Morris Hayes, Prince / New Power Generation (Part 1)

We catch up with Morris Hayes to talk about his incredible career to date, including not only his amazing time with Prince, but his diverse production career and great insights on touring and playing. In this first part we cover Morris’ development as musician, his entry into the orbit of Prince and his approach to becoming an effective musical director and collaborator for the New Power Generation. To listen / watch: * Audio-only: click on the play button in the audio player above, or: * Video: watch the embedded video below or check it and previous episodes out on our YouTube Channel Discussion topics covered during the show (links will open in new tab):   It’s been a busy year: Morris’ projects during 2023 Growing up in Jefferson, Arkansas USA ‘Faking’ one’s way into a first band The Moog Satellite An early gig with (Gubernatorial candidate) Bill Clinton The Bizness band BrownMark’s YouTube channel Jerome Benton Meeting The Time George Clinton scene in Graffiti Bridge Working as a production assistant at Paisley Park Mazarati – 100 MPH Forming and playing with G Sharp & The Edge: Prince’s house band at Glam Slam Morris catching Prince’s attention with his synth tech Morris’ first (and very short) face-to-face meeting with Prince First conversations with Prince Morris in Brownmark’s Bang Bang Playing at Glam Slam with Prince in the audience Touring with Carmen Electra as support on Prince’s Diamonds and Pearls Tour Learning from Prince on structuring a great performance On joining New Power Generation Wood-shedding Prince’s songs on short notice Keyboards used in NPG and programming a Roland D50 Being inspired by Eric Persing and Spectrasonics, Marcus Ryle, Michael Boddicker, Bo Tomlyn Developing a collaborative relationship with Prince as musical director Rehearsal process with Prince and NPG Key links: Buy some keyboard related merchandise Drop us a line via the website, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Twitter,