Listening to the fDeluxe and Original 7 albums prompted this thought: How would Prince's protege artists have done without Prince's overwhelming input? Just to set parameters, I'm not including artists who with established careers before Prince's input (e.g. George Clinton, Mavis Staples, etc.), also I'm subjectively defining "success" by the pre-internet & pre-iTunes standards of album sales, mainstream radio play and media visibility -- again very subjective. That said here's my humble assessment...

Artists who wouldn't have done any better regardless of Prince's help:

Good Question

T.C. Ellis

Artists with no chance without Prince's help:

Vanity 6

Apollonia 6

Artists that could have done better with less Prince control (for example maybe Prince limits himself to only writing some of the songs or only acting as producer -- but has no involvement in career/business/image makeover:

Sheila E.

Jill Jones

Artists who may have been much more successful with minimal Prince involvement:

The Time

Mazarati

The Family

Opinions...?

alphachannel said:

Listening to the fDeluxe and Original 7 albums prompted this thought: How would Prince's protege artists have done without Prince's overwhelming input? Just to set parameters, I'm not including artists who with established careers before Prince's input (e.g. George Clinton, Mavis Staples, etc.), also I'm subjectively defining "success" by the pre-internet & pre-iTunes standards of album sales, mainstream radio play and media visibility -- again very subjective. That said here's my humble assessment...

Artists who wouldn't have done any better regardless of Prince's help:

Good Question

T.C. Ellis

Prince actually didn't "help" Good Question at all, he had absolutely NOTHING to do with their record, musically or otherwise. It was even reported that his management might have signed them on PP without asking him . I think it was an uninspired project, but it could have been successful with teenagers, à la New Edition/New Kids On The Block if promoted properly. But WB didn't want to invest their bucks in trying to sell this and no one cared.

A for T.C. Ellis, once again Prince's involvement was minimal: he wrote 2 songs, produced one of them and let T.C. and Levi rerecord the other together. Apart from that, he had absolutely nothing to do with it and his contributions didn't really had any impact on what the album was as a whole. The problem with T.C. was that he was considered "silly" by hip-hop audiences, who were into hard-edged stuff at the time, such as Ice-Cube, Ice-T, Public Enemy, NWA. remember, this was the year Boys N The Hood and New Jack City came out: hip-hop was about the hood and the guns and the drugs, and T.C.'s moralistic lyrics and vaguely sexy allusions just made many people laugh. That and the fact that his sound was way too much "minneapolis" in comparison to the other hip-hop acts. But Prince wasn't responsible fo that: his only mistake was to actually believe in T.C. as a solo artist (don't misunderstand me: I actually love this album, but I know why others didn't).

Artists with no chance without Prince's help:

Vanity 6

Apollonia 6

These 2 cases r the oppsoite: these bands, the music and the whole concept was 100% Prince. Without him there just wouldn't have been a V6 or an A6 in the first place. What these girls did after they left Prince's camp was another matter entirely, and can be subject to debate in terms of quality, but anyway success wasn't there... Obviously neither Vanity or Apollonia had strong enough artistic personnalities to create a solid fanbase. Vanity was too much of the junkie slut, and Apples was just perceived as an empty shell. So bad because the music was more than decent in both case.

Artists that could have done better with less Prince control (for example maybe Prince limits himself to only writing some of the songs or only acting as producer -- but has no involvement in career/business/image makeover:

Sheila E.

Jill Jones

It's difficult to say because Sheila was initially very successful and her 3rd album would probably have been more of a hit if she hadn't been totally focused on being Prince's drummer, and therefore unable to promote it. Jill's album had a very minor success despite being critically acclaimed, but once again it's likely that the marketing was unsufficient. What Sheila did on her own after leaving Prince was brilliant but nonetheless her 4th album was a commercial failure, and she became more of a jazz artist after that. As for Jill I've never listened to her post-Prince music but she never managed to get a major label's interest after that, so it was unlikely that she'd sell a lot of records. In the end Prince "created" them both as solo artists, he also created the original "concepts" they were carrying in terms of image, and it was difficult for them to exist, as pop-stars, outside of his influence. Could they have done better on their own earlier on? I don't know.

