In this revealing conversation, keyboardist, producer, and longtime Prince & The New Power Generation member Morris Hayes shares his remarkable journey from humble beginnings to the world stage.

Starting out by taking any job he could at Paisley Park just to be around the music, Morris explains how persistence, curiosity, and belief led to one of the most coveted positions in music — playing alongside Prince.

He opens up about the surreal moment he joined the band and secretly feared he had “fooled” everyone, the pressure of performing with elite musicians, and how he developed his own voice without formal training.

Morris also reflects on:

1. Working closely with Prince during the 3121 era in Las Vegas
2. The importance of real musicianship in a digital age
3. His evolution as a keyboardist, producer, and artist
4. Why mindset and self-belief are everything in music and life

This is an inspiring, behind-the-scenes look at one of Prince’s key collaborators — and a must-listen for musicians, creators, and fans of funk, R&B, and music history.

🎧 ABOUT THE SHOW

Musicians Reveal with Joe Kelley features legendary and emerging artists from the worlds of funk, R&B, soul, and beyond — including many who have worked closely with Prince.

On air since 1982 and spanning over four decades, the show delivers in-depth conversations, untold stories, and firsthand insights from the musicians who shaped the sound of generations.

And this is Lollipop Monday here on 88.5 WVOF in Fairfield, Connecticut.

The Upper Room with Joe Kelly.

We're having Lollipop and Monty Moyer stopping by a little later on in the program.

But right now this gentleman, very talented keyboardist, songwriter and producer.

We welcome and want to thank him for taking time out of his busy schedule.

Mr. Morris Hayes.

Hey, Morris, how you doing?

I'm doing great, Joe.

How are you?

I'm doing pretty good and I noticed we talked a little bit before you got a little mini studio.

I know you're always working on your own music.

How's things recording on the road?

Well, you know, we're just now at the point of getting it all set up and it took a little bit of a spill moving down there.

So hopefully when we get everything plugged up, everything will work properly.

But it's a pretty cool little portable type of scenario and, you know, hopefully we can keep the workflow going.

Now you still making home in Minneapolis for yourself, right?

Yeah, yes.

Not there very much, but that's still home.

Now, you know, Lollipop today is our featured guest and she's got a brand new album, self titled cd.

How far back do you go with Lollipop and her days in Minneapolis?

Oh, gosh, man, it's gotta be like early to mid-90s when she was just a kid, I mean really.

But she, you know, exhibited a real knack for the music and really wanted to.

She had a keen interest in and music and I remember her coming to my studio at the time with my production partner, Jack Robinson, who passed away a couple years ago.

I think she was connected with Jack and she would come by the studio and really just watch us work and inquire about this and that and the other thing.

So she just exhibited a great interest in music and production and the whole song process.

She even told me she was sending out packages for you with all your production stuff.

Yeah, she used to, you know, basically, like I said, she worked in there with us and just kind of assisting us, which is, I still think it's one of the better ways to get involved in music.

I mean, a lot of times people don't realize when you start out at a level like that, sometimes you get a very good insight.

Of course, a lot of people of note that I've Come across basically started that way.

I remember I was talking to Chaka Khan's brother and Puffy P. Diddy, or Diddy as it is, I guess now at that point was basically a gopher for them.

And now he's a record mogul.

I mean he started out getting sandwiches and whatever he could do to be in the studio situation.

And that's basically the way I got to working with Prince.

I would take any odd job at Paisley Park.

I could basically get driving a van or whatever because I wanted to be around the music.

I wanted to be around that environment and learn from that situation.

So a lot of times when you start out in that capacity, it really gives you a ground level view of how things operate and how all of that stuff comes about.

I know Lollipop.

She.

She has always spoken highly of you and you know, she put us together and we're gonna listen to something from Lollipop's self titled debut right now.

It's available at MySpace.com lollipop this is a track which actually references Sheila E. In one of the lyrics.

It's called Glamorous Life and we'll listen to this right now.

Glamorous from Lollipop.

Morris Hayes is our special guest and he's worked together with Lollipop before out in Minneapolis.

Now you.

You got your start out in Arkansas and tell us about your initial introduction into music.

And was the Keys your first instrument?

Yeah, pretty much my first and my main instrument really.

I mean I play a little bit of drums and mess with other little instrumentation and those type of things.

But keyboards has always been my main instrument.

