Jerome Benton and Morris Day, The Original 7ven (formerly the Time) Photo by Picture Group, Courtesy of BET Networks
ondensate
It’s a shame to see them struggle for recognition. They were the most successful of Prince’s associated acts, with R&B and pop hits such as “Jungle Love,” “The Bird,” “Cool,” “The Walk,” and “777-9311.” Their guitar and keyboard-driven funk sound and Morris Day’s comic cool personality are iconic.
It’s equally difficult to see The Time’s sister band, The Family, in a similar battle with Prince and struggling with name recognition since their new album dropped in September.
The Family was never as a famous as The Time, but the mid-80s, poppy, funk group had some good songs. Prince said, according to reports, that he created the band because he wanted to get “some of that Duran Duran money” by producing a white fronted group. (The Family had some black members.) They originally released the Prince-penned song “Nothing Compares 2 U.” Five years later, Sinead O’Connor’s cover of the tune became the biggest hit of her career. The band counts ?uestlove of The Roots as a huge fan. Their new name is fDeluxe.
The Family’s Album Cover
Both groups are on tour and getting good reviews. Unfortunately, the new albums aren’t great (more on that later). But what’s interesting is what they tell us about the turbulent inner workings of one of America’s greatest musical dynasties—Prince and the Minneapolis sound. Prince’s problems with the music industry became public in the ‘90s, when he ratcheted up his demands for more control over his music. He fought his record company and encouraged younger artists to be careful when signing record deals, leading some to call him a crusader for artists’ rights. Angela Bassett called him “a warrior who boldly challenged the record industry over ownership of his masters” during the 2005 NAACP Image Awards ceremony. Cornel West called him a “freedom fighter” at the same event and said that Prince is “never afraid to stand up for the rights of all artists.” Tavis Smiley has also repeatedly praised him for fighting for the rights of musicians.
But with The Original 7ven and fDeluxe, Prince’s efforts to protect his own rights seem to have him stomping all over theirs. Mazarati – another Prince protégé group – may be next in line to faceoff with Prince. Rumors are swirling that the members of band are trying to get back together, and if they do, they may want their old name. At issue is who controls the images or brands created within the dynasty—Prince or the acts that he created and produced. It’s an ironic turn for a man who claims he wants to empower artists and liberate music.
For the past ten years, Prince has been on a mission to gain complete control over any use of his image and his music. He wants to make sure that nobody uses them without his permission and especially without him making a buck. And sometimes gaining that control means taking it away from his former bands or even his fans.
n 1993, Prince announced himself dead and reborn with an unpronounceable symbol as his name. He appeared on multiple TV performances and music videos with the word “slave” written on his cheek. His main frustration was not being able to release all the music he wanted, when he wanted. Of course, he was not a slave in the sense of unpaid chattel. He had a record setting contract with Warner Bros with the potential to earn him $100 million across six albums. But the contract maintained, as is typical, that
About the Author
As a fan of the Minneapolis Sound of the 1980s who has read several reports about the behind the scenes of the era, I didn’t learn much new here. But for those who never read about the “Purple Paradise”, I think this article was well written and an excellent intro into the world of the empire created by Prince Rogers Nelson. I don’t think we’ll ever hear Prince’s version of this story because he doesn’t get down that way. But if you read what his musical associates have said over the years, all of their stories add up.
There are several stories that could have added even more insight into the Prince sideshow of the 80s and 90s. The story of Alexander O’Neal, for one. He was the original singer meant to sing lead for The Time and went on to a successful career after his former bandmates Jam and Lewis hooked up with him after they established their names as successful producers. O’Neal was one of the first to stand and up say Prince wasn’t paying the The Time enough money; he was kicked out of the group because of it and only resurfaced 4 years later with his first solo record. As a dark-skinned man, he also exposed Prince’s “color issues”. He has said often recently that Prince was only black when he wanted to be. I agree and you see this if you look at Prince’s image evolution over the years. In the beginning, he portrayed himself as “mixed race”, skirted the race issue and even used a white actress to portray his mother in “Purple Rain”. He put white members in the Revolution for marketing purposes not necessarily because they were the best musicians. But years later he started using the N-word in some of his lyrics and even named an NPG CD “Gold Ni**a”.
