Control

Background:

“I love Phil Collins because I just think the productions were incredible.” Jimmy Jam

American R&B and pop songwriter and producer Jimmy Jam is most famous for being part of a record producing team with Terry Lewis. First meeting in high school, the duo played keyboard and bass for The Time, a soul and funk band whose tracks were mostly written and produced by Prince, before gaining a reputation on their own with the breakthrough track “Just Be Good To Me” (1983), a song they wrote and produced for the SOS Band. They cemented their status as one of the most booming producers and writers of the 1980s with prominent collaborations with pop superstar Janet Jackson in her successful albums Control (1986), which served as Jackson's turning point, and Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989). The first record even brought Jam and Lewis a Grammy Award. They have since enjoyed major success with various artists like Michael Jackson, Boyz II Men, Usher, Mary J. Blige, The Human League, Mariah Carey and Jessica Simpson. In addition to a Grammy, Jam and Lewis also have collected two ASCAP awards for the songs “The Best Things in Life Are Free” and “Again.”

Jam is the husband of Lisa Padilla and has three children with her.

Minneapolis Boy

Childhood and Family:

James Samuel Harris III, who would later be popular as Jimmy Jam, was born on June 6, 1959, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He met his future producing partner, Terry Lewis, in high school.

Jimmy was married to wife Lisa Padilla on June 25, 1994. Together, they have three children.

Just Be Good to Me

Career:

While in high school in Minneapolis, Jimmy Jam met Terry Lewis and together they formed a band called Flyte Tyme, a well-liked Twin Cities group which in 1981 germinated into The Time, a funk and soul band led by Prince protégé Morris Day. Jam and Lewis played keyboards and bass for The Time and in the early 1980s, toured with Prince as Morris Day & The Time. As members of The Time, they recorded three of the group's four albums, The Time, What Time Is It, and 1990's Pandemonium.

Shortly after the release of The Time's Prince-produced self titled debut LP, Jam and Lewis founded Flyte Time Productions. In March 1983, while touring with The Time in support of Prince, the pair took a short break in their schedule to fly to Atlanta to produce several tracks for an LP by the S.O.S. Band, On the Rise. Due to a freak snowstorm, the duo could not get back for the subsequent Time show, and for this reason, Prince fired them from the band. “Just Be Good to Me,” one of tracks they had written for the SOS Band, became a huge hit and elevated their career as producers. Jam and Lewis then found their songwriting services in demand.

Jam and Lewis continued to work with such artists as Gladys Knight, Luther Vandross, Patti Austin, Thelma Houston and Klymaxx, but they did not experience a big breakthrough until they were introduced to Janet Jackson, who was at the time struggling to come out of her renowned musical family's eclipse. They produced her star-making album, Control (1986) and the album became a chart-topper and scored hits with songs like “Nasty,” “What Have You Done for Me Lately,” “When I Think of You,” “Let's Wait Awhile,” and “The Pleasure Principle,” as well as the title track. For their efforts, Jam and Lewis were handed a Grammy for Producers of the Year. In the meantime, they also produced Human League's chart-topping comeback smash “Human” (1986) and hits for the Force M.D. (“Tender Love”) and Herb Alpert (“Keep Your Eye on Me”). The producing team's triumphant careers were further verified in the late 1980s when they rejoined Jackson for her album, Rhythm Nation 1814, which was even more successful, thanks largely to the No. 1 singles “Miss You Much,” “Escapade” and “Black Cat.”

Next, Jam and Lewis collaborated with New Edition, whose debut LP Heart Break (1989) was helmed by Jam and Lewis. When members Johnny Gill and Ralph Tresvant started solo careers in 1990, Jim and Lewis produced material for their projects. The duo then set up a record label, Perspective Records, backed by AM Records, and had their first release with the Sounds of Blackness' The Evolution of Gospel (1991), which picked up a Grammy. They also produced Ritual of Love (1991), an album for Lewis' wife Karyn White, Jackson's Janet (1993), which produced the chart-topper “That's the Way Love Goes” and Poetic Justice’s soundtrack “Again,” a track that won the trio a 1995 ASCAP for Most Performed Songs from Motion Pictures. Jam and Lewis received their first ASCAP award in 1993 for their work on the song “The Best Things in Life Are Free.”

Since then, Jam and Lewis have worked for artists like Yolanda Adams, Boyz II Men, TLC, Jordan Knight, Mariah Carey, Utada Hikaru, Cleopatra, Usher, Mary J. Blige, Bryan Adams, and Zoey, in addition to continuing their fruitful affiliation with Janet Jackson. More recently, in 2006, they generated hits for Crystal Kay (“Kirakuni,” “Together”), Jessica Simpson (“Push Your Tush,” “Back To You” and “Walkin' 'Round in a Circle”) and Mary J Blige (“Still In Love”). They also were reunited with Jackson in such tracks as “Call on Me” (featuring Kelly), “So Excited” (featuring Khia), “With U” and “Enjoy.”

Awards:

• ASCAP Film and Television Music: Most Performed Songs from Motion Pictures, Poetic Justice (for the song “Again”), 1995

• ASCAP Film and Television Music: Most Performed Songs from Motion Pictures, Mo' Money (for the song “The Best Things in Life Are Free”), 1993

• Grammy: Producers of the Year, 1986