Artists who may have been much more successful with minimal Prince involvement:

The Time

Mazarati

The Family

The Time and The Family were originally 100% Prince too, and The Time actually was very successful in the 80's. The Family wasn't but how do you promote a record when the lead singer isn't in the band anymore? Anyway, I think that at some point -and they proved it with Pandemonium- The Time might have been a solid successful act without Prince, mostly thanks to the Jam & Lewis signature that basically created new-jack swing and made Janet the star she has become. But honestly I think at this point they just weren't really interested in doing this, with Morris and Jesse wanting to focus on their solo careers and Jam & Lewis on their producing career. As for The Family, I can't really imagine what they'd have done in the studio without Prince behind them. I mean they just proved that they can do great music by themselves, but The Family was such a typical Prince concept that it's hard to imagine someone creating their own music in such a restrictive frame. What you suggest is kinda odd in the end, in the sense that Prince shaped these two projects: if he'd just signed these people on his label, everything would have been different, even the band's line-ups. The Time and The Family's members weren't like real bands with people saying "let's do music together", they were separate people hired by Prince to play in "fake" bands that would be vehicules for his ideas and music. So what you suggest is Prince taking these folks, putting them in a studio and telling them "now do a record I'm out of the picture". I think the musicians would have been the first to wonder "WTF?" about the whole situation. So it couldn't have been like this at first but it could have BECOME like this after, except that neither The Time nor The Family lived long enough, and in both cases that was because the musicians involved had other goals, not because of Prince.

As for Mazarati, Prince's involvement was absolutely minimal: he gave them one song and (uncredited) rewrote the lysrics of 2 others, and that's pretty much it. I don't know why people keep wanting Mazarati to be a Prince side-project: it was BrownMark's pet project, Mark wrote all the songs and supervised the whole record's production alongside David Z. Prince kept an eye on it but with or without him it would have been more or less the same record. So as for T.C. Ellis and Good Question, it's impossible to answer your question because your "what if?" story is actually the REAL story.

Opinions...?

Shared. Thanks

databank said:

except that neither The Time nor The Family lived long enough, and in both cases that was because the musicians involved had other goals, not because of Prince.

In regards to the time,I totally agree they needed direction initially as far as studio/songwriting was cocerned. Prince was obvioulsy excellent in that regard. However, by the time "what time is it" came around, I think Prince could have loosened the reigns a little. It was his direct actions (kicking the band off of the big city 1999 dates/firing Jimmy and terry/ refusuing to let morris write for evelyn champaigne king etc) that led to the members disillusionment, thus ruining what could have been a much bigger band.

[Edited 1/25/12 16:18pm]

Other than being signed to PP, Good Question had no input from Prince musically.

Artists who needed help to release a new album & remakes whilst appealing to a younger audience by Andy Allo:

prince

Thanks for the insight from everyone -- obviously I was wrong in assuming Prince's role in the develpment of TC Ellis & Good Question, I also didn't realize acts were being assigned to Paisley without Prince's knowlege...

As for Mazarati even though Mark "discovered" them I thought Prince's fingers were all over this project considering their pre-Prince look and sound.

alphachannel said:

Thanks for the insight from everyone -- obviously I was wrong in assuming Prince's role in the develpment of TC Ellis & Good Question, I also didn't realize acts were being assigned to Paisley without Prince's knowlege...

As for Mazarati even though Mark "discovered" them I thought Prince's fingers were all over this project considering their pre-Prince look and sound.

They certainly "borrowed" the neo-romantic look Prince had devised for himself (PR era) and Sheila, and of course they sound MPLS, but I'm not sure whether it was Prince's will or simply the fact that, being part of a movement, they adopted the movements' look and sound. What we know about the music itself is what I told you, though. This is factual. I'd be curious to know about their "pre-Prince look and sound", as I thought Mark had created the band from scratch and that, therefore, there was no "pre-Prince" Mazarati. Do you know where I could find any archive online regarding this?

For the record, they recorded a second album in 1989, which knew only a very limited release by Motown in Canada, and was once again produced by BrownMark among a few other producers. Prince was far away from it, but nonetheless the band still sounded the same, just as any other ex-Prince associate did back then.