There is also the story of NPG bassist Sonny Thompson expecting to be the bass replacement after Andre Cymone left in 1981. Thompson thought he had the gig in the bag because he and Prince knew each other for years. But the story says that Mark Brown was chosen because he was fresh out of high school and easier to control whereas Thompson was the type who would bust Prince in the mouth if he didn’t like something.
There are many interesting stories in the whole Prince history for sure…
My last comment regards the new TIME/Original 7Even CD. I bought this CD after hearing Jam and Lewis promote it on the Tom Joyner Morning Show. I ran to the store that day to buy it seeking a return to The Time’s glory days of the first two albums of ’81 and ’82. Big mistake! That era was 30 years ago and the sound of those records in the 21st century would never get any airplay. Live music is simply not played on Black Music radio anymore. It’s a shame. But also, I was disappointed because the record just isn’t very good. I played it twice to listen to it but it eventually ended up in my trunk. I agree that Jesse Johnson’s “Verbal Penetration” is clearly a better record and proof that Jesse can still carry the flag of the Minneapolis Sound updated for the 21st century.
I’m happy with the DVD that came with the Original 7even CD because the guys talk about the good old days and how the whole Time thing began (even though it was rather cheaply made). The bottom line is this. The Original 7even cannot re-create an era gone by because Prince’s sound WAS the key ingredient behind The Time’s sound. You can hear this in both 1990′s “Pandemonium” and this new “Condensate” CD. “Jerk Out” was the classic Prince/The Time collaboration. I miss the early 80s Prince/The Time sound but the only way to relive those days is to listen to those albums.
Good article!
No one mentions the fact the fact that Prince didn’t break up these groups back in the day.After he invested time, money and energy, Morris from the Time and Paul from the Family decided to leave those groups. If I was Prince, i wouldn’t let them use the names either. Their time to strike was 20 years ago and they let that opportunity pass them by. Lastly, after viewing videos of both groups perform recently and seeing videos of Prince perform recently, you can tell who had the real talent.
Lee,
I disagree with your point. In some ways, Morris and the members of The Time were playing on the Prince plantation. Although they definitely had top notch musicianship, they were being treated as “puppets”, mere front men for Prince’s music. Morris Day gave an interview back in either 1985 after he left the Price fold and said that when the song “Cool” came out, he was making about $350 per week, ironic considering the luxurious lifestyle he sang about in that song. Price was notorious for underpaying his own band and his off-shoot groups.
Andre Cymone left because Prince wasn’t sharing songwriting credits for songs he co-wrote as well as his refusal to increase the pay of his band, which was still 3-4 years from being called the Revolution. So with little pay and no way of expressing their creativity without Prince’s permission, what else could they do?
I’ve been a fan of Prince for many years, but there are definitely aspects of his personality that leave much to be desired. From the stifling of creativity, to the slave wages he was paying his groups and his ripping off of other musicians’ ideas, I can see there being a lot of animosity against the “Purple Napolean”….
Good read. Funny how those who seek to overthrow one form of dictatorship often replace it with their own dictatorial style.
The only thing I would disagree with is that I think Condensate is very good, mainly because I did not want or expect it to sound too much like their old records so I wasn’t disappointed.
Great article! I’m an “original” fan of Prince, Time, & Vanity 6 and had the time of my life at their concerts. It saddens me to hear that Prince is not allowing the groups to use the names but as a former Witness in training I understand the pressure that comes with pleasing the Elders and earning points toward the Here After.
The writer tried to downplay the fact that Prince for all intents and purposes WAS The Time & The Family. In essence, the music was recorded without the band but Morris replacing Prince’s original vocals. I think the story was geared at non hardcore fans who don’t know better. History is written by whomever wants to take a shot at it and whoever believes it.
But at least his reviews of the albums are fair. Both are Ok, rehashes with competent songwriting sure, but those are not the reason the originals have held up as well as they did.
I think everything ended up as it should. The bands got their chance to make it on their own terms, with the benefit of being able to boast their roles in the former bands and to know Prince.
Jimmy and Terry and Morris and Jerome and Jesse are well known in the music industry. The are industry heavyweights becasue of Prince. And to top it off, they never changed their names. It isn’t as they were not given a fair shake or are Oakies fresh off the bus .
