Only The Family

When the Time broke up in 1984, its ex-members had no problem keeping busy. Morris Day pursued a solo career, while Jesse Johnson formed Jesse Johnson’s Revue and produced albums for singer Ta Mara and her band the Seen. And three other Time graduates — singer/keyboardist St. Paul Peterson, drummer Jellybean Johnson, and percussionist Jerome Benton — assembled a short-lived band called the Family (which shouldn’t be confused with a gospel act of the same name). When they hired lead singer Susannah Melvoin (the daughter of jazz pianist Mike Melvoin and the twin sister of Wendy Melvoin of Revolution and Wendy & Lisa fame) and saxophonist Eric Leeds in 1984, the Family’s five-person lineup was in place. The band quickly signed with Prince’s Paisley Park label, and its self-titled debut album came out the following year. Although the Family had an intriguing single in “The Screams of Passion,” its very Minneapolis-sounding album wasn’t the major hit that the Time’s three albums had been. In 1985, the Family broke up without ever recording a second album. ~ Alex Henderson