Bio
James Samuel “Jimmy Jam” Harris III (born June 6, 1959, Minneapolis, Minnesota) is a Grammy Award-winning music producer and songwriter, one half of the legendary production duo Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. Son of Minneapolis blues and jazz musician Cornbread Harris, he grew up immersed in music. After co-founding the band Flyte Tyme — later restructured as The Time by Prince — he was dismissed in 1982 for pursuing outside work, which led him to form Flyte Tyme Productions with Terry Lewis. Their production of Janet Jackson’s Control (1986) launched one of the most successful producer-artist partnerships in music history. Jam is known as an early pioneer of the Roland TR-808 drum machine and for a production philosophy centred on emotional storytelling and human experience.
Works
See Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis for full production discography.
Notable Solo/Lead Credits
- Co-wrote and produced Optimistic with Sounds of Blackness and Gary Hines (1991)
- 11 Grammy nominations for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical — more than any other producer