Biography
No songwriting and production partnership has fused creative reinvention with mainstream dominance across as many years as the contemporary R&B trailblazers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Their ascent started in the early 1980s when they served as founding members of the Time. Following closely behind mentor Leon Sylvers and Kashif, and working in tandem with associate Prince and the duo the System, Jam & Lewis helped shape the electronic direction of contemporary R&B after the disco period. Early successes alongside the S.O.S. Band, Cheryl Lynn, and Cherrelle and Alexander O'Neal served as preliminary indicators before their landmark collaboration with Janet Jackson on Control (1986), a quintuple-platinum album that secured them the Grammy for Producer of the Year. Once their production approach grew instantly identifiable and widely emulated, Jam & Lewis evolved without losing touch with fresh developments, notably those advanced by Teddy Riley, Public Enemy's the Bomb Squad, Timbaland, and Rich Harrison—figures who themselves drew influence from the pair. Above all, as devoted listeners to classic soul and pop, they maintained an emphasis on enduring songwriting craft, reflected in more than 40 Top Ten pop hits that encompass Jackson's Grammy-winning "That's the Way Love Goes" (1994) and "All for You" (2001), alongside Boyz II Men's "On Bended Knee" (1994) and Usher's "U Remind Me" (2001). Four years after their induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame as an indivisible team, they issued their debut album under their own names, Jam & Lewis, Volume One (2021), featuring contributions from peers and prior collaborators including Babyface, Sounds of Blackness, and Mariah Carey.
Jimmy Jam (James Harris III) and Terry Lewis first connected as high school participants in the Upward Bound program, launching their careers in the late '70s as musicians—keyboards and bass, respectively—within Minneapolis's modest club circuit. Jam additionally functioned as a club DJ. Individually or jointly they performed with Wars of Armageddon, Mind & Matter, and Flyte Tyme. The middle band issued an independent single in 1977, both sides written by Jam. The Time, formed in 1981 under Prince's direction, emerged from Flyte Tyme, incorporating Jam, Lewis, Jellybean Johnson, and Monte Moir from the earlier group plus Morris Day, Jesse Johnson, and Jerome Benton. Over the following years Jam & Lewis performed and recorded with the Time, who simultaneously backed touring partners Vanity 6. In intervals between those commitments the pair began writing and producing for outside artists. Their initial charting singles arrived in 1982, with Jam & Lewis credited as songwriters on the S.O.S. Band's "High Hopes" and as writers and producers on Klymaxx's "Wild Girls." These tracks appeared on Clarence Avant's Tabu and Dick Griffey's Solar, two of the era's leading Black-owned labels; the latter connection introduced them to visionary producer Leon Sylvers.
The subsequent year, while again working with the S.O.S. Band in Atlanta, Jam & Lewis had their flight to a Time performance in San Antonio canceled by bad weather. Prince then fined the moonlighting producers and removed them from the Time. The departure proved advantageous. By the close of 1983 they had delivered their first two Top Ten Black Singles hits—the S.O.S. Band's "Just Be Good to Me" and "Tell Me If You Still Care"—and their first chart-topper, Cheryl Lynn's "Encore." Progress accelerated through 1984 and 1985 with further successes for S.O.S., Thelma Houston, Change, Patti Austin, Cherrelle, and another Flyte Tyme alumnus, Alexander O'Neal. Regularly appearing high on the Black Singles chart, Jam & Lewis also reached the Hot 100 Top 40 with Cherrelle and O'Neal's "Saturday Love" and entered the Top Ten via their first of many soundtrack contributions, Force M.D.'s "Tender Love" from Krush Groove.
