Don't look for Jerome Benton the next time you see Morris Day & The Time perform. After more than 26 years of performing with the R&B collective, Benton left the group after an apparent riff with Day over money. "Basically, Jerome wanted more money and Morris wasn't interested in paying it. Instead of talking to Jerome about it, he basically stopped communicating with him all together," said a source close to the situation. The group performed during the Tom Joyner Family Reunion and two new guys have replaced Benton in the act. Morris Day & The Time was formed in 1981 as a protégé of Prince. The group is also responsible for launching the careers of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, who went from being group members to two of the music industry's most successful producers.

http://blackvoices.aol.co...4809990001

I loved me some Jerome, but he really should be glad he had a job in a band. He didn't play and instrument and I don't think he sang. He usually danced and played a drum with one stick. However, he will be hard to replace and I can't imagine seeing the time without Jerome clowing.

illimack said:

illimack said:

I agree.He was lucky to have been a part of a band like this,considering he has no real musical talent.He's fortunate to have been a part of the Time,The Family and Prince's expanded Revolution Band.

I am going to see them in a couple weeks with Cameo! What the hell is the Time going to be without Jerome at this point? No way the show is as much fun. Morris and jerome arent good enough to go without the other - they better fix it up. They are too old for this nonsense.
[Edited 9/12/07 5:34am]

illimack said:

Exactly. Please....how much money do you deserve to make if your main responsibility is to carry Morris' mirror?

I won't comment on why Jerome isn't with the Time. That's his and the bands personal business, but to try and down grade his contributions to the act is ridiculous. If you have ever seen them in concert, especially since they started touring again in 95 you should know his contribution is more than bringing out the mirror. The Time is a great band, but when people go see them they expect the "act" as well. Sure if they were just going to stand up there and play they wouldn't need him, but thats not what the show is about. He brings an energy and Charisma to the show that can't be matched. Its a different show now. Morris and the rest of the fellas have to work even harder to pick up the slack, plus they have 2 onstage guys now. Hopefully everything will get worked out eventually, but if not, the show must go on and it will

PleasurePrinciple said:

DAMN!

And he still got more musical talent than Fiddy...

Rhastus said:

You're right, he does more than carry a mirror, as Illimack pointed out, he also "danced and plays a drum with one stick." Please...his 15 minutes should have been up long ago. Sorry, I have no respect for Jerome after he threw a temper tantrum and bitched out Orgers who went to BAM to support the Time & watch Purple Rain last winter. Sounds like sour grapes to me....

The show will go on but that brother can't be replaced. It went beyond a mirror and a stick twenty some years ago. They were a unit. It'll hurt them all equally. Same thing happened when Jimmy and Terry were gone. You don't miss your water until your well runs dry baby.

PleasurePrinciple said:

I second this!

Yeah even though he didn't do much he still was pretty good entertainment.Jerome and Morris has a chemistry on stage when performing 2gether, the same goes for Prince and Jerome. It's messed up how something good can be torn apart over money!
[Edited 9/12/07 18:01pm]

DevotedPuppy said:

Wait! Whaaaa? Why? What the hell was his problem?

KidaDynamite said:

http://prince.org/msg/5/175831

"Y'all motherfuckers need to get day jobs"

DevotedPuppy said:

I think that "Drunk Man" they were refering to gave Jerome a sip 'o' dat yak he was drinking!

Damn, this sucks. I partied/hung with Morris & Jerome before, they are both very cool individuals (in spite of what some folks may say). I would not advocate or condone him bawling out a bunch of random site users for some thread someone else posted on the same site, but hey, we all have lapses sometimes. The real tragedy here to me is not half as much his orger callout but the Morris/Jerome "unit" is broken, wtf?

Fellas if you're reading, Morris, Jerome, I hope you find a way to meet in the middle on this. I was really lookin forward to seeing you guys again (and together) next time you came around my way...

I HEARD THIS EARLIER IN THE YEAR.....
IT'S BAD ENOUGH THAT JIMMY, TERRY & JESSE ARE GONE.....
I HAD HOPES WITH FREEZE, TORI & CHANCE BESIDE THE "O.G. FOUR" (MO'-IS/JEROME/JELLYBEAN & MONTE)
BUT NOW JEROME GONE?????

FU*K THIS SH*T!!!!! GIVE ME THE "MAGNIFICENT SEVEN" (MORRIS/JEROME/JIMMY JAM/TERRY/JESSE/MONTE/JELLYBEAN) OR GIVE ME DEATH!!!!!