I try to focus on what I can do pretty well and.

And try to stick with that.

So that's kind of been my main focus.

But it's a funny thing, man.

I was just talking to somebody the other day and I'm reminded about when I was in school because I'm kind of a late bloomer with the whole music thing.

It just was something that I kind of got into later.

I played when I was younger just a little bit, but I was very pretty bad and.

And I played at church and the whole point at Church is not so much that you're fantastic and all that.

It's just your willingness to participate.

And that's what church is all about, is service.

So you just go in and do the best you can.

And everybody's like, oh, that's good, baby, that's good.

And that's cool.

So everybody in the little, small Southern church, they thought that was cool and everything, but, you know, you just work and do the best you can.

So it wasn't until I got into college and, like, at that time when I started to really kind of bloom musically.

And it's a funny thing, I actually had a scholarship for art.

I was mostly an artist at that point.

I liked to paint and draw, and so I got a scholarship for that.

And just fate would have it, the art and music building were one and the same.

And so I used to have to walk past all these music rooms every day.

And I just started looking into each one of these little cubicles.

And there was always something cool, like there'd be a cat in there with a saxophone, and it would be a vocalist and a piano, and I just had to walk about it every day.

And I'd see all of these different things going on.

I was like, wow, that's really cool.

And I just started getting more and more interested in the musical side of things and then started to enhance on my own playing the little bit that I did know, little pluck this and that and that.

And so it was just the kind of thing to where I just really got intrigued by what I would see walking by every day.

And that was very cool.

And so slowly I just started to really morph into more the musical side and just really start investigating what about that that I really was drawn to, and then start moving towards that.

And you could see some of Morris's great artistic work, which you hope to find more time to do, I guess.

It's on MySpace.com morrishayes right?

You got some pics up there?

Yeah, I got some photos and stuff.

I'm kind of new to the whole MySpace thing.

It's truly a fascinating thing and kind of frightening on one side because it's incredibly massive in terms of the scope of this thing.

And it's an interesting thing.

Just as an experiment, one day when I was a little bored, I was looking at someone else's site and I just clicked on just some random person and I said, I'm going to see how many clicks would it take to get back to me or to get back to somebody else that I knew Like I have some friends like Mint Condition and some other cats who I like.

And I just said, I want to see how.

Actually that's what the experiment was at first, to see how quick I could get back to men condition.

And I went through, I mean, a complete stranger from somewhere.

I don't even remember.

It's just something weird.

That's like Kansas or something.

And about, oh, I guess about maybe 15 clicks, 20 clicks.

Just by picking random people.

I came across men conditioned in somebody's friend list.

And I mean it went from Germany to somewhere else and it ended up coming back to them.

And that was crazy to me.

I was like, it really is a community like nothing I've ever seen.

And it's a crazy thing.

And there are people on there that have literally millions of views and hits and it's just crazy.

It's a whole nother thing.

It's really, it's fascinating.

We just hope people still come out to the gigs.

I know you like to go see other bands and me too, from when I was a kid, you know, we just hope they turn the computer off a little bit and come out to the shows.

Well, you know what, man?

You know, that's the beautiful thing about real music and real musicians.

At the end of the day, I think it still comes down to who can go out and who can perform and who can really do what it is.

I mean nowadays, man, everything is so smoke and mirrors and everybody.

If you've got a pretty face and a pretty good body and this, that and the other and you can get a lot of places.

But at the end of the day, when you turn off all the pro tools and the auto tune and all this other stuff, when you get somebody who can really put it down, that's what really matters and that's what's really cool.

And so I think my space and all this stuff has a space, but it's not the end all.

And so that's what still makes radio cool, that's what still makes live music cool.

Because there's still another avenue that people can really get to this music.

And what I've also found from the Internet and it can be the great deceiver because you don't really know at the end of the day if who you're talking to is who they really are.

That's the thing.

And so I had a guy that tell me on there, hey, it's Prince.

And I'm like.

And I'm knowing, I talk to Prince, I know it's not him, but that's what he's putting himself off as.

And clearly that's not the case.

And so, you know, there's a lot of that sort of thing.

And so you just have to just take it with a grain of salt.

I mean, just understand that it is what it is and it can be a great tool.

And then on the other hand, you know, you get somebody in a back room somewhere in Wisconsin or something, and I could say that they're our next door neighbors, and then you don't know what you have, you know what I'm saying?