Ties to Prince, Clarence Avant, and Leon Sylvers proved vital, yet the alliance Jam & Lewis formed with Janet Jackson became their defining partnership. Prior to meeting them, the youngest Jackson sibling had released two albums—some tracks produced by Sylvers and the Time's Jesse Johnson—that achieved only modest results. Jackson's name appeared on a roster of potential collaborators that A&M executive and former Sylvers musical director John McClain presented to the duo. Already responsible for a wide catalog of hits that launched, sustained, or revived careers, Jam & Lewis recognized singular potential in teaming with Jackson at a pivotal personal and professional juncture. Across six weeks in 1985 she created her artistic and commercial breakthrough, Control, which topped the Billboard 200 in 1986 and generated five Top Five pop singles, among them the number one "When I Think of You." Jam & Lewis also produced two additional 1986 releases—the S.O.S. Band's Sands of Time and the Human League's Crash, the latter unexpectedly yielding the number one pop single "Human"—and received Producer of the Year at the Grammy ceremony the next February. A steady stream of heavily rotated singles followed with Alexander O'Neal, Morris Day, Herb Alpert, Cherrelle, and New Edition, another act they guided toward maturity; the latter's Heart Break, fully produced by the duo, included the Top Ten single "If It Isn't Love." The decade closed with Jackson's conceptual Rhythm Nation 1814, another chart-topping, multi-platinum project that surpassed Control by delivering seven Top Five singles, four of them number ones: "Miss You Much," "Escapade," "Black Cat," and "Love Will Never Do (Without You)."
Rhythm Nation 1814 remained prominent into 1990, when Jam & Lewis added further Top Five pop hits that showcased their skill at customizing material for markedly different artists (both, coincidentally, New Edition alumni): Ralph Tresvant's "Sensitivity" and Johnny Gill's "Rub You the Right Way." That same year their reunion with the Time produced the Top Ten single "Jerk Out." Between Jackson projects they stayed active, most notably by founding the A&M-distributed Perspective label to champion distinctive Minneapolis talent. Sounds of Blackness, Mint Condition, and Lo-Key? all scored hits in 1991 and 1992, with Jam & Lewis supplying production and consistent promotion. They simultaneously worked with artists on other labels, including contributions to the Perspective soundtrack for Mo' Money. Jackson, Tresvant, Luther Vandross, and Bell Biv DeVoe united on "The Best Things in Life Are Free," the album's biggest single. Around the same period Warner Bros. artist Karyn White, who had surfaced alongside their nearest peers Babyface and L.A. Reid, enlisted them; they brought in members of the Perspective acts and handled most of her second album, Ritual of Love, which included the number one hit "Romantic."
In 1993 Jam & Lewis produced Johnny Gill's Provocative and a Perspective showcase for Lisa Keith, who had sung lead on Herb Alpert's Top 40 single "Making Love in the Rain" and supplied background vocals across numerous duo projects. Those releases were preceded in May by Janet Jackson's third album with them, the extravagant and sensual janet., which topped the Billboard 200 and yielded six Top Ten hits en route to worldwide sales exceeding those of Control and Rhythm Nation 1814. Its lead single, "That's the Way Love Goes," one of two number ones, earned the Grammy for Best Rhythm & Blues Song. Over the next several years Jam & Lewis continued expanding their network and accumulating hits, most prominently Boyz II Men's "On Bended Knee," Jackson's Top Five "Runaway" from Design of a Decade, and Michael and Janet Jackson's "Scream" from HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I. Additional sessions with Sounds of Blackness, Karyn White, and New Edition, new or renewed links with Barry White, Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, and Lionel Richie, and the cultivation of Perspective acts such as Solo filled the 1994–1996 period.
Close work with Jon Secada, Patti LaBelle, Mary J. Blige, and Boyz II Men—specifically a second number one, "4 Seasons of Loneliness"—appeared in 1997 ahead of The Velvet Rope. Jam & Lewis's fourth consecutive number one album with Jackson proved provocative and convention-defying, spawning the equally successful "Together Again." Another four-year interval between Jackson projects followed, yet they remained prolific, guiding Jordan Knight to the Top Ten with "Give It to You," topping the chart with Mariah Carey's "Thank God I Found You" and Jackson's "Doesn't Really Matter" from the Nutty Professor II soundtrack, reinforcing gospel connections with Yolanda Adams, and contributing to TLC's FanMail. Jackson's silky All for You arrived in 2001, extending her streak of number one Billboard 200 albums; its title track, built around a sample from Change's "The Glow of Love," reached number one on the Hot 100 and won the Grammy for Best Dance Recording. That year Jam & Lewis also played a central role on Usher's 8701, including the number one "U Remind Me," their fifteenth chart-topping pop single.
