Chance Howard—keyboardist and vocalist with Morris Day & The Time and collaborator within Prince’s musical world—joins Musicians Reveal with Joe Kelley to share his journey into the Minneapolis sound.

In this interview, Chance tells the incredible story of how a single trip to Minneapolis—and one unforgettable night—led to meeting Jellybean Johnson, connecting with key members of Prince’s circle, and ultimately changing the course of his life .

He also discusses:

• Working with The Time and the New Power Generation
• His production work with Alexander O’Neal
• Life inside the Minneapolis music scene
• Touring, recording, and building his own sound

From early influences to major stages, this episode captures the journey of a musician who found his place in one of the most influential music movements of all time.

About Musicians Reveal with Joe Kelley:

A long-running interview platform (est. 1982) featuring legendary and emerging artists from funk, R&B, and soul. Spotlighted by Prince in 2004.

Yes.

That's the great sounds from Alexander o' Neill coming out of the Flight Time Studios.

And a great singer always has to have some great musicians alongside, keeping company with him.

And one of the great musicians and producers who Alexander o' Neill has worked with is my special guest right now, Stanley Chance Howard, who is many of you know as the keyboardist and vocalist with the Time, and he's a musician who hails from Minnesota.

He's working out there now.

And we talked with Kirk Johnson just a few moments ago about working together with Chance Howard.

And today's a really exciting day for me because we finally have, on the upper room, Chance Howard.

How you doing, Chance?

I'm doing good, buddy.

How you doing, man?

All right, good.

Great to hear that flavor you were on working with Jelly Bean and the Keys with Alexander o'.

Neill.

You remember the recording, what things were like on that song?

Yeah, yeah, it was cool, man.

Me and Bean were.

We were in the studio, and they were saying they wanted more of sort of like another Criticize, you know, for this next record.

Because Criticize was one of his.

One of Alex's biggest records.

So, you know, they had us come in, and Bean had this idea for this bass line, and.

And I just laid it down, and then I just went from there, you know, just started laying it down.

It was real funky, man.

It was real funky.

And Alex came in and did his thing, and there you go.

That was it.

Yeah.

And there we go.

And one of the best tracks Alex, in my opinion, has ever done.

Oh, man.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So you.

We were talking before a couple weeks ago about.

About your upbringing.

Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, man.

Pittsburgh, TA, Man.

How did you get this musical bug into you back then?

Wow.

I don't know, man.

It was.

I'd say, you know, I mean, I was.

I was just put into it.

My dad, God rest his soul, he was.

He's an organ player and a vocalist.

He had his own choir.

My brother was a guitar player, you know, singer and writer and producer and everything.

And I basically just looked up to those guys, you know, more than anything, and they just kind of just geared me into it pretty much.

I mean, you know, how could you not be into it if your brother playing every day and then your dad.

You go see your dad playing, like, every Sunday at church and, you know, stuff like that.

So it just kind of just kind of fell on my shoulders.

So it was all good, man.

It was definitely all good.

Were you a classically trained school trainer or you just picked it up being around the family.

Picked it up all by ear.

Yeah, I mean, I went to high school for the Creative and Performing Arts in Pittsburgh from my 9th to 12th year in high school.

But, I mean, I mainly knew everything.

Everything that I knew.

I pretty much knew most of it by the time I got to high school, you know.

And then from there I went to, you know, putting together bands and.

And stuff like that and experimenting with different bands because I was mostly writing up in my room.

I was like 12 years old, writing songs in my bedroom and stuff, just with my bass.

And then when I got to high school, I started messing around with different sounds and there was a piano in every room.

And I had never really been a piano player, per se, until I got to high school.

And that kind of veered me towards keyboards.

So it was a really cool transition too, because everything was turning into keyboard oriented music at that time too, like with the time and prints and.

So you were all up into the Minneapolis sound back in pa. Oh, man,.

I was pretty much.

You would have swore I was from Minneapolis.

If you'd have met me in Pittsburgh and you were from Minneapolis, you would have been like, man, you sure you're not from, like, north side or something?

You know, I was definitely in Minneapolis.

Just, I was tripping on Minneapolis, you know.

So when I got a chance to come out here and really do things, you know, that was the biggest blessing anybody could have ever given me, you know.

So how did that all arise in you coming out to Minneapolis?

Wow.

It was like I met a guy, his name is Keith Allen.

He was a friend of a friend of mine.

And this guy just basically introduced us over the phone.

And we had never talked to each other or anything.

