Jesse Johnson

Jesse Woods Johnson (born June 1, 1960) is an American musician best known as the guitarist in the original 1981 lineup of The Time (known since 2011 as Original 7ven). Life and career Johnson was born in Rock Island, Illinois. He moved to East St. Louis, Illinois at the age of nine and was raised by foster parents after his parents split up. At age 16 he moved back to Rock Island to live with his father Jackwood Johnson. Johnson began playing guitar when he was 15, honing his chops in local rock bands such as Treacherous Funk, Pilot, and Dealer, throughout his teens and early twenties. On a friend's recommendation, he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1981, where he met Morris Day and played briefly in Day's band which was called Enterprise. He then became the lead guitarist for The Time, a funk rock group formed by Prince. Although Prince basically wrote and recorded the first two Time albums on his own with input from Morris Day, Johnson did contribute to another Prince project, Vanity 6, with a song called "Bite the Beat" co-written with Prince. On The Time's third album, Ice Cream Castle, Johnson contributed to the hit singles "The Bird" and "Jungle Love", which were helped by the popularity of the Purple Rain film. However, at the height of The Time's popularity following Purple Rain, following the departure of Morris Day, Johnson left the band and with the help of Manager Owen Husney signed a solo deal with A&M Records in 1984 and released Jesse Johnson's Revue the following year. This album featured two other former members of The Time in Johnson's backing band, keyboardist Mark Cardenas and bassist Jerry Hubbard. Three songs were released from the album: "Be Your Man", "Can You Help Me" and "I Want My Girl", a slow song about a fateful relationship. Then came the funk non-album outing "Free World". His second album Shockadelica was released in 1986 containing the hit single "Crazay", a duet with Sly Stone, and his third album Every Shade of Love followed in 1988. Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s Johnson also featured on the soundtracks to the Breakfast Club (contributing "Heart Too Hot to Hold", a duet with Stephanie Spruill), Pretty in Pink, Another 48 Hrs. and White Men Can't Jump.