The influence of Black music: How 'Flyte Tyme' changed the world from a recording studio
An obscure funk band founded by a group of Minneapolis teenagers in the early 1970s caused Minnesota’s music scene to catch lightning in a bottle not once, but twice.
Minnesota has served as home base for two globally recognized music powerhouses — Prince and his Paisley Park sound and the Flyte Tyme Studios’ groove of Jimmy “Jam” Harris and Terry Lewis.
The band Flyte Tyme was established in 1972. A pre-fame Prince was merely a player in it. The band’s name was based on the song “Flight Time” by jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd.
Flyte Tyme had a rotating cast for nearly a decade with acclaimed local artists who would go on to work as longtime collaborators and, at times, rivals.
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That list included the likes of Jellybean Johnson, Cynthia Johnson and Alexander O’Neal who rotated in and out as members. But, the keyboardist and bassist, a young Harris and Lewis, respectively, remained constant.
By the time 1980 rolled around, the band was done and Prince had assumed the mantle of king of the local music scene.
“The Time” is a truncated version of “Flyte Tyme” and featured Harris and Lewis on keyboards and bass, respectively, and Morris Day on vocals.
“Prince once said that the only band he ever feared was The Time,” said Christopher Fuller, co-founder of the Los Angeles-based Black Music Project, a group of artists and academics who promote the history of Black music as the story of America.
“And, he was referring to The Time of Morris Day and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and he kind of saw them as a threat. I think that’s part of the reason they got fired.”
Sources dispute whether it was Prince or Day who fired them, but Harris and Lewis were fired from the band because they were in Atlanta producing music for another act and missed a flight time.
The pair could have licked their wounds, founded a middling funk band and carried on. But, they decided to create a music studio in south Minneapolis and later in Edina with their earnings.
Make great music and keep it coming
Gary Hines spent 10 years as a staff producer for Flyte Tyme and topped the charts with his Flyte Tyme-produced group, “Sounds of Blackness.”
When Hines first entered the nondescript building at 4330 Nicollet Avenue on Minneapolis’ southside, he knew Harris and Lewis had created something special.
“Walking in the door and it was like, ‘Oh, my God!’,” he said. “Seeing their Grammys and the photos of artists they had worked with and the range of those artists, you know, Michael, Janet, Lionel Richie … and the groups, New Edition.”
To Hines, it was like he was handed the keys to the kingdom.
Hines was one of about 10 staff producers, including local artists Jellybean Johnson, Stokely Williams and Jeff Taylor who comprised Flyte Tyme’s front line. Their mission was simple: make great music and keep it coming.
“The producers would basically live at Flyte Tyme — 12 to 14 hours or more, pretty much daily,” said Hines. “It was part of the joy and the intensity. There was a sign at the entryway that read, ‘The only thing that smokes in this building is the music!’”
One of the producers’ duties was to screen incoming submissions, which came in the mail, through couriers or were handed directly to the producers. There were demos from unknowns and from celebrities like Dolly Parton.
Every staff producer screened hundreds of CDs and cassettes each week.
“Jam and Lewis were looking for at least a song a week from us,” Hines said. “It might be two weeks and sometimes it might be a couple in a week.”
Besides screening demos for the next hit song, the producers were also writing, often for bands they fronted, Stokely Williams, for example, was lead singer for Mint Condition.
The band recorded their hit “Breakin' My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes)” at Flyte Tyme's Edina studio in 1991. In 1992 the song peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 3 on Billboard's Hot R&B chart.
Producers would also assist other projects in the pipeline. Whether it was through singing or playing, everyone was expected to contribute.
“You were writing constantly, improving and honing your craft, obviously for their perusal, review and approval,” he said. “They were like ‘Don’t not write. Write a bad song, but keep writing. Hone your craft.’”
In its heyday, Flyte Tyme churned out 100 Billboard Top 10 songs; 16 Number One Hot 100 hits and 26 R&B Number One hits. That includes Janet Jackson’s multi-platinum hit record “Control” which dropped in 1986.
The process clearly worked.
Imagine 1960s Detroit had spawned a trio of Berry Gordys, who then went on to create two Motowns. That was the late century Twin Cities music scene.
But, Christopher Fuller says the Motown comparison is not as accurate as another.
“Jimmy and Terry I think one would say they’re closer to the Philly International [production studio] of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff because basically those two were the Philly Sound. And, like Jimmy and Terry, they were songwriters, too. Not just producers,” he said.
Fuller adds that unlike legendary Beatles producer George Martin, Jam and Lewis wrote or co-wrote many of the songs for the artists they worked with.
Music created at Flyte Tyme reached audiences around the world.
Hines remembers the chills he got touring with Sounds of Blackness when he first heard overseas audiences singing along to lyrics borne in Flyte Tyme studios.
“Many of whom were not English speaking, but they knew every lyric, not only the choruses, but the verses in the bridge … and were singing them in perfect English!”
Since Prince’s passing and Flyte Tyme’s move away from the Twin Cities, the founders of The Minneapolis Sound may have fallen quiet, but Fuller says their legacy is still with us in the new acts and their songs.
“We’re still seeing their effect today. The most popular music right now, globally, is K-Pop [Korean Pop Music],” Fuller said. “But, you know what K-Pop is? It’s reconstituted Black music – especially 90s R&B, which along with Teddy Riley and New Jack Swing was Flyte Tyme. Jimmy and Terry. Just about all of modern pop music owes a huge debt to them.”