Tuesday Afternoon Thread: Flyte Tyme Week!

Jimmy Jam is the son of Cornbread Harris, a Minneapolis blues and jazz musician. Jimmy Jam met Lewis while in high school in Minneapolis. They did not meet in class, however, but while attending a TRIO Upward Bound program on the University of Minnesota campus. They formed a band called Flyte Tyme, which evolved into the Time. In 1981, they were joined by Morris Day and toured with Prince as his opening act. As members of The Time, they recorded three of the group’s four albums (The Time, What Time Is It? and Pandemonium).

In 1982, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were introduced to the music executive Dina R. Andrews, who was then an employee of Solar Records (The Whispers, Shalamar, Lakeside, Klymaxx, The Deele, Babyface). The pair asked Andrews to manage them, and through her relationships Andrews first introduced Jam and Lewis to Music Executive Clarance Avant. They produced their first masters for Avant for the SOS Band. Andrews set-up Jam and Lewis’s company Flyte Tyme Productions as a business entity, and continued shopping them to her other record executive colleagues. The producers went on to produce several other masters for Avant under Dina Andrews Management for the SOS and, Cherrelle, Alexander O’Neal and Change.

The pair was fired by Prince from a tour because a blizzard left them unable to rejoin after a short break to produce music for The SOS Band. However, one of the tracks they were producing, “Just Be Good To Me“, became a hit and sealed the duo’s reputation, as well as that of the SOS Band.

SOS Band – Just Be Good To Me