If the story regarding Good Question is true, it was the only time an artist was signed on PP without Prince being consulted about it. Another funny example was Jacob Armen's album, released on NPG Records in 1994... without Prince knowing about it! He'd sent the masters to Edel alongside other records he wanted to release, such as Madhouse's 24, but as nothing happened with all these projects, the guys at Edel decided to print a limited (1000 copies) edition of Armen's record, just so it'd become a valuable collectible that they could resell on the collector's market later They did it with a few Mayte singles that prince had sent them as well, but wouldn't instruct them to release, but unfortunately they didn't dare to do it with 24 (though eventually, everything they had was sold to bootleggers instead).

Generally, Prince had little interest in Paisley Park releases save his own side-projects: it was a vanity label and no one really ever worked on promoting the projects. Prince would usually sign artists he liked or believed in but save offering a song or 2 for the principle, he hardly ever was involved at any level. Albums that were done without him being much involved (if at all) are Mazarati, Taja Sevelle, Dale's Riot In English, the 2 George Clinton albums, Eric Leeds' Things Left Unsaid, T.C. Ellis' True Confessions, Good Question, Tony LeMans, Three O' Clock's Vermillion and the 2 Kahoru Kohiruimaki albums. Prince also stayed outside most of the production process for Mavis Staples' The Voice: he basically gave his own demos to Ricky Peterson who rerecorded most of it, and Mavis finished the album with independant producers. As for Pandemonium and Ingrid Chavez' album, these are 2 projects Prince was originally involved a lot it, but he just backed off and lost interest in them when WB expressed the desire to let the artists involved do it their way. He also allowed Sheila E. to record half of her third album on her own, without interfering, but this was a short-lived freedom since he wanted to control the 4th album, and that motivated Sheila to fly away.

WinterIsComing said:

databank said:

In regards to the time,I totally agree they needed direction initially as far as studio/songwriting was cocerned. Prince was obvioulsy excellent in that regard. However, by the time "what time is it" came around, I think Prince could have loosened the reigns a little. It was his direct actions (kicking the band off of the big city 1999 dates/firing Jimmy and terry/ refusuing to let morris write for evelyn champaigne king etc) that led to the members disillusionment, thus ruining what could have been a much bigger band.

[Edited 1/25/12 16:18pm]

It is true indeed that prince's attitude was highly discouraging for the musicians involved, and that most of them left because of it (including Jill and Sheila, though a few years later).

databank said:

They certainly "borrowed" the neo-romantic look Prince had devised for himself (PR era) and Sheila, and of course they sound MPLS, but I'm not sure whether it was Prince's will or simply the fact that, being part of a movement, they adopted the movements' look and sound. What we know about the music itself is what I told you, though. This is factual. I'd be curious to know about their "pre-Prince look and sound", as I thought Mark had created the band from scratch and that, therefore, there was no "pre-Prince" Mazarati. Do you know where I could find any archive online regarding this?

[interview + link removed on request]

there's the circulating boot with early jams

[Edited 6/7/12 2:55am]

Shango said:

databank said:

They certainly "borrowed" the neo-romantic look Prince had devised for himself (PR era) and Sheila, and of course they sound MPLS, but I'm not sure whether it was Prince's will or simply the fact that, being part of a movement, they adopted the movements' look and sound. What we know about the music itself is what I told you, though. This is factual. I'd be curious to know about their "pre-Prince look and sound", as I thought Mark had created the band from scratch and that, therefore, there was no "pre-Prince" Mazarati. Do you know where I could find any archive online regarding this?

Circa 1984, with the long hair, sans the transition to the neo-romantic outfits. I guess this was the time that Brown Mark kept the project on a down low.

T-MAD’S MUSIC INTERVIEWS JIM “JimiB” BREWER (formerly of MAZARATI) (An e-mail interview from May, 1998) (Mazarati circa 1984 — courtesy of Jim Brewer) The year was 1986 and Prince and The Revolution were riding high with their success in the music world. However, you might also remember hearing a song from that year titled 100 M.P.H.. That song was written by Prince but was performed by a Minneapolis-based band called Mazarati. The members of this band included Sir Casey Terry on lead vocals, Romeo on bass guitar, Tony Christian on rhythm guitar, Kevin Patricks on drums and percussion, Craig Powell on lead guitar, and Aaron Paul Keith and Marr Starr on keyboards. They were produced by Brownmark of The Revolution and co-produced by David Z. However, prior to Craig Powell, the band had a different lead guitarist who was involved with them during the recording of their debut album. His name is Jim Brewer, a.k.a. JimiB, and he left feedback at T-Mad’s Music way back in March, 1998 while doing research on his old crew. The following is the original interview with Mr. Brewer from May of 1998, culled from e-mail correspondences with him and presented in his own words where he gave me the lowdown on that 1986 debut project from the band as well as what he was up to.