HELL!!! JEROME EVEN STUCK BY MORRIS THRU THAT "NEW-JACK" BULLSH*T CD "GUARANTEED". I HAVE A VIDEO CLIP OF THEM DOING "CIRCLE OF LOVE" ON SOME TV SHOW FROM THE '90'S!!!!!

IT'S NOT EVEN "PART-TIME" ANYMORE. CALL IT "TIME'S UP" BETTER YET JUST CALL IT "THE MORRIS DAY REVOO"!!!!!
AND THAT'S WHAT TIME IT IS!!!!!

I can't imagine The Time without Jerome, yet at the end of the day Morris could replace any of the guys in the band and the general public would barely notice.

ok so this is soooo old and yes b/c he wanted more money....Dang it! Just because who is brother is....why don't he ask his brother for a job dang it!

They should've given him the money. Jerome is a big part of the act. They will suck without him



Smooches;)

REMINDS ME OF THAT SCENE IN "GRAFFITI BRIDGE" WHEN MORRIS & JEROME HAD THE "MONEY DUEL". JUST WHEN JEROME THOUGHT HE "WON".....BAM!!!!!
MORRIS PULLS MO' MONEY OUTTA THE HEEL OF HIS SHOE!!!!!
THEN HE PROBABLY ASKED JEROME:
"NOW WHAT TIME IS IT????? BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!!

I can't imagine The Time without Jerome and I don't want to.

If he quit The Time, I guess he quit showbiz in general. What else is he going to do?
Maybe he'll show up on that awful Tyler Perry sitcom or something.

alwayslate said:

Better yet , he might want to be in Tyler Perry movies or stage plays. Just a thought.

FreeMuze said:

AT WHICH POINT IT SHOULD JUST BE CALLED THE MORRIS DAY REVUE!!!!!
REALLY THOUGH:

JIMMY JAM, TERRY, JESSE and now JEROME
WAIT A MINUTE.....

"JESSE!!!!! NAH, JEROME!!!!!" (SORRY, HAD 2 GET THAT IN THERE!!! LOL!!!)

4 OF THE OG SEVEN ARE "GHOST"!!!!!
AT WHICH POINT DO U STOP CALLING IT THE TIME & JUST CALL IT "MORRIS DAY"????
I SAY "NOW"!!!!!

I CAN'T IMAGINE THE TIME WITHOUT JIMMY JAM, TERRY, JESSE & JEROME. BUT I GUESS THAT'S WHAT TIME IT IS!!!!!

Juts got back from seeing the Time in Baltimore with Cameo and it was the first time in 25 years of going to see them live that I was actually alittle disappointed. Morris was great as always - but there was no Jerome and the show just wasnt complete. Morris didnt even look right without Jerome by his side. I couldnt get over it. While he may be expendable in the studio, the Time has recorded anything new in 17 years so that doesnt even matter. THe fact that they still make a living and stay relevant by touring is why Jerome is so important now. Now, Jerome is as important to that groups as David Lee Roth is to Van Halen - they can go on without him but the fan base is too loyal and too old to go for that. The changes in the lineup have not been too much of a problem until now. Tori is probably the best possible replacement for Jesse Johnson. Freeze is as good on bass as Terry Lewis. Monte is still there on keyboards and Chance was filling in for Jam fairly well. They had some little dude with a do rag who looked like a rat in a zoot suit on the keys. But the 2 parts tat you cant replace are Morris and Jerome. Like Jagger and Richards, they just aren not as good alone.

Last night that was painfully obvious. They had some chubby funny looking black guy who looked like someone's little nephew dressed up in his uncle's pimp suit - we all know that half of the Time's appeal is style and how they look. He didnt look like he belonged in the Time - or even onstage with them. There was another dancing goon - some asian brother who was so stiff that I kept watching him to make sure he wasnt a joke. The two of them would come out and try to execute the steps with Morris the Jerome usually would and then run off the stage. It looked funny and was distracting because they didnt stay on the stage more mthan 20 seconds at a time all night. When the chubby black dude brought the mirror out, I was done. I thought something mundame like that which requires no talent wouldnt matter - it did. Only Jerome can bring out the mirror. Just like Danny Ray is the only man that can throw the cape over James Brown.

The Time opened for Cameo - which I dont understand because they are far better than Cameo - so we got a rushed abbreviated set. They didnt even do Ice Cream Castles! I hung around for Cameo since I paid $80 for the ticket but if Jerome is not back, I wont be going to see the Time anymore. It saddens me.