The article is a lot of whining trying to promote a violin scored narrative that is not quite true, but can’t blame him for trying if that’s the writers motive.
rp2011,
I guess I could call myself a hardcore fan of Prince’s early 80s pop music factory and I’ve read many books about this era and everything I’ve read said that Prince DID in fact create all of those albums with only sparse contributions from others. I didn’t see the article as whining at all. Over his career, Prince hasn’t behaved as a true prince to many of his associates. I’ve followed the guy’s career for years and though I am a fan of his music and talent, I am not a fan of the way he treated his associates in terms of fair pay, expression of creativity or co-songwriting credits. This is well documented in several books. Whining it is not; it is rather truth coming to the light for those who didn’t know.
Thanks for the article. I see it that it wouldn’t really be fair to Prince for The Time or The Family to go out and capitalize off things that Prince not only played and wrote almost of, but conceptualized, funded and promoted, too.
Given the length of this article, it would have been nice for you to have included some of the valid insights that Alan Leeds (former president of Paisley Park Records and brother of Eric) and Neil Richards (manager of Fdeluxe) made. Both made insightful comments on prince.org regarding both of the bands. Also worth mentioning that both bands went out to Paisley Park for a meeting with Prince about a month or so ago. It’s not known what went down but it was a positive experience.
Also – Warners don’t have the right to re-issue the projects without Prince’s approval, so it’s possible he has re-issue plans himself. Re-registering the trademarks to the names as he did recently would certainly indicate that this may be the case.
Finally – Jesse has now left (or is about to leave) The Original 7Ven, which unfortunately means the whole project may be dead in the water at this stage. Time will tell. As far as the quality of the records, frankly I think both bands need Prince to keep them in shape – certainly The Time do, due to ego clashes, which Jesse hinted at as part of his reason for leaving.
Thanks for bringing up the point about Jesse Johnson. We thought about mentioning but decided against it because the piece is already long, and the announcement only appeared on facebook, with no press release or official announcement from the band or Johnson yet. I hope the rest of the crew can convince him to stay with the tour for a little while, that is as long as he can enjoy it.
This article would have been far more credible had Prince spoke on the matter at hand. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened and very likely won’t for many years to come.
While Prince’s decision to not allow The Time and The Family to use the names Prince gave them, what’s more important is the lack of quality songs on both albums.
As far as freeing the music is concerned, Prince, in comparison to other popular music acts, has released far more music than anyone else. His work now needs to be looked at as a body of work as opposed to single albums or songs here and there. The man has taken his fans on a musical journey that stands on its own.
His fight for artistic rights was honest and inspiring. The internet is a wonderful thing in many ways and in another ways, a very nasty place. Had Prince not made the money he made while under contract with Warners, we wouldn’t have had monumental pop records like Dirty Mind, 1999, Purple Rain, Parade, Sign O’ The Times, Lovesexy, Diamonds and Pearls, the symbol album, Come, The Gold Experience, One Night Alone, amongst other albums. We wouldn’t have been able to see him evolve as a live performer, we wouldn’t have been able to see him evolve as a musician.
The guy has freed the music – he’s got tons of material that he’s given us. Far more than any other pop music.
This article needs Prince’s involvement for it to be at all informative – kind of like The Time and The Family needing Prince to make a memorable album.
Any suggestions for how to contact Prince are welcome
Since he declared the Internet dead last year, his online presence has basically disappeared, and he’s not exactly in the phone book. We tried to contact him but didn’t succeed.
An excellent article! Thank you for all the background and backstory. Prince, sadly, is not authoring his later years biography very flatteringly. Sad because of the contributions he’s made to 20th century pop music. He should be quiet, quietly, and let us remember him for what he’s done.
Great article! I guess the Purple “Yoda” is treating his musical family the same way Warner Brothers treated him. Too bad that the only thing Prince learned from that experience was how to be selfish! However, no matter what Morris Day’s group calls itself, as long as there is Jam, Lewis, Jellybean, and Johnson, they have zero problems, ‘cuz they bad! Let me break out some old school Time records right quick and have a great flashback of 1981, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, The Time, Prince, and the headliner, Roger Troutman and Zap! I’ll never forget that one . . .
That concert must have been amazing–The Time, Prince and Roger & Zapp. I would’ve loved to be there.