Grammy recognition remained consistent throughout the 2000s. After winning Producer of the Year in 1986 and receiving four additional nominations by the end of the '90s, they earned yearly nominations from 2000 through 2005, the period in which they relocated Flyte Tyme Studios from Minnesota to Los Angeles. Notable projects included Usher's diamond-platinum Confessions, Janet Jackson's Damita Jo, Gwen Stefani's Love.Angel.Music.Baby., and Mary J. Blige's The Breakthrough. With Yolanda Adams and Sounds of Blackness's James "Big Jim" Wright they co-wrote Adams' "Be Blessed," the 2005 Grammy winner for Best Gospel Song. Their productions stayed stylistically broad, acknowledging influences such as Kashif and Evelyn "Champagne" King (sampled on Jackson's "R&B Junkie") while collaborating with those they had inspired, among them Dallas Austin on Stefani's "Harajuku Girls." They assisted both emerging solo artists and established acts, from Beyoncé on the Fighting Temptations soundtrack to Earth, Wind & Fire on "Pure Gold." Later in the decade they revisited earlier eras on Jackson's 20 Y.O. and Chaka Khan's Funk This (Grammy winner for Best R&B Album) and worked with the contrasting trio of Ruben Studdard, Jessica Simpson, and Ledisi.
During the opening half of their fourth decade together Jam & Lewis maintained a lower profile yet stayed active, contributing to El DeBarge's Second Chance, Usher's Raymond v. Raymond and Looking 4 Myself, and another Time reunion, released under the name the Original 7ven as Condensate. Alongside frequent session musician Bobby Ross Avila, a former Perspective artist, they co-produced Booker T. Jones's Sound the Alarm. Although Jackson recorded the 2008 album Discipline without them, the trio resumed their partnership in 2015 with Unbreakable, their sixth number one album. Through the remainder of the 2010s they worked chiefly with veteran artists including Charlie Wilson, Peabo Bryson, and Johnny Gill. Their 2017 induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame preceded focused work on a project of their own. The idea dated back at least to 1985, when a track planned for a Jam & Lewis album was instead recorded by Janet Jackson and became "What Have You Done for Me Lately," the final song added to Control. In 2021, forty years after the Time's debut, they released Jam & Lewis, Volume One on the Flyte Tyme label. Morris Day, Sounds of Blackness, Boyz II Men, Mariah Carey, and Babyface joined the cast and, consistent with the duo's established approach, co-wrote the material they performed.
Jimmy Jam (James Harris III) and Terry Lewis first connected as high school participants in the Upward Bound program, launching their careers in the late '70s as musicians—keyboards and bass, respectively—within Minneapolis's modest club circuit. Jam additionally functioned as a club DJ. Individually or jointly they performed with Wars of Armageddon, Mind & Matter, and Flyte Tyme. The middle band issued an independent single in 1977, both sides written by Jam. The Time, formed in 1981 under Prince's direction, emerged from Flyte Tyme, incorporating Jam, Lewis, Jellybean Johnson, and Monte Moir from the earlier group plus Morris Day, Jesse Johnson, and Jerome Benton. Over the following years Jam & Lewis performed and recorded with the Time, who simultaneously backed touring partners Vanity 6. In intervals between those commitments the pair began writing and producing for outside artists. Their initial charting singles arrived in 1982, with Jam & Lewis credited as songwriters on the S.O.S. Band's "High Hopes" and as writers and producers on Klymaxx's "Wild Girls." These tracks appeared on Clarence Avant's Tabu and Dick Griffey's Solar, two of the era's leading Black-owned labels; the latter connection introduced them to visionary producer Leon Sylvers.
