The Time Musician Who Worked With Prince Dies Suddenly: Jellybean Johnson Was 69

Dummer Garry George “Jellybean” Johnson, best known for being a founding member of the Prince-affiliated bands The Time and The Family, has died. He was 69.

He died suddenly on Friday night, according to reports. His bandmate from The Family, Susannah Melvoin, announced his death on Instagram yesterday.

“I’m absolutely heartbroken! My beautiful brother Jellybean Johnson has passed. This band was and is the kind of Family that believed we all rightfully belonged together in love, music and kindness,” she wrote.

Johnson was integral to the creation of the ‘Minneapolis Sound,’ a genre blend of funk, synth-pop, and rock that was eventually popularized by Prince.

As the drummer for Prince’s band The Time, he helped create some of the band’s best-known songs, while simultaneously producing hits for some of the biggest names in music like New Edition and Janet Jackson—including her #1 hit “Black Cat.”

On the big screen, he also appeared in Prince’s iconic films Purple Rain and Graffiti Bridge. Later in life, he became a prolific guitarist with the Prince-formed group The Family.

“He went from being behind the drums to playing guitar in this band because he was a guitar player first and drummer second. oxygen for him was the inhale and exhale of playing his guitar,” Melvoin wrote.

The singer, identifying herself as Johnson’s “lil sis,” continued by saying he “was the master of loving you like no brother could,” and wrote that she was “here for” his wife Marty, who was his “constant love and light.”

“My big brother, who watched over me and anyone who he loved!,” she wrote. “I can barely get this out… his children and family members need our support and love. please, send it their way. This is a huge loss… may you rest in all that is light and graceful.”

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