Minnesota Music Legend Prince passed away five years ago Wednesday. WCCO’s Chad Hartman took some time to chat with Music Producer Jimmy Jam Harris to discuss Prince’s Impact on Minnesota and beyond.
Hartman began by asking Harris what he thought Prince’s greatest skill was. Harris said that beyond Prince’s skill, he had an amazing ‘out-work’ everybody mentality. Prince, according to Harris, was unique in the sense that he had the talent to be famous alone, however had the work ethic to be something even greater.
“I remember, back in the day, he would rehearse his band for six hours. He’d come and rehearse the time for six hours. And then the other 12 hours, man, he snuck in an hour of sleep somewhere,” said Harris. “He would then come back into our rehearsal the next day and drop a cassette in, and be like ‘this is what I worked on last night.’ And he would push the button and 1999 comes on or some great song.”
Harris continued on saying that Prince was great at gathering people. He was great at finding others with talent and ‘making sure that they had careers too.’ Though Harris was eventually ‘let go’ by Prince, he says that Prince freed him, and ultimately changed his career.
“It would be interesting to think about if we would’ve stayed, in the time, with the Prince organization. But still had the freedom to do exactly what it is we were doing. I think that would have been amazing,” Harris said. “It definitely got us serious about what we were doing as writers and producers.”
Up until then, Harris says that he had been mostly a musician. However, after working with Prince, he really narrowed in on what he wanted to do as a producer.
Harris also said that if he had to put something in a time capsule that he and Prince worked on together, he would choose "When Doves Cry".
“That song, to this day, sounds like no song ever created,” said Harris.
While in other songs you are able to hear where inspirations come from, When Doves Cry is unique in the fact you can’t pick out an inspiration.
“With When Doves Cry, that to me, sounds like Prince. And there is no other song that sounds like it, there was not a song before it that sounds like it,” Harris said. “And so that would probably be the one that could kind of explain how uniquely talented and different he was.”
Harris said that when it comes to the Prince ‘vault’ songs, he views those songs as dishes not ready to come out yet like at a restaurant. They are ‘so good’ that Harris wants to keep them to himself, while also saying that the chef wasn’t ready to give up his creation because of a missing ingredient.
“I always hope that the presentation of what it is, is the way he would, and the people that were involved back in that day... would sound the way he would want it,” said Harris.
When discussing how Prince would adapt to the tools of today, Harris said he would have used them and adapted his music in a different way. He compared Prince to Michael Jordan, stating that even though basketball has changed over time, Michael Jordan still would be the best player. The same would happen for Prince.
Harris also highlighted that Prince was one of the first artists to want to own his work.
“He was one of the first artists to really be diligent about owning your own masters,” said Harris. “His process for putting out music wasn’t put out one album a year. No, he was wanting to put out four albums a year. So he broke all the traditions.”
When asked about how he felt working as a producer, Harris highlighted his experience having worked with many stars, and how that has changed his perspective/. Harris stated that he now feels prepared to work on his own album.
“We (Harris and Terry Lewis) have nothing to prove, but still have a lot to say,” said Harris.