Terry Lewis

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

Terry Lewis, born in 1956, is one half of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, an American production and songwriting team in R&B and pop. He met Jimmy Jam, whose real name is James Harris, on a University of Minnesota programme. Lewis was in the band Flyte Tyme, which Harris later joined. In 1981 Prince turned it into the group The Time, and the two played on almost all of their albums.

Music and breakthrough

The duo was thrown out of The Time when a snowstorm in Atlanta prevented them from performing while they were secretly making music for the S.O.S. Band. One of those songs, Just Be Good to Me, became a hit and established their reputation. They founded Flyte Tyme Productions and worked for, among others, Cherrelle, Alexander O'Neal and Change. They were early users of the Roland TR-808 drum machine. Their big breakthrough came with Janet Jackson, with the album Control from 1986, for which they received a Grammy. Rhythm Nation 1814 followed in 1989 and became one of the best-selling albums ever.

Influence

In 1991 they started the label Perspective Records, with Sounds of Blackness among others. In 2022 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. What characterises their work is a tight, driving Minneapolis sound, with hard electronic drums, dense synth layers and a cleanly structured pop song on top. That sound became a trademark of the 1980s and 1990s.

Listening

In School of Rock

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