Minneapolis sound
Encyclopedia
The Minneapolis sound is a hybrid mixture of funk
, rock, pop, R&B and New Wave
that was pioneered by Prince
in the late 1970s. Its popularity was given a boost throughout the 1980s, thanks to his musical adherents, including The Time
, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
, Morris Day
, Vanity 6
, Apollonia 6
, Ta Mara & the Seen, Sheila E.
, Jesse Johnson
, Brownmark
, Mazarati
, and The Family
.
According to the Rolling Stone Album Guide
, "the Minneapolis sound... loomed over mid-'80s R&B and pop, not to mention the next two decades' worth of electro, house, and techno."
Prince's third album Dirty Mind
from 1980 also earns credit. Pepe Willie, who brought his brand of music to Minneapolis from Brooklyn, New York, in the mid-70's, is credited with being the first to bring Prince into the studio professionally to play on his group, 94 East
's, demo.
Some artists who came from Minnesota
were influenced by Prince's work and some came from other parts of the U.S. or world, such as Scottish star Sheena Easton
, Flint, Michigan
's Ready for the World
, Augusta, Georgia
's Le Klass and Los Angeles, California
's Cherrelle
. The music is also known as a form of funk-rock.
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, rock, pop, R&B and New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
that was pioneered by Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
in the late 1970s. Its popularity was given a boost throughout the 1980s, thanks to his musical adherents, including The Time
The Time (band)
The Time is a funk and dance-pop ensemble formed in 1981. They are close Prince associates and arguably the most successful artists who have worked with him.-Prince, Formation and Success:...
, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
James Samuel "Jimmy Jam" Harris III and Terry Steven Lewis are an American R&B and pop-music songwriting and record production team...
, Morris Day
Morris Day
Morris E. Day is an American musician and composer. He is best known as the lead singer of The Time.-1970s and 1980s:...
, Vanity 6
Vanity 6
Vanity 6 was a female vocal trio assembled by Prince in the early 1980s.They released one studio album, which blended the sounds of pop, New Wave, dance music, R&B, and funk.-Formation:...
, Apollonia 6
Apollonia 6
Apollonia 6 was a 1980s female singing trio created by Prince as a continuation/succession of a previous group, Vanity 6.-Formation and Purple Rain:...
, Ta Mara & the Seen, Sheila E.
Sheila E.
Sheila Escovedo , known by her stage name Sheila E., is an American drummer and percussionist, perhaps best known for her work with Prince, George Duke and Ringo Starr.-Early life and Prince period:...
, Jesse Johnson
Jesse Johnson (musician)
Jesse Woods Johnson is a musician best known as the guitarist in the original lineup of The Time....
, Brownmark
Brownmark
Mark Brown , better known by the stage name Brown Mark, also styled Brownmark and BrownMark, is an American musician and record producer.-Biography:...
, Mazarati
Mazarati
Mazarati was an American R&B band formed in the mid-1980s by former Prince and The Revolution bassist Brown Mark. Originally hailing from Minneapolis, they are now defunct as a group. The band's sole hit was a song called "100 MPH", which was written and co-produced by Prince.-Debut at Paisley...
, and The Family
The Family (band)
The Family is a band formed by Prince, and one of the first signed to his record label, Paisley Park Records. The band renamed themselves Fdeluxe in 2009.-History:...
.
According to the Rolling Stone Album Guide
Rolling Stone Album Guide
The Rolling Stone Album Guide, previously known as The Rolling Stone Record Guide, is a book that, along with its sister publication Rolling Stone magazine, contains professional reviews of popular music...
, "the Minneapolis sound... loomed over mid-'80s R&B and pop, not to mention the next two decades' worth of electro, house, and techno."
