Jesse Johnson


My Co-worker is a serious Prince fan. So we've talked about him and other Minneapolis artist at great lengths. Jesse has been so underrated and one of my favorites. So many things we can attribute for Prince being Prince, his influences, his passion for the music, perfectionism, work ethics, and then there are the super talented musicians he surrounded himself with and allowed to push him. Jesse was one of those musicians. Those albums he put out in the 80s was classic stuff. Legend has it that in their competitive and creative rivalry, Prince borrowed a few things from Jesse and made it his own. In an interview, I heard Jesse say himself that he created a song called, "If I were your Boyfriend." Prince took it and changed it around and renamed to a different gender that became a classic. Also, Prince loved the name of Jesse's Album, "Shockedelica" and took the name and created a song. Told Jesse that the song would be more popular because of who he is. The most intriguing story for me though is Jesse being able to hook up with the legendary Sly Stone. That was something that Prince wanted to make happen. The best he could do was hook up with Larry Graham years later.

It was good to hear and see Jesse play and perform with D'angelo on Black Messiah. I'm sure D used him like a sponge and soaked up a lot of music game.
 
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