The subsequent year, while again working with the S.O.S. Band in Atlanta, Jam & Lewis had their flight to a Time performance in San Antonio canceled by bad weather. Prince then fined the moonlighting producers and removed them from the Time. The departure proved advantageous. By the close of 1983 they had delivered their first two Top Ten Black Singles hits—the S.O.S. Band's "Just Be Good to Me" and "Tell Me If You Still Care"—and their first chart-topper, Cheryl Lynn's "Encore." Progress accelerated through 1984 and 1985 with further successes for S.O.S., Thelma Houston, Change, Patti Austin, Cherrelle, and another Flyte Tyme alumnus, Alexander O'Neal. Regularly appearing high on the Black Singles chart, Jam & Lewis also reached the Hot 100 Top 40 with Cherrelle and O'Neal's "Saturday Love" and entered the Top Ten via their first of many soundtrack contributions, Force M.D.'s "Tender Love" from Krush Groove.
Ties to Prince, Clarence Avant, and Leon Sylvers proved vital, yet the alliance Jam & Lewis formed with Janet Jackson became their defining partnership. Prior to meeting them, the youngest Jackson sibling had released two albums—some tracks produced by Sylvers and the Time's Jesse Johnson—that achieved only modest results. Jackson's name appeared on a roster of potential collaborators that A&M executive and former Sylvers musical director John McClain presented to the duo. Already responsible for a wide catalog of hits that launched, sustained, or revived careers, Jam & Lewis recognized singular potential in teaming with Jackson at a pivotal personal and professional juncture. Across six weeks in 1985 she created her artistic and commercial breakthrough, Control, which topped the Billboard 200 in 1986 and generated five Top Five pop singles, among them the number one "When I Think of You." Jam & Lewis also produced two additional 1986 releases—the S.O.S. Band's Sands of Time and the Human League's Crash, the latter unexpectedly yielding the number one pop single "Human"—and received Producer of the Year at the Grammy ceremony the next February. A steady stream of heavily rotated singles followed with Alexander O'Neal, Morris Day, Herb Alpert, Cherrelle, and New Edition, another act they guided toward maturity; the latter's Heart Break, fully produced by the duo, included the Top Ten single "If It Isn't Love." The decade closed with Jackson's conceptual Rhythm Nation 1814, another chart-topping, multi-platinum project that surpassed Control by delivering seven Top Five singles, four of them number ones: "Miss You Much," "Escapade," "Black Cat," and "Love Will Never Do (Without You)."
Rhythm Nation 1814 remained prominent into 1990, when Jam & Lewis added further Top Five pop hits that showcased their skill at customizing material for markedly different artists (both, coincidentally, New Edition alumni): Ralph Tresvant's "Sensitivity" and Johnny Gill's "Rub You the Right Way." That same year their reunion with the Time produced the Top Ten single "Jerk Out." Between Jackson projects they stayed active, most notably by founding the A&M-distributed Perspective label to champion distinctive Minneapolis talent. Sounds of Blackness, Mint Condition, and Lo-Key? all scored hits in 1991 and 1992, with Jam & Lewis supplying production and consistent promotion. They simultaneously worked with artists on other labels, including contributions to the Perspective soundtrack for Mo' Money. Jackson, Tresvant, Luther Vandross, and Bell Biv DeVoe united on "The Best Things in Life Are Free," the album's biggest single. Around the same period Warner Bros. artist Karyn White, who had surfaced alongside their nearest peers Babyface and L.A. Reid, enlisted them; they brought in members of the Perspective acts and handled most of her second album, Ritual of Love, which included the number one hit "Romantic."
In 1993 Jam & Lewis produced Johnny Gill's Provocative and a Perspective showcase for Lisa Keith, who had sung lead on Herb Alpert's Top 40 single "Making Love in the Rain" and supplied background vocals across numerous duo projects. Those releases were preceded in May by Janet Jackson's third album with them, the extravagant and sensual janet., which topped the Billboard 200 and yielded six Top Ten hits en route to worldwide sales exceeding those of Control and Rhythm Nation 1814. Its lead single, "That's the Way Love Goes," one of two number ones, earned the Grammy for Best Rhythm & Blues Song. Over the next several years Jam & Lewis continued expanding their network and accumulating hits, most prominently Boyz II Men's "On Bended Knee," Jackson's Top Five "Runaway" from Design of a Decade, and Michael and Janet Jackson's "Scream" from HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I. Additional sessions with Sounds of Blackness, Karyn White, and New Edition, new or renewed links with Barry White, Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, and Lionel Richie, and the cultivation of Perspective acts such as Solo filled the 1994–1996 period.