Prince's third album Dirty Mind
Dirty Mind
Dirty Mind is the third studio album by American musician Prince, released October 8, 1980 on Warner Bros. Records. Produced, arranged and composed primarily by Prince, it contains prominently sexual lyrics and incorporates musical elements of funk, dance and rock music. The album debuted at number...
from 1980 also earns credit. Pepe Willie, who brought his brand of music to Minneapolis from Brooklyn, New York, in the mid-70's, is credited with being the first to bring Prince into the studio professionally to play on his group, 94 East
94 East
94 East was a Minneapolis-based funk group formed in December 1975 by Pepe Willie, the former husband of Prince's cousin. Willie was one of the people responsible for getting Prince's career up and running, and soon enlisted the talents of a young Prince and his childhood best friend, André Cymone....
's, demo.
Some artists who came from Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
were influenced by Prince's work and some came from other parts of the U.S. or world, such as Scottish star Sheena Easton
Sheena Easton
Sheena Easton is a Scottish recording artist. Easton became famous for being the focus of an episode in the British television programme The Big Time, which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract and her eventual signing with EMI Records.Easton rose to fame in the early 1980s with the pop...
, Flint, Michigan
Flint, Michigan
Flint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit. The U.S. Census Bureau reports the 2010 population to be placed at 102,434, making Flint the seventh largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the...
's Ready for the World
Ready for the World
Ready for the World is an American R&B band from Flint, Michigan who scored several moderate pop, soul, and dance hits in the mid to late 1980s...
, Augusta, Georgia
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
's Le Klass and Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
's Cherrelle
Cherrelle
Cheryl Anne Norton, better known by her stage name, Cherrelle , is an American R&B singer who gained fame in the 1980s...
. The music is also known as a form of funk-rock.
Identifying characteristics
While the "Minneapolis sound" was a form of funk, it had some distinguishing characteristics:- SynthesizerSynthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
s generally replaced horns, and were used more as accent than as fill or background. - The rhythm was often faster and less syncopatedSyncopationIn music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...
than traditional funk, and owed much to New Wave pop music. - Guitars, while usually (but not always) played "clean" for rhythmRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
parts, were frequently much louder and more aggressively processed during solos than in most traditional funk. - The "bottom" of the sound was less bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
-heavy than traditional funk; drums and keyboards filled more of the "bottom". - The drumDrumThe drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s were more highly processed than in traditional funk.
List of artists associated with the Minneapolis sound
- 94 East94 East94 East was a Minneapolis-based funk group formed in December 1975 by Pepe Willie, the former husband of Prince's cousin. Willie was one of the people responsible for getting Prince's career up and running, and soon enlisted the talents of a young Prince and his childhood best friend, André Cymone....
- Apollonia 6Apollonia 6Apollonia 6 was a 1980s female singing trio created by Prince as a continuation/succession of a previous group, Vanity 6.-Formation and Purple Rain:...
- BrownmarkBrownmarkMark Brown , better known by the stage name Brown Mark, also styled Brownmark and BrownMark, is an American musician and record producer.-Biography:...
- Ingrid ChavezIngrid ChavezIngrid Julia Chavez is a Mexican-American poet, vocalist, songwriter and photographer.-Personal life:Chavez was born January 21, 1965 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, and raised in Marietta, Georgia...
- CherrelleCherrelleCheryl Anne Norton, better known by her stage name, Cherrelle , is an American R&B singer who gained fame in the 1980s...
- Cinema
- André CymoneAndré CymoneAndré Cymone is an American bassist, songwriter and record producer. Cymone was a bass guitarist for recording artist Prince's touring band, pre-Revolution. Cymone began a solo career in 1981. His song, "The Dance Electric" , reached number ten on the R&B charts...
- Da Krash
- Morris DayMorris DayMorris E. Day is an American musician and composer. He is best known as the lead singer of The Time.-1970s and 1980s:...
- Dez DickersonDez DickersonDez Dickerson is an American guitarist and singer who was a member of Prince's former band, The Revolution.-Biography:...
- The Dug
- Sheila E.Sheila E.Sheila Escovedo , known by her stage name Sheila E., is an American drummer and percussionist, perhaps best known for her work with Prince, George Duke and Ringo Starr.-Early life and Prince period:...
- Sheena EastonSheena EastonSheena Easton is a Scottish recording artist. Easton became famous for being the focus of an episode in the British television programme The Big Time, which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract and her eventual signing with EMI Records.Easton rose to fame in the early 1980s with the pop...
