keyboards, backing vocals (1983–1984)
• Rocky Harris – bass (1983)
• Jerry Hubbard – bass, backing vocals (1983–1984)
• Morris Hayes – keyboards, backing vocals (1991)
• Stanley "Chance" Howard – keyboards, backing vocals (1995–)
• Robert Grissett, Jr. – keyboards, backing vocals (1995–)
• Brice Myles – keyboards, backing vocals
• Jeff McNeely – keyboards, backing vocals
• Jeffree Mak – keyboards, backing vocals (2006?–2019)
• Thomas Austin – valet, dancer, backing vocals, percussion (2014–2020)
• Charlie Redd – bass, backing vocals (2018)

Discography

The Time discography
Studio albums	5
Singles	13

Studio albums

Year	Title	Chart positions
		US	US R&B
1981	The Time Released: July 29, 1981 Label: Warner Bros. Records	50	7	—
1982	What Time Is It? Released: August 25, 1982 Label: Warner Bros.	26	2	—
1984	Ice Cream Castle Released: July 2, 1984 Label: Warner Bros.	24	3	—
1990	Pandemonium Released: July 10, 1990 Label: Paisley Park/Reprise/Warner Bros.	18	9	66
2011	Condensate (as The Original 7ven) Released: October 18, 2011 Label: Saguaro Road Records	58	10	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions			Album
		US Hot 100	US R&B	US Dance
1981	"Get It Up"	—	6	16	The Time
	"Cool"	90	7
1982	"Girl"	—	49	—
	"777-9311"	88	2	42	What Time Is It?
	"The Walk"	—	24
1983	"Gigolos Get Lonely Too"	—	77	—
1984	"Jungle Love"	20	6	9	Ice Cream Castle
	"Ice Cream Castles"	106	11	—
	"The Bird"	36	33	6
1990	"Shake!"	—	—	—	Graffiti Bridge
	"Jerk Out"	9	1	6	Pandemonium
	"Chocolate"	—	44	—
2011	"#Trendin"	—	77	—	Condensate
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.