So I think at the end of the day, if you can go and see a real band, you know, when you walk out, that he liked it or he didn't, but it's real, you know.

And so that's the thing for me.

And I always love to go see a good group, good band.

I always like to be inspired.

So I like to hear good music and I like to hear people who really have respect for the music and respect for their own, their art.

And then when you do that, then that usually turns out something good.

Morris Hayes, he's a cool guy and a talented guy.

He's currently out in Las Vegas once again with Prince and the mpg.

We're gonna get into something with.

When you were playing with Michael.

Michael Bland and Sonny Thompson and Barbarella, the Good Life.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

That's a.

You know, the stuff you did there.

A lot of people, I'm sure, you know, have fond memories of that particular incarnation of the mpg.

Yeah, it was a lot of fun.

You guys still jam once in a while on the Twin Cities, right?

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

As a matter of fact, I've done some recent sessions with Sonny and Mike.

And so they're still just extraordinary players and just extraordinary people.

And I mean, I love those guys.

Those are guys, when I came in that were there and they're, you know, Barbarella and Sonny and Mike and Sonny.

See, I had to do that because it's an inside joke.

One of our tour bus drivers, for some odd reason thought Sonny was two people and would always name us.

He's like, oh, there's my guys.

There's Morris and Tommy and Sonny and Michael and Sonny.

And he would always name Sonny twice.

I'm like, why does he do that?

But it's such a funny thing.

Sonny was so good, he didn't name him twice.

So we're Going to get into this.

This is Good Life from the MPG recorded out in Minneapolis and various places.

And we'll come back and speak more with Morris Hayes from the new power generation going back in time in, in the 90s.

And our special guest and guy played keyboards on that particular track, Mr. Morris Hayes, he's our special guest.

He's back.

Has been for the last year or so with Prince and.

And you have been one of the longtime band members.

I mean I don't, I don't know if there's you know, particular record for years, but you're right up there, right?

Going that long with Prince.

Yeah, I guess definitely.

He's had a few people that you know over the years been off and on and been around for a while and I'm fortunate to be one of them.

So, you know, I'm pleased about it.

And you know, Prince, a good cat and a good cat to work with and so it's cool.

You know, I enjoy the work so it's a blessing, man.

It's really cool.

Now what's it like when you, I mean started out going like you said, wanted to take any job to be around the scene at Paisley park and then you became a member of his band and now you're going back as a season pro producer, world traveled musician and correct me if I'm wrong, but you're the only keyboardist in the band right now, right?

Yeah, that's true.

What's the difference as far as you know, your responsibilities as the band or are you the musical director for the band?

Well, Prince pretty much directs the music.

I mean this is a very small unit.

I mean there's four of us counting him that's playing any horns sound coming from a very few amount of people.

So Prince has always been dynamic when it comes to orchestration.

It's about not so many as how many do you know.

There probably twice as many people or better that were in the band when he did musicology.

It's just, you know, when you have you kind of dole out the parts based on the amount of people that you have in the unit.

And so he's just very good for orchestration.

You know, he knows what will work and he tries things and you know, he just knows how to fit it in.

And so that's what the beauty is to how he does and you know, and me what I try to do is I try to keep up with the technology.

I use a couple keyboards now that are very advanced in terms of capabilities as to what they can do.

There are not a lot of people who use them.

And so I'm almost like a. I hate to be like a guinea pig, but it is a lot of work to kind of squeeze in in order to get the sound like you want with a minimal amount of hardware.

So we're working with units like that that have that kind of capability.

And he allows me to use that technology.

And so that's a big thing in terms of how I can get things organized and get things done.

And we play everything.

So there's no recordings and all that kind of stuff

and no horn section on this gig?

Well, at the moment there isn't.

I'm sure that at some point there probably will be, because I know that he likes that sort of thing.

And this would be a great, you know, type of venue for that sort of thing, because it opens the set up a lot more.

When you have horn sections, when you have, you know, people like Maceo and Greg and folks like that, it just opens up everything a lot more because there's just more latitude that you can take in terms of the type of songs and variety of songs that you can use.

And so I certainly hope that at some point that he'll, you know, that he incorporates it.

I think that he will now.

I'm looking forward to it.

But either way, you know, my thing is we just have to be prepared to do whatever.

The only two of us, then the two got to handle it.

So just find a way to make it work.

