“We weren’t getting paid that much, so our only solace was whupping his ass on stage”: Jellybean Johnson, drummer with Prince associates The Time, has died, aged 69

Jellybean Johnson.

Musicians and friends have been paying tribute to Garry ‘Jellybean’ Johnson, drummer with Prince’s frenemy band The Time, after he died on 21 November at the age of 69.

Along with Jimmy Jam, Monte Moir (both keyboards), Terry Lewis (bass), David Eiland (sax) and Alexander O’Neal (vocals), Johnson was a member of Flyte Time, the Minneapolis funk/R&B band that Prince would end up using as the basis for The Time, who he put together in 1981. For this iteration of the band, Morris Day replaced O’Neal and the line-up was bolstered by Jesse Johnson (guitar) and Jerome Benton, who became Day’s comic foil and supposed valet.