MINNEAPOLIS — Dig if you will this confusing picture: Morris Day is headlining the New Year's Eve festivities at Paisley Park even though the Prince Estate, which runs the Chanhassen studio-turned-museum, won't allow Day to use the moniker that made him famous — the Time.
What?
"I'm perfectly fine being Morris Day," he said last week. "Everybody knows who I am. It doesn't really matter to me. I think the fans know the deal by now."
Here's the deal: Apparently, there was pushback earlier this year over him using "Morris Day & the Time."
The Time, you'll recall, was a Minneapolis band that Prince put together and produced in 1981 with Day as lead singer. The group had numerous R&B hits, appeared in the movie "Purple Rain" and broke up in 1985. After a limited solo run and an aborted acting career, Day began performing as Morris Day & the Time in 1995.
Day says Prince let him use the moniker except when the original members of the group reunited for a 2011 album without Prince's involvement. So, they went by the Original 7ven.
"I can't be mad at the estate," said Day. "I've been dealing with all lawyers. Now I can sit down with some people who actually have skin in the game instead of lawyers who go by the book. I'm all ears."
So is the estate. Sharon Nelson, one of the heirs, is presenting Saturday's concert. Londell McMillan, who represents Sharon and 50% of the estate, said: "We're respectful of Morris Day & the Time. I look forward to this being an issue of the past."
From his home in Houston (he also has a place in Las Vegas), the 66-year-old entertainer talked about the Soul Train Legend award he received this fall, a possible line of wristwatches and his new — and final — solo album, "Last Call," featuring Snoop Dogg and ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons.
On Soul Train Legend Award
"Like I always said, I've never been in it for [awards] but it's nice to get acknowledgment like that." He tried to put together the Original 7ven for the Soul Train awards but "not everybody wants to do it."
On his new album
Some songs date back 20 years but it was a "feverish process" for three months this year, Day said, after Bungalo Records, which signed him, plugged into the Universal Music Group machine.
"We debuted No. 1 on iTunes R&B chart. [That] meant a lot. The response has been very overwhelming. Radio is not what it used to be. It's all about streaming these days."
On working with Billy Gibbons
Day's manager had a chance encounter with Gibbons at the Beverly Hills Hotel. When he heard that Courtney Benson represented the Time frontman, "Billy jumps up and does the chili sauce across the floor at the Polo Lounge," Day reported.
The two musicians got together "as unlikely as it sounded," Day said. "He was pounding out the beat on the drum machine."
On updating his character
With tunes like "Used to Be a Playa" and "Grown Man" on the new album, Day seems to be maturing beyond the lothario of the Time heyday. Well, sorta.
"There's truth to change your way of thinking and behaving once you get a little age behind you," he said. "It's fast forward. Heh-heh. It's the same guy."
On explaining his player character to his kids
"My 15-year-old just watched 'Purple Rain' and got a real kick out of it. "Dad, you're a real player, huh?" Ha-ha-ha-ha. My friends will say to my kids: 'Do you realize who your dad is?'
"I don't know that I explain that part. I let them come to their own conclusion," said the father of six, ages 15 to 47.
On his final album
"If it takes me another 20 years to get around to the next one, then I'm going to call this 'The Last Call,' " said Day, whose previous album was 2004's "It's About Time."
On other endeavors
"We're working on our brand. Watches, colognes. Whatever makes sense for Morris Day to do. It's still fun to be onstage. At this juncture in life to have that be the only thing, it's probably not the thing to rely on. People come to me with ideas all the time. A shoe line is a possibility. Nice silk pajamas."
On turning down 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'
"Benny Medina [music executive] had come to me with an idea and he wanted me to do the pilot. Maybe it was my bad, but I wasn't taking Benny serious as a television producer, per se. I lightly passed on it and he took it to Will Smith from there.
"No regrets. We all have our paths and that one was not mine."
On future acting roles
"I decided a long time ago that I'm not an actor. What that was in 'Purple Rain,' I don't know what that was. I was never turned on by that industry. I decided I liked music as my daily profession."
On appearing in the 2001 movie 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back'
"[Director] Kevin Smith wrote us into that film before he talked to us about being in that film. We were down for it," Day said. "He was a big-time fan." Plus, the movie introduced Day to a younger generation.
On royalties from the Time recordings
Although Prince (aka Jamie Starr on Time recordings) claimed most of the songwriting credits, Day receives artist royalties. Enough to live on?
"Not my lifestyle," said the singer, who performs about 50 gigs a year. "I could get me an apartment on the North Side."
On performing at Paisley
"The last two times at Paisley were emotional," said Day, who performed there at Celebration in 2017 and in early 2016 before Prince died. "It wasn't the same. It's almost like the soul has been lifted out of there. It was like an empty house even though everything was still there. That part was tough.
"Prior to that, it was the last time I saw him. He was a very moody guy. He was at that sunshine end of his moodiness. It was very upbeat. He told me he loved me. I knew we loved each other like brothers. For a moment, it was a really quick pause. What was that? I realized two months later what that was. Maybe he knew something."
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