"...I lived in Minneapolis about 4 years, and left the band, before the first album came out. Our old slogan was : Mazarati is not a name it is a religion. I am currently doing a little research on finding old members of the band, without having to travel to Minneapolis. JimiB holarin [sic] at you again. Hey man get in touch with me if you need any questions to be answered about Mazarati, Prince and the whole memorabilia..."

Well this is a treat getting feedback from a former member of a group featured on my site. Thanks for checking out T-Mad’s Music. Were you involved with your band’s debut album at all or did they put it together after you left ? "...I was there when all of the songs on the first Album were created. All the songs were written by Mark Brown [Brown Mark, formerly of The Revolution] except for 100 Miles per Hour that was written by Prince. I actually played the lead guitar on the Album and did not get credit for it, being that Mark and I had a dispute. I quit the band after having a nasty dispute with Mark over a Monetary problem. I packed my stuff and left. My name was not even mentioned on the album. (That was his way of getting back at me.)..."

Do you think things would have turned out differently for Mazarati if you had stayed ? "...No not at all. Now that I look back the band they didn’t go anywhere. Mark only got what he deserved. The way I hear it Prince walked into rehearsal one day and told everybody to leave. Then’s forth creating the New Power Generation an all New Band. Mark was Blackballed in the Music Business I believe. And is now writing Jingles for different radio commercials across the Nation. Brown Mark had a 1 Album flop, about a year later after he left Prince. And has not done anything hence forth..."

Out of curiosity, since you worked with Prince, what do you think abouthis name change to "O+>" ? "...Prince used to come to some of our rehearsals, and that’s how I had gotten to know him. Prince is a very weird individual, personality wise he’s caught up in himself. The name change really didn’t surprise me being that I think he’s suffering from an [insatiable craving for attention]. Prince will do anything to create controversy and to keep people talking about him. After all that’s what made him rich. Far as Talent Prince owes his whole career to his present Bass Player Sonny Thompson [Sonny T. of The New Power Generation] (Whom ended being a good friend of mine). Sonny taught Prince everything he knows about music. Now Sonny is a bad individual whom never got any credit from Prince until the last few years. Growing up in North Minneapolis Prince had learned to play multi-different instruments and had Gotten the Idea to show off that talent from Sonny. The reason Sonny had not gotten anywhere with Prince was because Sonny could not lose the weight (Body Fat) to be in his first band. And actually left Sonny doing the Bar thing in Minneapolis. Prince’s Name change had something to do with his contract with Warner Bro. By using that name he was not bound to Warner Bro. or the previous record contract he had..."

One more question — I’ve read various accounts concerning Prince's song Kiss. Namely, the fact that while he wrote the song, it was originally intended to be a Mazarati song as opposed to being a Prince song. What’s your take on that ? "...The only info that I can give you on the song Kiss is that Mazarati just sung the background on the tune. I do know that Prince wrote the song, but I doubt if it was really meant for Mazarati. It could have been meant for Maz but I never got that info from Mark or [Casey] Terry or anybody in the band..."

JimiB is currently retired from the music industry and is involved in the computer field in his hometown of Detroit, MI. "...Me myself I’m an X-musician. A+ certified, MSP certified (still working on my MCSE), and Novell CNA certified. Started in Computers to midi up my keyboards and ended up more interested in the Computers than I was in Music. Even though my first love is music, but for now the computers makes the money..."

Well, I’d like to thank JimiB for taking the time to answer a couple of questions for me about his days with Mazarati and for granting me permission to put his answers up here at T-Mad’s Music. If you’d like to send feedback to JimiB or if you have any info to give on the current whereabouts of the other members of Mazarati, send e-mail to T-Mad’s Domain and it’ll be forwarded to him. Check out JimiB’s Insanities Sins Web Site [NOTE: Believe it or not, his old site still exists on the Internet. However, it has not been updated since February, 2002 so any information on his site is very much out of date. But it’s still there for the sake of prosperity so feel free to enjoy an early, simpler, old school website long before the current Web 2.0 era of the Internet.]

