Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
Jimmy Jam (left) and Terry Lewis in January 2012
Background information
Birth name	James Samuel Harris III Terry Steven Lewis
Also known as	Jam & Lewis Jimmy & Terry
Born	June 6, 1959 (1959-06-06) (age 57) (Jimmy Jam) November 24, 1956 (1956-11-24) (age 60) (Terry Lewis)
Origin	Minneapolis, Minnesota (Jimmy Jam) Omaha, Nebraska (Terry Lewis)
Genres	R&B pop soul hip hop hip hop soul new jack swing urban gospel quiet storm dance funk
Occupation(s)	Songwriters musicians record producers
Instruments	Keyboards piano synthesizers drum machine (Jimmy Jam) bass guitar percussion (Terry Lewis)
Years active	1981-present
Labels	Tabu Perspective Flyte Tyme
Associated acts	The Time Prince Janet Jackson Michael Jackson Shaggy The SOS Band Cherrelle Usher Boyz II Men Rod Stewart Jordan Knight Yolanda Adams George Michael Solo Alexander O'Neal Johnny Gill Ralph Tresvant Mariah Carey Hikaru Utada Mary J. Blige Chaka Khan New Edition Captain Rapp Karyn White IU Jyongri The Human League Patti LaBelle Leon Sylvers III
Notable instruments
Roland TR-808 Oberheim OB-8 Yamaha DX-7 Ensoniq Mirage Moog synthesizer Fairlight CMI Akai MPC60 E-mu SP-1200 Pro Tools

James Samuel "Jimmy Jam" Harris III (born June 6, 1959) and Terry Steven Lewis (born November 24, 1956) are an American R&B songwriting and record production team. They have enjoyed great success since the 1980s with various artists, most notably Janet Jackson. They have written 31 top ten hits in the UK and 41 in the US.

Jimmy Jam is the son of Cornbread Harris, a Minneapolis blues and jazz musician. Jimmy Jam met Lewis while in high school in Minneapolis. They did not meet in class, however, but while attending a TRIO Upward Bound program on the University of Minnesota campus. They formed a band called Flyte Tyme, which evolved into The Time. In 1981, they were joined by Morris Day and toured with Prince as his opening act. As members of The Time, they played instruments on two of the group's five albums (Pandemonium and Condensate).

In 1982, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were introduced to the music executive Dina R. Andrews, who was then an employee of Dick Griffey's SOLAR Records, where they would be mentored by record producer Leon Sylvers III. The pair asked Andrews to manage them, and through her relationships Andrews first introduced Jam and Lewis to Music Executive Clarence Avant. They produced their first masters for Avant for the SOS Band. Andrews set-up Jam and Lewis's company Flyte Tyme Productions as a business entity, and continued shopping them to her other record executive colleagues. The producers went on to produce several other masters for Avant under Dina Andrews Management for the SOS Band, Cherrelle, Alexander O'Neal and Change. Additionally, Andrews shopped the duo to many of the executives and artists who used their services, such as Klymaxx, Cheryl Lynn ("Encore"), and executives such as John McClain (Janet Jackson),Clive Davis, Sylvia Rhone, and Warner Chappelle (Rachele Fields).