Close work with Jon Secada, Patti LaBelle, Mary J. Blige, and Boyz II Men—specifically a second number one, "4 Seasons of Loneliness"—appeared in 1997 ahead of The Velvet Rope. Jam & Lewis's fourth consecutive number one album with Jackson proved provocative and convention-defying, spawning the equally successful "Together Again." Another four-year interval between Jackson projects followed, yet they remained prolific, guiding Jordan Knight to the Top Ten with "Give It to You," topping the chart with Mariah Carey's "Thank God I Found You" and Jackson's "Doesn't Really Matter" from the Nutty Professor II soundtrack, reinforcing gospel connections with Yolanda Adams, and contributing to TLC's FanMail. Jackson's silky All for You arrived in 2001, extending her streak of number one Billboard 200 albums; its title track, built around a sample from Change's "The Glow of Love," reached number one on the Hot 100 and won the Grammy for Best Dance Recording. That year Jam & Lewis also played a central role on Usher's 8701, including the number one "U Remind Me," their fifteenth chart-topping pop single.
Grammy recognition remained consistent throughout the 2000s. After winning Producer of the Year in 1986 and receiving four additional nominations by the end of the '90s, they earned yearly nominations from 2000 through 2005, the period in which they relocated Flyte Tyme Studios from Minnesota to Los Angeles. Notable projects included Usher's diamond-platinum Confessions, Janet Jackson's Damita Jo, Gwen Stefani's Love.Angel.Music.Baby., and Mary J. Blige's The Breakthrough. With Yolanda Adams and Sounds of Blackness's James "Big Jim" Wright they co-wrote Adams' "Be Blessed," the 2005 Grammy winner for Best Gospel Song. Their productions stayed stylistically broad, acknowledging influences such as Kashif and Evelyn "Champagne" King (sampled on Jackson's "R&B Junkie") while collaborating with those they had inspired, among them Dallas Austin on Stefani's "Harajuku Girls." They assisted both emerging solo artists and established acts, from Beyoncé on the Fighting Temptations soundtrack to Earth, Wind & Fire on "Pure Gold." Later in the decade they revisited earlier eras on Jackson's 20 Y.O. and Chaka Khan's Funk This (Grammy winner for Best R&B Album) and worked with the contrasting trio of Ruben Studdard, Jessica Simpson, and Ledisi.
During the opening half of their fourth decade together Jam & Lewis maintained a lower profile yet stayed active, contributing to El DeBarge's Second Chance, Usher's Raymond v. Raymond and Looking 4 Myself, and another Time reunion, released under the name the Original 7ven as Condensate. Alongside frequent session musician Bobby Ross Avila, a former Perspective artist, they co-produced Booker T. Jones's Sound the Alarm. Although Jackson recorded the 2008 album Discipline without them, the trio resumed their partnership in 2015 with Unbreakable, their sixth number one album. Through the remainder of the 2010s they worked chiefly with veteran artists including Charlie Wilson, Peabo Bryson, and Johnny Gill. Their 2017 induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame preceded focused work on a project of their own. The idea dated back at least to 1985, when a track planned for a Jam & Lewis album was instead recorded by Janet Jackson and became "What Have You Done for Me Lately," the final song added to Control. In 2021, forty years after the Time's debut, they released Jam & Lewis, Volume One on the Flyte Tyme label. Morris Day, Sounds of Blackness, Boyz II Men, Mariah Carey, and Babyface joined the cast and, consistent with the duo's established approach, co-wrote the material they performed.
Albums
Singles