This interview is the property of T-Mad’s Music and cannot be copied without permission. Copyright © 1998–2011 T-Mad’s Music. All rights reserved.

www.outofprintsoulandfunk.com/interviews/jimi_brewer/

And there's the circulating boot with early jams

1	Little Mazarati
2	This is Groovy
3	Aggravation
4	Infatuation
5	Come Together
6	Satisfaction
7	Listen to Me
8	Candy Sweet

Sounds like one bitter MF to me. Prince 'ill bitch slap his punk ass down.

Go toss some salad muscle head

Shango said:

databank said:

They certainly "borrowed" the neo-romantic look Prince had devised for himself (PR era) and Sheila, and of course they sound MPLS, but I'm not sure whether it was Prince's will or simply the fact that, being part of a movement, they adopted the movements' look and sound. What we know about the music itself is what I told you, though. This is factual. I'd be curious to know about their "pre-Prince look and sound", as I thought Mark had created the band from scratch and that, therefore, there was no "pre-Prince" Mazarati. Do you know where I could find any archive online regarding this?

Circa 1984, with the long hair, sans the transition to the neo-romantic outfits. I guess this was the time that Brown Mark kept the project on a down low.

T-MAD’S MUSIC INTERVIEWS JIM “JimiB” BREWER (formerly of MAZARATI) (An e-mail interview from May, 1998) (Mazarati circa 1984 — courtesy of Jim Brewer) The year was 1986 and Prince and The Revolution were riding high with their success in the music world. However, you might also remember hearing a song from that year titled 100 M.P.H.. That song was written by Prince but was performed by a Minneapolis-based band called Mazarati. The members of this band included Sir Casey Terry on lead vocals, Romeo on bass guitar, Tony Christian on rhythm guitar, Kevin Patricks on drums and percussion, Craig Powell on lead guitar, and Aaron Paul Keith and Marr Starr on keyboards. They were produced by Brownmark of The Revolution and co-produced by David Z. However, prior to Craig Powell, the band had a different lead guitarist who was involved with them during the recording of their debut album. His name is Jim Brewer, a.k.a. JimiB, and he left feedback at T-Mad’s Music way back in March, 1998 while doing research on his old crew. The following is the original interview with Mr. Brewer from May of 1998, culled from e-mail correspondences with him and presented in his own words where he gave me the lowdown on that 1986 debut project from the band as well as what he was up to.

"...I lived in Minneapolis about 4 years, and left the band, before the first album came out. Our old slogan was : Mazarati is not a name it is a religion. I am currently doing a little research on finding old members of the band, without having to travel to Minneapolis. JimiB holarin [sic] at you again. Hey man get in touch with me if you need any questions to be answered about Mazarati, Prince and the whole memorabilia..."

Well this is a treat getting feedback from a former member of a group featured on my site. Thanks for checking out T-Mad’s Music. Were you involved with your band’s debut album at all or did they put it together after you left ? "...I was there when all of the songs on the first Album were created. All the songs were written by Mark Brown [Brown Mark, formerly of The Revolution] except for 100 Miles per Hour that was written by Prince. I actually played the lead guitar on the Album and did not get credit for it, being that Mark and I had a dispute. I quit the band after having a nasty dispute with Mark over a Monetary problem. I packed my stuff and left. My name was not even mentioned on the album. (That was his way of getting back at me.)..."

Do you think things would have turned out differently for Mazarati if you had stayed ? "...No not at all. Now that I look back the band they didn’t go anywhere. Mark only got what he deserved. The way I hear it Prince walked into rehearsal one day and told everybody to leave. Then’s forth creating the New Power Generation an all New Band. Mark was Blackballed in the Music Business I believe. And is now writing Jingles for different radio commercials across the Nation. Brown Mark had a 1 Album flop, about a year later after he left Prince. And has not done anything hence forth..."