But of course, that always opens up a cool scenario.

When you have other players like Maceo, then that just gives you another whole direction to take.

I'm sure a lot of our listeners know already, but Prince and the MPG setting up shop, running the.

That's correct, yeah.

So you're looking forward to jamming with some of those people as well, I'm sure.

Yes.

I mean, if you look at the website, there's a.

You know, a lot of fine artists that's included in that, of course, that he's worked with and, you know, over the years, you know, with Kip and Maceo and Chaka and the Roots and Gallopoli.

Just a lot of people like that that are common.

They're real fantastic musicians in their own right, and that certainly.

That are real musicians that we really love.

And so it only stands a reason we can get them in there and the Erykah Badu's of life and all of those folks and then come and really have that kind of musical showcase.

And that's what's so cool about that.

And he's got like Frank McCombs and just a lot of people like that.

That's just real talented and class acts.

And so that's another thing we're looking forward to and growing that night to where people also can come and get a good dose of other artists that.

That we look at like us in terms of attention to musical detail and the quality that they bring.

Patti LaBelle, all of that.

I mean, these are heavy hitters in their own right.

And so we're real thrilled about that.

And then Friday and Saturday nights, Prince and the mpg, which will be the big showcase for you guys.

Any difference?

It is different in that, you know, I've learned not to personally like stress.

Of course.

When I first got in the band, I felt that I'd played some great trick on everybody.

I often tell, when Prince asked me about getting in the band and everything, I often tell people about the walk I had to my car after that meeting.

Halfway to the car, I was like, you know, this is great, this is great.

Oh my gosh, this is great.

And then the other half was like, oh my gosh, now I'm in trouble because I've fooled them.

And now they're gonna know that I, you know, that I suck.

And then I'm gonna be at the laughingstock.

So it was a half, a 50, 50 trip to the car.

And then, oh gosh, now they're gonna know I've tricked these good people.

And so.

But, you know, God is good, man.

And whereas I had a nervous stomach a lot of times.

And Sonny was so awesome to the point that I remember scratching my head, leaving one day after he did something that I considered pretty amazing.

Him and Michael Bland have perfect pitch.

And so we were playing this really complex piece.

I think it was little segue we call intermission.

And it's just a flurry of music that goes by in a short amount of time.

And Sonny was playing like he does, which is really crazy, and he's playing this.

But one of the horn players, one of the trumpet players just hit a note.

And this is like a rehearsal.

And they hit a note that wasn't right.

And once we stopped, Sonny tells him, hey, that note you hit that should have been an A flat instead of like an A.

And he's like, yeah, yeah, I know.

And now we had two trumpet players.

So first of all, the fact that he knew which note it was, and it's complicated as his part was, he not only knew what note he should have hit and what note he did hit, but he knew who did it.

And so I was sitting there thinking, like, I'm in a world of trouble here.

I don't have any business here.

I'm, like, going, oh, my gosh, I don't.

You know, I'm in trouble because, I mean, this is the bass player that's in this, you know, And Michael Bland can sit there and say, yeah, you're right.

You know, because they both can hear.

They can hear grass grow.

So it was really quite intimidating that this was the.

You know, this is what the epitome of the big boys and big leagues were to me.

And I just felt like, wow, you know, I don't read music, and I don't have that kind of.

But, you know, everybody has a function and have a place.

And that's.

If nothing else, Joe, what I would like people to understand that listen to your show and that are out there trying to work their way into this.

All you have to really realize is, and I'm a living witness and an example that if I can do it, anybody can do it.

But you have to decide in your own mind, because perception is reality.

And if you say that you can't do it, and if you say that it's impossible, then it is, because now that's what you're telling yourself, and that's a negative energy.

And when you don't understand that your mouth is an incredible tool that can be either for your advancement or for your detriment.

Your tongue is an incredible thing, and if you don't wield it in the right way, then, you know, you're digging yourself a real deep hole.

And so I had to get to a place where I had to start telling myself that there's no such thing as impossible.

You just have to, you know, determine how hard you want to work to make it happen.

And you don't figure.

You don't, you know, figure out just how to win.

You figure out how to win and how to just keep moving forward.

And that was one of the things I had to learn early on.

And then when you kind of get to that place, then you start looking at things in a different light and you stop saying, well, you know, everything's impossible.

And I can't do this.

