Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

 “Terry [Lewis] and I started writing together when we were teenagers,” Jimmy Jam told me in 2020. “He grew up loving funk; [me], loving harmony groups America, Seals and Crofts, the Carpenters. When we got together he would bring this funky track; I would put this pretty melody on top.”

With this recipe, they garnered more Billboard No. 1s as any songwriting and production team in history, along with five Grammys and 11 Producer of the Year nominations, as well as Oscar and Emmy nominations. And ahead of this year’s Rock Hall induction, Jam and Lewis were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2017.

Their journey began in 1983 when they were fired (Lewis prefers “freed”) by their high school friend Prince from Minneapolis funk legends The Time after missing a show (they got snowed in while listening to the SOS Band – Classics “Just Be Good” produced me”). Luckily, I saw her on the Triple Threat tour with Prince and Vanity 6 in Cincinnati a few months earlier.

After that fateful job change, Jam and Lewis worked alongside other legends – Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross, George Michael, Gwen Stefani and Kanye West – and earned 100 gold, platinum, multi-platinum and diamond albums. However, it was her historic collaboration with Janet Jackson, beginning with her 1986 album Control, that was groundbreaking for everyone involved.

“Our analogy has always been to make a suit for someone,” says Jam, who I’m proud to call a fellow host of “The Jimmy Jam Show” on Sirius XM Volume. “You can go to a clothing store and buy a suit off the shelf, or you can go to a tailor and look at the fabric, choose the colour, how many buttons – this suit is made to measure for you. [We’re the] tailors with music and tailors each song to the artist.”

Alan Light can be heard on SiriusXM Volume.

This essay is part of a series – in collaboration with on-air talent SiriusXM – to pay tribute to the artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on November 5th in Los Angeles. Watch the full 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on HBO November 19 at 8:00 p.m. ET, along with a simulcast on SiriusXM’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Radio (Channel 310). SiriusXM listeners can also catch live, backstage coverage and commentary on Volume on the SXM App and on Faction Talk (Channel 103)..