His Day in thesun
Prince’s lifelong pal looks back on ‘Purple Rain’ and his final encounter with the pop legend
BACKIN January, Morris Day got a surprise call from Paisley Park: Prince wanted his childhood friend, musical compadre and on-screen rival to come to Minneapolis with his band, the Time, and play a private show.
“It was the first time in a while that we’d had a chance to sit down and chat,” Day tells The Post. “It had been a few years since I’d seen him. I questioned why he was calling me up at the time. In hindsight, it’s almost like he felt something or knew something was up.”
Barely three months later, Prince was dead. For Day — performing Aug. 12 with the Time at the Ford Ampitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk, on a bill that includes Kool & the Gang — that Paisley Park encounter was the final chapter in a lifelong relationship that helped spawn some of the most beloved and deliriously funky moments in pop-music history.
Day, now 58, had played with Prince since their time in the Minneapolis band Grand Central in the ’70s. When Prince made it as a solo star, he took his buddy with him. Day co-wrote Morris Day and Prince collaborated on many projects, including “Purple Rain,” although the two were on the outs for years. The pair eventually reconciled. “Partyup” for the 1980 album “Dirty Mind,” and Prince set up the Time, with Day as lead singer, as a way to pursue funk music on the side. Their partnership peaked with the 1984 movie “Purple Rain.” While Prince burned up the screen with his live performances, his portrayal of the brooding lead character, The Kid, in the non-music scenes seemed wooden. Day stepped in, pretty much playing himself — flamboyant, sexy, packing a wardrobe that would make Huggy Bear envious, his vanity assisted by his mirror-carrying sidekick, Jerome Benton. In short, the movie’s enduring appeal is due almost as much to Day as it is to Prince himself. “I’ve heard that a few times,” Day says carefully, trying to avoid overshadow- ing his old friend. “He comes across as this serious, dark guy [in the movie]. But the Prince I knew was quite the comedian. We talked s--t and laughed all the time.”
The Time went on to have some minor hits with “Jungle Love” and “The Bird” (both featured in “Purple Rain”) before cracking the Top 10 of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in 1990 with “Jerk Out,” a song co-written by Prince.
But there were tensions, too. The Time’s drummer Jellybean Johnson recalls Prince and Day brawling on the “Purple Rain” set. Years later, Prince prohibited Day from using the name the Time on recorded work.
The Paisley Park show included Day and Prince enjoying one last dance. “I heard he was having a good time when we were playing,” Day says now. “There will always be a void. But life goes on. If it were me, I would want people to get on with it. I’m pretty sure he would want the same.”