Jimmy Jam

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

Jimmy Jam, born James Harris III, is an American producer, songwriter and keyboardist, born in Minneapolis in 1959. He is the son of the blues and jazz musician Cornbread Harris. Through a study programme at the University of Minnesota he met Terry Lewis, with whom he would work throughout his career. In the mid-1970s he played in Mind & Matter, an eleven-piece band.

Music and breakthrough

Jam ended up in Flyte Tyme, Lewis's band, which Prince remodelled into The Time in 1981. Alongside their band work, Jam and Lewis began producing for other artists. When a snowstorm in Atlanta made them miss a gig, because they had secretly been in the studio there working for the S.O.S. Band, Prince fired them. But the song from that session, Just Be Good to Me, became a hit and made their name. They went on to produce Cherrelle and Alexander O'Neal, among others, and in 1986 Janet Jackson's album Control, followed by Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989).

Influence

Within the duo, Jimmy Jam is above all the man behind the keyboards and the machines. Their productions revolved around the Roland TR-808 drum machine, tight synthesizer lines and funk grooves, the sound that became known as the Minneapolis sound. Jam later also became chairman of the American academy that presents the Grammys. In 2022 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Lewis.

Listening

In School of Rock

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