- The FamilyThe Family (band)The Family is a band formed by Prince, and one of the first signed to his record label, Paisley Park Records. The band renamed themselves Fdeluxe in 2009.-History:...
- The GirlsThe Girls (R&B group)The Girls were a less renowned American 1980s Minneapolis sounding R&B trio gathered by Andre Cymone in 1983. All three members were still in their teens at time: Doris Rhodes , Germain Brooks, and Sheila Rankin ....
- Girls Can't Help It
- The Human LeagueThe Human LeagueThe Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. They achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s and have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to the present day.The only constant...
(the CrashCrash (Human League album)Crash is the fifth full-length studio album released by the British synthpop band The Human League in 1986. Unlike the band’s previous and subsequent albums it is R&B influenced...
album) - Janet JacksonJanet JacksonJanet Damita Jo Jackson is an American recording artist and actress. Known for a series of sonically innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows, television and film roles, she has been a prominent figure in popular culture for over 25 years...
(ControlControl (Janet Jackson album)Control is the third studio album by American recording artist Janet Jackson, released on February 6, 1986 by A&M Records. Her collaborations with songwriters and record producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis resulted in an unconventional sound: a fusion of rhythm and blues, funk, disco, rap vocals,...
and Rhythm Nation 1814Rhythm Nation 1814Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 is the fourth studio album by American recording artist Janet Jackson, released on September 19, 1989, by A&M Records. Despite demands from label executives for material similar to her previous album, Control , she insisted on creating a concept album addressing...
albums) - Jimmy Jam and Terry LewisJimmy Jam and Terry LewisJames Samuel "Jimmy Jam" Harris III and Terry Steven Lewis are an American R&B and pop-music songwriting and record production team...
- Jesse JohnsonJesse Johnson (musician)Jesse Woods Johnson is a musician best known as the guitarist in the original lineup of The Time....
and Jesse Johnson's Revue - Le Klass
- Lipps IncLipps IncLipps Inc. was a studio band that achieved two significant hits, "Funkytown", in 1980 and "Designer Music", in 1981.The group was formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota by Steven Greenberg, who wrote and produced all of the group's music, and who also played several musical instruments...
- MazaratiMazaratiMazarati was an American R&B band formed in the mid-1980s by former Prince and The Revolution bassist Brown Mark. Originally hailing from Minneapolis, they are now defunct as a group. The band's sole hit was a song called "100 MPH", which was written and co-produced by Prince.-Debut at Paisley...
- Alexander O'NealAlexander O'NealAlexander O'Neal is an American R&B singer. He is best-known for the songs "If You Were Here Tonight" and "Fake", and the duets with Cherrelle, "Saturday Love" and "Never Knew Love Like This".-Biography:...
- PrincePrince (musician)Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
- St PaulPaul PetersonPaul Peterson, also known as St. Paul, is a musician best known for his memberships in the bands The Family and The Time and the single "Intimacy."...
- Brian Q and the Q-Berts
- Ready for the WorldReady for the WorldReady for the World is an American R&B band from Flint, Michigan who scored several moderate pop, soul, and dance hits in the mid to late 1980s...
- The RevolutionThe Revolution (band)The Revolution was an American rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1979 by Prince. Although widely associated with rock music, the band's sound incorporated heavy metal, pop, funk, R&B and hard rock elements. Before their official break-up, The Revolution had released one studio album,...
- Ta Mara and the Seen
- The TimeThe Time (band)The Time is a funk and dance-pop ensemble formed in 1981. They are close Prince associates and arguably the most successful artists who have worked with him.-Prince, Formation and Success:...
- Vanity 6Vanity 6Vanity 6 was a female vocal trio assembled by Prince in the early 1980s.They released one studio album, which blended the sounds of pop, New Wave, dance music, R&B, and funk.-Formation:...
- Wendy & LisaWendy & LisaWendy & Lisa are a music duo consisting of Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman. They began working with Prince in the early 1980s and were part of his band The Revolution, before branching out on their own and releasing their debut album in 1987...
- Brittian Scott