And we just kind of hit it off on the phone, just real cool, you know.

He was a real down to earth cat.

And he just said, man, why don't you come out and check out the city for a couple of weeks?

You know, I'll put you up and, you know, just check it out, see if you like it.

And if you do, then how about you just come on out here and stay for a little while and see if it.

See if you can make something happen.

So I flew on out there and I stayed with him for a couple of weeks.

And the last two days that I was there, we went to this.

To this nightclub called the River.

Riverview Supper Club.

And it was over north Minneapolis, and we were just over there.

And it was funny because there was this guy standing all the way down at the end of the club.

And he was bobbing his head, you know, he had this little hat on, you know.

And I said, man, only one cat in the whole wide world bobs his head like that.

That's Jelly Bean Johnson, you know.

And you couldn't even see his face or anything.

All I saw was the back of his head.

And I was like, man, that's him, right?

My boy was like, nah, man, that ain't him.

So we went over there, and it was Bean, you know, And I had a tape, and Bean decided to listen to the tape after.

After the show.

And he listened to the tape, and he just said, man, what are you doing tomorrow?

You know, what are you doing tomorrow night?

I was like, whatever you want me to do, bro.

Whatever you need, I'm there.

So he said, man, just be down here same time tomorrow.

I came down the next night, and he brought down.

He's.

He's my best friend now, this guy.

His name is Popeye James.

James Popeye Greer.

He brought Pop down.

I met Pop.

And then after the.

After the gig, Terry Lewis came rolling up, you know, and I sat in the car with Terry, and I let Terry hear some songs and stuff.

And, man, shoot.

Just to.

Just to see those three cats, you know, was a trip, man.

And that right there, all I did was I flew back home, I packed my clothes, and I came back to Minneapolis.

I never went back.

Right.

You know, so, yeah, that's a great, you know, great story you brought up there.

Yeah, man.

You know, and then, you know, you.

You.

You mentioned all the production work.

You've been working with Jelly Bean and Flight Time.

And,.

You know, the thing is, you've got.

And I'm really excited about this.

You are working on your own record.

Yeah.

Which I got to tell you, I was talking to Jelly Bean a couple days ago, and he said, you got to hear Chance sing.

He goes, chance has a great voice.

So.

So people got some high expectations out there.

So why don't you talk about, you know, putting your own record together after being in so many different bands?

And what is some of the sounds like?

Well, it's going to be a. I'd say, you know, since my main influences have been, like, the Minneapolis sound and a lot of R and B stuff.

Plus, I'm really influenced by jazz, too.

A lot of Billie Holiday and Dizzy Gillespie and just a lot of different influences.

I mean, anything between Dizzy Gillespie and Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind and Fire.

And you come into the Minneapolis sound and, you know, it's sort of a.

It's Sort of a mixture of all, you know, of all those different characteristics, you know, and it's going to be funky, though.

It's going to definitely be funky.

You know, I'm going to have like, a little jazz twinge on there, you know, a little.

Sort of like a little bit of bebop type, you know, little scatting and stuff like that.

You know, it's going to be pretty cool.

You know, I'm trying to.

Trying to get as many cats as I can on it.

I want to get Monty on it.

I want to get Bean on it.

They'll definitely be on the record.

Kirk will definitely be on the record.

Yeah.

He even played about 15 seconds of what you worked over the studio.

Oh, did he?

He was playing it on the air, so we got a little preview.

Man, that sounded funky.

Yeah, man.

We was just messing around, man, Coming up with some stuff.

It was hot.

Was that you playing bass on it, too?

Yeah.

Right, right.

Yeah, he just.

He just did the drums and I did everything else, so, you know, so it was.

It was fun, man.

I'm gonna go home and listen to that tonight.

Yeah, he surprised me with that one.

Yeah, man.

He had it bumping, man.

Right.

So, yeah, it's like I'm just trying to get some stuff done and, you know, piece it together the way that I really want to get it.

You know, I'm not going to rush it or anything, because it was messed up because I gave people a date the last time I said I was going to put this record together, and it didn't come out that way because I was going in so many different directions, and I didn't want to do that.

I wanted to just find one nice direction to go into and just stick with that, you know?

So this direction that I have now is really cool, you know?

You know, so I can.

I can definitely say, you know, be prepared for it.

It's gonna be hot, right?

So it'll be happening on its own time and hopefully soon.

Yeah, let's see.

We'll get into some music and come back and talk with Chance.

