Jimmy Jam en Terry Lewis

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Jimmy Jam en Terry Lewis · Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are an American duo of producers and songwriters from Minneapolis. Jimmy Jam, born James Harris III, was born in 1959, Terry Lewis in 1956. They met during a study programme at the University of Minnesota. Lewis played in the band Flyte Tyme, which Jam later joined. In 1981 Prince remodelled that group into The Time, in which the duo played the instruments.

Music and breakthrough

Meanwhile they also produced for others. They made Just Be Good to Me for the S.O.S. Band in Atlanta, but because a snowstorm kept them there, they missed a concert by The Time. Prince fired them, but the song became a hit. They went on to work with Cherrelle, Alexander O'Neal and others. In 1986 they produced Control, Janet Jackson's breakthrough album, for which they received a Grammy. Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989) was even more successful, and they continued to work with her later, on albums such as The Velvet Rope. In 1991 they started their own label, Perspective Records.

Influence

The sound of Jam and Lewis was tight and electronic, built on the Roland TR-808 drum machine, with synthesizers and funk rhythms. This became the Minneapolis sound, which they took from Prince and developed further. They wrote dozens of hits for artists ranging from Michael Jackson to Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men, and in doing so helped define the R&B of the 1980s and 1990s. In 2022 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Listening

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Mixtape 6: Fear of a Black Planet^NL Reader

See also

• Contemporary R&B