In high school, Day was in a band with Prince and André Cymone and the trio formed an early band managed by Day's mother called "Grand Central," later renamed "Champagne." Later, Prince embarked on a solo career but retained Cymone for his backing band. The two began to plan a side-group that would focus more on R&B, while Prince would continue to explore various musical styles. The Time was composed of 4 members from an earlier funk group called "Flyte Tyme," but the lead singer had not been chosen. Sue Ann Carwell was auditioned and Alexander O'Neal nearly became The Time's lead singer, but dropped out due to payment negotiations. Day, who was now in a band called "Enterprise" allowed Prince to have a song called "Partyup" for his Dirty Mind album and Prince would soon return the favor by giving Day the job of lead singer. Day would suggest guitarist Jesse Johnson, who completed the band's ensemble.
The Time's most prolific and visible period came in 1984, when Day played the antagonist to Prince in his feature film Purple Rain and "Graffiti Bridge", which helped establish Day's playboy stage presence. Typically escorted by his valet, "Jerome" (Jerome Benton), Day won fans with his exaggerated vanity ("Jerome bring me my mirror!") and strutting bravado ("Ain't nobody bad like me!"), acting as a comic foil to Prince's romantic, sensitive lead. This persona was further exploited for comic effect on The Time's records, on songs such as "Chili Sauce" and "If the Kid Can't Make You Come" from the album Ice Cream Castle.
That album, the group's most popular, is best remembered for the infectious singles "Jungle Love" and the Rufus Thomas influenced, "The Bird." With their palpable pop energy and catchy choruses, both songs were hits on both urban and pop radio.
In 1984, Day contributed backing vocals on "Mechanical Emotion" from Vanity's debut album Wild Animal. With the breakup of The Time that same year, Day began his solo career. The low sales of his solo albums such as 1987's Daydreaming (which spawned the single "Fishnet") and his most commercially viable solo album, Guaranteed were a blow to his career.
[edit] 1990s
It wasn't until 1990 that The Time scored a #1 R&B hit with "Jerk Out," a Dance-funk cut from their reunited fourth album, Pandemonium. This album also featured the original members of the band. The same year, Day formed his own girl band (not unlike Prince's Vanity 6/Apollonia 6) called The Day Zs. The group's first and only album release was produced by Day and he sang on one of the tracks called "Green Acres."
From that high point, Day's success began to wane. The general decline of Prince's popularity soon after did not help and Day's public visibility, and his creative output waned considerably.
[edit] 2000 to present
Day came out of his self-imposed retirement because of his fans' support. Day has remained a popular concert draw since the late 90s, with Day fronting a revamped lineup of The Time, including originals Jellybean Johnson on drums and Monte Moir on keyboards.
Day has also appeared regularly in local television commercials for a Toyota dealership in the Atlanta area.
As of 2007, Day is band leader on the TV One program Baisden After Dark.
He reunited with the original members of The Time after 18 years for a performance with Rihanna at the 50th Grammy Awards show.
Morris Day and The Time performed at the 2008 HR Florida State Conference.
He currently has three children
Terry Ellis (En Vogue)
Terry was born on September 5, 1963. The southern girl , Terry Lynn Ellis, is the daughter of Lennie James Ellis and the former Evelyn Marie Patton.[2] Ellis graduated from Worthing High School in 1981. After receiving a degree in Marketing from Prairie View A&M University, she joined En Vogue. En Vogue was planned to be a trio (a 1990s version of The Emotions), but the producers were so impressed by her voice, they made the group a quartet. In 1995 Ellis took time during the group's hiatus to release her solo CD, Southern Gal. The CD included the moderate hits "Where Ever You Are" (r&b #10) and "What Did I Do To You?" (r&b top 40). She also contributed a track called "Call on me" for the Soundtrack for the HBO Film "Disappearing Acts" with Wesley Snipes.
She also released her own fragrance titled "Southern Exposure".
En Vogue lost original members Dawn Robinson in 1997 and again in 2005, and Maxine Jones in 2001 (they latter replaced by Amanda Cole and then Rhona Bennett.) Maxine Jones and Dawn Robinson have since returned to the group. In 2005, Ellis was featured in the Stevie Wonder music video "So What The Fuss" with her original En Vogue group members Dawn Robinson, Maxine Jones and Cindy Herron. She also played one of Chanté Moore's friends in the Music video "Chanté's Got a Man" in 1999.
With fellow group member Cindy Herron having taken a leave from the group around 2004-2005, Terry Ellis is the only original member of En Vogue to have never left the group during any point in time.
[edit] Voice/Range
Terry Ellis has a 5 octave vocal range which was displayed in the En Vogue song, "Don't Go". By her groupmates, Terry was credited as the member with the "Ballad" type of voice. With En Vogue, she often shared leads, or lead the group songs that were funky, and soulful. In group harmonies, Terry usually sings the Alto arrangement, which is above Maxine Jones, but under Dawn Robinson, or Cindy Herron.
[edit] Leads/Shared Leads
* 1990 - "Hold On"
* 1990 - "Lies"
* 1991 - "Don't Go"
* 1992 - "Free Your Mind"
* 1993 - "Love Don't Love You"
* 1993 - "Runaway Love"
* 1994 - "Whatta Man"
* 1996 - "Don't Let Go (Love)"
* 1997 - "Whatever"
* 1997 - "Too Gone, Too Long"
* 2001 - "Riddle"
terry
ReplyDeleteThank you Cathy!
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