But you worked on with another great musician who you guys are friends with Ronnie Baker Brooks.

Oh, man.

And you worked out on about four or five tracks on his record, Take Me with you.

Yeah.

So what was it like working with Ronnie and having Jelly Bean take us into the studio working on those tracks?

Oh, man.

Well, you know, see, me and Bean go back.

You know, we go back, man.

So it's like working with Bean is just like working with my brother.

He Basically is my brother, man.

I'll do anything in the world for him.

And he called me in on Ronnie's stuff.

And we just got in the studio and, you know, with Michael Bland on drums and Sonny Thompson on bass and me on keys, man, and it was just.

It was so funky.

I was like, man, this is going to be a blues record.

I was like, man, this is some funky stuff to be on the blues record, man.

But I was like, wow, man, it was just so cool being in there with all those cats.

Because actually, me and Sonny and Mike and Ronnie, we had never played together before, you know, so that was just.

It was the bomb.

So did it take a while for you guys to get greased and everything like that or happened right away?

It was like, man, we were cutting, like.

We were cutting like, two songs a day, you know, we were cutting like, two songs a day.

We just got in there, he ran it down, you know, I would find my little spot and, you know, Mike would find his spot, you know, Sonny would find his.

Right.

We just hit the tape and went on with it.

And it's got a nice picture of you, Sonny, Jellybean, Ronnie and Popeye and Nate.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, man.

It was.

That was just some Amalgamated Funk right there, bro.

That was just.

That was the bomb, you know.

So we're gonna hit us with one of the tracks off the record.

You're talking about funk on a blues record.

This is Flavor of the Week.

Yeah.

From Ronnie Baker Brooks.

Take me with you.

You can go to ronniebakerbrooks.com and he may be in Montreal this week, so check his website for the tour dates.

We got a lot of fans up in Canada, so we'll come back and talk with Chance Howard.

But first, this is the Magic Happened up in Minneapolis.

And playing the Wicked Keys right there.

Great, great musician Stanley Chance Howard, who, as you know, is also a member of the Time.

And besides your own great production work, why don't.

Why don't you talk about you're coming into the Time and, you know, you've been there quite a while, too.

So.

So how did that work out?

Wow.

I've been with the Time.

I'd say.

I'd say on and off about.

It's probably going on about 11, 11, 12 years now, somewhere around there now.

That happened through.

Actually through Jelly Bean.

Dean had called me back when the Pandemonium album came out.

And as a lot of people know, Jimmy and Terry had quit the band, and Jesse was gone, too.

And at that time, they were just getting Ready to go over to Japan and they needed some fill in guys and they called me up and let me see.

Who was it?

It was me, Derek Allen.

They call him doa.

He was a bass player.

He was Janet Jackson's bass player on the Rhythm Nation tour.

And then there was Bob, Bobby Gonzalez, Bobby G, who's Karen White's guitar player, and Eric Benet's guitar player.

A couple other acts too.

And then there's Morris Hayes.

That's my dog right there.

Is he on tour with Maceo right now?

Yeah, he's on with Maceo right now.

Okay, so Will Boware's not touring with him or his normal keyboardist isn't Torn Maceos or they just had another keyboard?

That's a good question.

I don't even know, right?

I don't even know, man.

But all I know is he.

He told me he was going out with Maceo.

Well, jump on that.

Yeah, yeah.

So he knows the deal, right?

Yeah.

So getting back to Japan.

Yeah.

So we.

They called us up, we.

We went over to Paisley and we rehearsed for about two weeks.

And we were on a plane on our way as the time right.

To.

To Japan.

And it was funny because at that point, I was just a ghost player.

I was a ghost keyboard player, which means, you know, I'm in the back, I'm backstage.

I wasn't even on stage.

Yeah.

Because I didn't see in the video.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I was a ghost.

And it's funny because even on that.

In that.

In that video, Jerome makes a reference when he says something about there's six of us on stage in a ghostly seven that wants to know what you want to do next, boys.

But I was backstage doing that.

And then a couple of years went by where they weren't doing anything.

And then when they put it back together, they had a guy, Kevin or Keith.

I can't remember his last name, but his name was Keith.

He was a keyboard player.

And then he had to go and Jelly Bean called me up, said, hey, bruh, I need you, bro.

You know.

You know how Bean is, right?

You know, he said, I need you, little brother.

What you doing?

I said, man, I had just came off a tour.

I didn't even want to go on tour anymore.

You know, I had just gotten married and my son was just born and everything.