And when you get a setback and that sort of thing, it's just about, you know, deciding at some point that failure is not an option.

And so, you know, I'm going to do everything in my power not to do that.

Not to fall by the wayside and not to say that you won't, you know, come up against stumbling blocks.

But what you do is you start to condition yourself to move forward.

And that's my thing that certainly I would like to leave with everybody, is that if you say you can do it, then you can.

It's just as simple as that.

Well said and positive words from talented brother Morris Hayes.

Yeah, I think a lot of musicians out there, people in general are going to dig that.

Well, I hope so, man, because that's the honest to God truth.

And, you know, when I was sitting there with all those guys, you know, just really going through my thing and like, going like, oh, my gosh.

And then you look at the fact that I was there for so long.

And of course, everybody knows that, knows Prince, knows he's had the finest musicians that are out there.

Lisa Coleman and Matt Fink and Tommy and Renato.

These are all incredible, incredible keyboard players that I have a great deal of respect for and admiration.

And for me to even be considered amongst those folks, I mean, it's an honor and it's a blessing.

And I don't have any of that musical training.

I just have my ear.

I know what I like and I know what I hear.

And so that's just to let people know that.

Man, when everybody wants to start saying that you only can be from Berkeley or you can only be from these other places, and there's nothing wrong with music education.

And I wish that I could have gone to a Berkeley or something like that and done something like that.

But at the same time, everybody has their thing.

And that's just to say that you are the coal and steel behind your operation.

Meaning that you have to be the power that goes behind it and you have to be the positive force in it.

I know it works.

And people can say whatever.

They can say it's corny or hokey or whatever.

I know it works.

Like I say, I'm living proof of it.

Well, we should talk briefly about.

Before we let you go and play a few tracks you've been involved with and about your production work.

I mean, Kip Blackshire, great friend of yours and a great friend of our show.

You've worked with him, the New Congress and other people Tell us about your production work and, you know, hopefully one day, a solo record from you.

Well, you know, I'm actually as funny as you should say.

I'm actually starting to work on a solo project, actually.

I'm one of.

I've been thinking about a few different projects because there's a lot of things that's close to my heart musically.

I like a lot of different types of music.

I played with Maceo.

And I liked that.

And we also dug that little slow jam section.

Spotlight on the keyboards you did on the tour.

That was nice.

That was a lot of fun.

You know, Mace would let me do a thing, and that was cool.

You know, it just allowed me to be on the spot because it's not something that I really have done a lot.

They just kind of.

Mace kind of thrust me in the position and just say, okay, you got a spot.

Just go for it.

And you do what you do.

And so it was an interesting thing, you know, to have to, you know, just come up with something for, you know, a few 10, 15 minutes or whatever it was in certain spots and just make something.

And that was cool.

But that was a very good confidence builder for me.

You know, Maceo just, you know, had a lot of confidence in me, and that just really was cool as well.

And I like a lot of groups like, of course, like Us and Massive Attack and just different textures and things.

So I don't feel like this because, you know, well, I like a lot of different things.

I don't feel like I should be limited to just one thing.

So I'm going to look at doing a lot of different type of sounds when I start thinking about a solo project and things like that.

So I'm looking forward to it.

I got to thank you, Morris.

You've been really cool with us.

And we're going to come out and see you out in Vegas.

3121.com for Prince and the MPG and Morris Hayes.

And we should go out with.

I understood you did Fury last night for the press preview, right?

Yeah, we did.

That was cool.

Yeah.

And we'll go with something, Maceo, a little flavor to it.

We get on the boat and also play something live from Paisley park from Kip Blackshire.

Morris Hayes on this one.

Don't leave.

You remember that night, right?

Oh, yeah, of course.

Yeah.

So say hi to Prince and everybody in the band, and we'll see you out in Vegas.

And thanks for coming by and saying some nice words about your Friend Lollipop.

Lollipop.Electrollipop.com.

absolutely.

The best to them and their efforts.

I'm really proud of her and proud of the group and everything and all the people that, you know, Matt and Monty and the folks that worked on that record.

So.

So I'm very pleased and proud that that's coming out.

Man, you got keyboard heaven out there in Minneapolis.

So many great players.

Oh, man, it is very cool.

It's just an amazing town for music.

And with the Petersons and Matt and Tommy and all those guys that are there, it's really incredible.

Really.

All right, thanks, Morris.

It's called Fury.