Jimmy Jam And Terry Lewis Reflect On Getting Fired By Prince In Apple Music Interview With Nile Rodgers
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Legendary songwriters and producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis joined musician and producer Nile Rodgers on Apple Music’s Deep Hidden Meaning Radio show to talk about the origins behind some of their biggest songs.
On the upcoming episode, the Grammy Award-winning duo reflected on how it was to produce for Michael Jackson, their time writing hit songs for Mary J. Blige and Janet Jackson, and revisited the known story of them being fired by Prince–which actually assisted with the launch of their career.
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Jimmy Jam recalled the time The Purple One called him and Terry to the studio before dismissing their services. “It happened to be the same night we had a session with S.O.S Band to mix,” he told Nile. “So when we got to the studio, it was Prince, Morris, Jesse and Terry and myself. And he said, ‘I told you guys not to produce outside acts and you did, so you’re fired.’ And we were like, ‘Oh.'”
“So when we walked out the studio, we were like, ‘Well, what do you want to do?'” Jam added. He continued, “And Terry said, ‘Well, let’s go over to the other studio and mix the S.O.S. Band.’ I said, ‘Well, cool.’ So we walk into the studio … the engineer was a guy named Steve Hodge and he goes, ‘Hey, nice to meet you guys.’ And he said, ‘Why you guys look so down?’ And we said, ‘Well, we just got fired from the Time [Prince’s album].’ He said, ‘You did?’ And we said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘Well, I don’t think you have anything to worry about because this one here? This is a smash.’
Jam and Lewis then attested that their production on the S.O.S track, “Just Be Good To Me” mixed by Hodge changed their lives, and well, the rest was history. From getting fired by Prince to going on to have the Hodge mix enter the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart at No. 2 and Hot 100 chart at No. 55, in 1983, Jam called their journey, “amazing.”
Tune in and listen to the Nile Rodger’s full Deep Hidden Meaning Radio conversation with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis on June 11 at 1 p.m. ET/ 10 a.m. PT on Apple Music.
