Jesse Johnson

Jesse Woods Johnson (born June 1, 1960) is an American funk 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 the age of 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 the recommendation of fellow Musician, Robbie Muskeyvalley (of the band "Midnight Express", he moved in 1981 to Minneapolis, Minnesota, 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 the following year released Jesse Johnson's Revue. about which Casey Rain wrote: "This can definitely be considered Jesse's magnum opus. It's an absolute tour de force of style and songwriting, from the funk grooves like '100 Watts of Funky', the blistering rock of tracks like the title track, and even spoken-word thoughts from Jesse." In 2010, Johnson was featured on the album Blues In My Sunshine, by Sue Ann Carwell (who had also been a vocal contributor to Verbal Penetration).

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As producer TaMara and the Seen (1985) Da Krash Kool Skool (1989) After 7 (1991)