Morris Day Wishes He Had Prince’s Feedback on Final Solo LP
The Time vocalist Morris Day said he’d struggled to complete his new solo album without Prince.
He believes his fifth work — Last Call, due Nov. 11 — is the last musical project of his career, unless he reunites with the Time. The funk and soul band, also known as the Original 7ven, featured anonymous but widely acknowledged songwriting and studio work by Prince between 1981 and 1990, and continued to operate in various lineups without him from 1995 onward.
“My fondest memories are from when we were kids,” Day told Billboard of his late friend in a recent interview. “Prince wasn’t a fake. He was an avant-garde, introverted person. But once you got past that surface, he was a really fun and funny dude to be around.”
He continued: “We had a lot of good times as we jammed nonstop. Sometimes I’d be in the grocery store on what I thought would be a night off. And he’d run into me there, saying he wanted to go in and cut a record. He loved music so much. I’ve never met anybody who cared about the craft as much as he did. Then there are the early days of rehearsing with Time and the camaraderie that developed; all the little janky clubs and hole-in-the-wall joints that we had to play to make it.”
Asked what Prince would make of Last Call, Day replied: “I think he’d be happy with some of the songs, and proud to know that I’m still in the game. That’s the hardest part, you know. Him not being around, and wondering what he, as mega-talented musician and songwriter, would think about projects I’m working on.”
Despite it being his last solo record, he insisted it wasn’t the end of his career. “By no stretch am I retiring,” he emphasized. “If the fellas – meaning the original [Time] members – want to get back together… there’s always something there. But the solo thing? I’m chillin’ with that. It’s time to do other things.”