Out of curiosity, since you worked with Prince, what do you think abouthis name change to "O+>" ? "...Prince used to come to some of our rehearsals, and that’s how I had gotten to know him. Prince is a very weird individual, personality wise he’s caught up in himself. The name change really didn’t surprise me being that I think he’s suffering from an [insatiable craving for attention]. Prince will do anything to create controversy and to keep people talking about him. After all that’s what made him rich. Far as Talent Prince owes his whole career to his present Bass Player Sonny Thompson [Sonny T. of The New Power Generation] (Whom ended being a good friend of mine). Sonny taught Prince everything he knows about music. Now Sonny is a bad individual whom never got any credit from Prince until the last few years. Growing up in North Minneapolis Prince had learned to play multi-different instruments and had Gotten the Idea to show off that talent from Sonny. The reason Sonny had not gotten anywhere with Prince was because Sonny could not lose the weight (Body Fat) to be in his first band. And actually left Sonny doing the Bar thing in Minneapolis. Prince’s Name change had something to do with his contract with Warner Bro. By using that name he was not bound to Warner Bro. or the previous record contract he had..."

One more question — I’ve read various accounts concerning Prince's song Kiss. Namely, the fact that while he wrote the song, it was originally intended to be a Mazarati song as opposed to being a Prince song. What’s your take on that ? "...The only info that I can give you on the song Kiss is that Mazarati just sung the background on the tune. I do know that Prince wrote the song, but I doubt if it was really meant for Mazarati. It could have been meant for Maz but I never got that info from Mark or [Casey] Terry or anybody in the band..."

JimiB is currently retired from the music industry and is involved in the computer field in his hometown of Detroit, MI. "...Me myself I’m an X-musician. A+ certified, MSP certified (still working on my MCSE), and Novell CNA certified. Started in Computers to midi up my keyboards and ended up more interested in the Computers than I was in Music. Even though my first love is music, but for now the computers makes the money..."

Well, I’d like to thank JimiB for taking the time to answer a couple of questions for me about his days with Mazarati and for granting me permission to put his answers up here at T-Mad’s Music. If you’d like to send feedback to JimiB or if you have any info to give on the current whereabouts of the other members of Mazarati, send e-mail to T-Mad’s Domain and it’ll be forwarded to him. Check out JimiB’s Insanities Sins Web Site [NOTE: Believe it or not, his old site still exists on the Internet. However, it has not been updated since February, 2002 so any information on his site is very much out of date. But it’s still there for the sake of prosperity so feel free to enjoy an early, simpler, old school website long before the current Web 2.0 era of the Internet.]

This interview is the property of T-Mad’s Music and cannot be copied without permission. Copyright © 1998–2011 T-Mad’s Music. All rights reserved.

www.outofprintsoulandfunk.com/interviews/jimi_brewer/

And there's the circulating boot with early jams

1	Little Mazarati
2	This is Groovy
3	Aggravation
4	Infatuation
5	Come Together
6	Satisfaction
7	Listen to Me
8	Candy Sweet

TThanks 4 sharing

safetypin said:

Shango said:

Circa 1984, with the long hair, sans the transition to the neo-romantic outfits. I guess this was the time that Brown Mark kept the project on a down low.

T-MAD’S MUSIC INTERVIEWS JIM “JimiB” BREWER (formerly of MAZARATI) (An e-mail interview from May, 1998) (Mazarati circa 1984 — courtesy of Jim Brewer) The year was 1986 and Prince and The Revolution were riding high with their success in the music world. However, you might also remember hearing a song from that year titled 100 M.P.H.. That song was written by Prince but was performed by a Minneapolis-based band called Mazarati. The members of this band included Sir Casey Terry on lead vocals, Romeo on bass guitar, Tony Christian on rhythm guitar, Kevin Patricks on drums and percussion, Craig Powell on lead guitar, and Aaron Paul Keith and Marr Starr on keyboards. They were produced by Brownmark of The Revolution and co-produced by David Z. However, prior to Craig Powell, the band had a different lead guitarist who was involved with them during the recording of their debut album. His name is Jim Brewer, a.k.a. JimiB, and he left feedback at T-Mad’s Music way back in March, 1998 while doing research on his old crew. The following is the original interview with Mr. Brewer from May of 1998, culled from e-mail correspondences with him and presented in his own words where he gave me the lowdown on that 1986 debut project from the band as well as what he was up to.

"...I lived in Minneapolis about 4 years, and left the band, before the first album came out. Our old slogan was : Mazarati is not a name it is a religion. I am currently doing a little research on finding old members of the band, without having to travel to Minneapolis. JimiB holarin [sic] at you again. Hey man get in touch with me if you need any questions to be answered about Mazarati, Prince and the whole memorabilia..."

Well this is a treat getting feedback from a former member of a group featured on my site. Thanks for checking out T-Mad’s Music. Were you involved with your band’s debut album at all or did they put it together after you left ? "...I was there when all of the songs on the first Album were created. All the songs were written by Mark Brown [Brown Mark, formerly of The Revolution] except for 100 Miles per Hour that was written by Prince. I actually played the lead guitar on the Album and did not get credit for it, being that Mark and I had a dispute. I quit the band after having a nasty dispute with Mark over a Monetary problem. I packed my stuff and left. My name was not even mentioned on the album. (That was his way of getting back at me.)..."

Do you think things would have turned out differently for Mazarati if you had stayed ? "...No not at all. Now that I look back the band they didn’t go anywhere. Mark only got what he deserved. The way I hear it Prince walked into rehearsal one day and told everybody to leave. Then’s forth creating the New Power Generation an all New Band. Mark was Blackballed in the Music Business I believe. And is now writing Jingles for different radio commercials across the Nation. Brown Mark had a 1 Album flop, about a year later after he left Prince. And has not done anything hence forth..."

Out of curiosity, since you worked with Prince, what do you think abouthis name change to "O+>" ? "...Prince used to come to some of our rehearsals, and that’s how I had gotten to know him. Prince is a very weird individual, personality wise he’s caught up in himself. The name change really didn’t surprise me being that I think he’s suffering from an [insatiable craving for attention]. Prince will do anything to create controversy and to keep people talking about him. After all that’s what made him rich. Far as Talent Prince owes his whole career to his present Bass Player Sonny Thompson [Sonny T. of The New Power Generation] (Whom ended being a good friend of mine). Sonny taught Prince everything he knows about music. Now Sonny is a bad individual whom never got any credit from Prince until the last few years. Growing up in North Minneapolis Prince had learned to play multi-different instruments and had Gotten the Idea to show off that talent from Sonny. The reason Sonny had not gotten anywhere with Prince was because Sonny could not lose the weight (Body Fat) to be in his first band. And actually left Sonny doing the Bar thing in Minneapolis. Prince’s Name change had something to do with his contract with Warner Bro. By using that name he was not bound to Warner Bro. or the previous record contract he had..."

One more question — I’ve read various accounts concerning Prince's song Kiss. Namely, the fact that while he wrote the song, it was originally intended to be a Mazarati song as opposed to being a Prince song. What’s your take on that ? "...The only info that I can give you on the song Kiss is that Mazarati just sung the background on the tune. I do know that Prince wrote the song, but I doubt if it was really meant for Mazarati. It could have been meant for Maz but I never got that info from Mark or [Casey] Terry or anybody in the band..."

JimiB is currently retired from the music industry and is involved in the computer field in his hometown of Detroit, MI. "...Me myself I’m an X-musician. A+ certified, MSP certified (still working on my MCSE), and Novell CNA certified. Started in Computers to midi up my keyboards and ended up more interested in the Computers than I was in Music. Even though my first love is music, but for now the computers makes the money..."

Well, I’d like to thank JimiB for taking the time to answer a couple of questions for me about his days with Mazarati and for granting me permission to put his answers up here at T-Mad’s Music. If you’d like to send feedback to JimiB or if you have any info to give on the current whereabouts of the other members of Mazarati, send e-mail to T-Mad’s Domain and it’ll be forwarded to him. Check out JimiB’s Insanities Sins Web Site [NOTE: Believe it or not, his old site still exists on the Internet. However, it has not been updated since February, 2002 so any information on his site is very much out of date. But it’s still there for the sake of prosperity so feel free to enjoy an early, simpler, old school website long before the current Web 2.0 era of the Internet.]

This interview is the property of T-Mad’s Music and cannot be copied without permission. Copyright © 1998–2011 T-Mad’s Music. All rights reserved.

www.outofprintsoulandfunk.com/interviews/jimi_brewer/

And there's the circulating boot with early jams

1	Little Mazarati
2	This is Groovy
3	Aggravation
4	Infatuation
5	Come Together
6	Satisfaction
7	Listen to Me
8	Candy Sweet

Sounds like one bitter MF to me. Prince 'ill bitch slap his punk ass down.

Go toss some salad muscle head

He sounds quite bitter indeed lol

databank said: TThanks 4 sharing

you're welcome