And I didn't really.

I had told everybody that I didn't want to be out on the road.

And he said, you know, but I need you, man.

I said, well, I got your back, bro.

No matter what.

So what you need?

He said, I need you on the plane tomorrow.

You know, we leaving for a month, you know.

I said, well, okay, my wife's gonna kill me, right?

But I got you.

So next thing you know, I was in the time again.

That was it, man.

I've been out with him now, I'd say straight for about seven, eight years now.

And, you know, I saw you at B.B.

King's in New York City and always smoking the band.

But, you know, I brought a musician friend of mine, Mystic Bowie, and in the middle of the concert, in the middle of concert, one thing he said.

He said, man, that guy is playing the keys, making sounds out of there, and he was picking up on your playing.

And that was kind of interesting, you know, because, you know, everybody has a different take of the stage, but he was focusing on you.

Oh, wow.

You know, he's the man.

Yeah.

So he was digging.

You talk about what you.

What you bring to the Times stage set up, maybe equipment wise.

And what have you been adding to the sound that's been different from past years?

Wow.

I mean, the only thing that's different is instead of using the OB8 keyboard, that was basically used on all of the Times records back in the day and pretty much all the Prince records back in the day, he mainly used this one keyboard, which was called the OB8.

And we had it out on the road with us a few times.

I had one and Monty had one on his side.

But they're real delicate keyboards, so they broke a lot, so we couldn't have them out with us anymore.

So I wound up using.

I turned Morris onto a new keyboard called the Nord lead that we could get those same sounds and, you know, and we could tweak them and get them.

Get them fattered in the OBA pretty much, you know.

So I'm using a NORD lead and I'm using a PC88.

Kurzweil PC88, you know, on stage, I'm using that just for, like, strings and organs, stuff like that.

Just organ grinder, you know, and.

But the Nord lead, that's my baby there.

I love that.

I love that thing.

I love it for the road.

I love it for what.

What it.

What it does for the time.

It's a great keyboard.

Do you travel with the keyboards yourself or you guys have them all set up?

That's our keyboard.

Yeah, the Nords.

The Nords, both of them are ours.

And let me see, Monty has a PC?

No, he has a.

But the Nord leads, man, those are, those are some, those are some kick ass keyboards, man.

Right.

They're no joke.

So, so to the time.

I'm sure we'll be busy this spring and summer doing a lot of dates.

And when do you go back out?

We go back out on the 11th.

I know we're doing the Tom Joyner morning.

That's right.

Yeah, yeah, we got that.

You did that a couple years ago, right?

Yeah, yeah, that's always fun.

Yeah, yeah, that's real cool.

We got that, I think.

And then.

So getting the fellows up that early, is it a tough job?

In fact, it's so funny because during the Tom Joyner Morning show, it's so wild because you wake up at about three in the morning and you get out there to the show and when you come out on stage it's packed, you know, it's like a sold out concert.

Right.

You know, it's five in the morning and it doesn't even feel like five in the morning.

Once you feel that energy from the crowd, it feels like we're playing it about 10, 10, 11 o' clock at night.

Right, right.

So you totally forget what time it is.

You know, the lights are flashing and people are dancing and you know, it's a trip, man, but it's so cool.

I love doing that show.

Yeah, I remember listening to you last time.

So that was incredible as well.

So.

Yeah.

Hey, you know, a lot, lot of, you know, we spoke with Kirk about this, but, you know, musicians have been talking.

There's been about three or four references during the interviews the past couple weeks about Wednesday night at Jasmine's.

Oh, really?

How much people are digging it?

Oh, cool.

You've been involved with the crew out there on Jasmine.

What exactly goes on and what do you, what are you doing up there yourself?

Well, I mean, you know, with me and Kirk, we've got this group, it's called Conversation Piece.

Like you said, it's every Wednesday night.

And we basically just put it together as sort of like, you know, just some funky musicians that just wanted something to do on Wednesdays.

And we never thought it was going to take off like this, you know, but everybody's really digging it, you know, so it's been real hot, man.

It's me playing bass, keyboards and bass, and I'm singing lead and Kirk is on drums and singing background.

I got Walter Chancellor on sax and he's singing background.

I'm making him sing.

He's bad too, man.

He ain't no joke.

And then I got a good friend of ours, Todd Burrell, keyboard player, man.

He's awesome, man.

And I got him singing background, and I got my friend George Scott on guitar.

And he's not singing, but, you know, he's doing a little pretty boy thing, the guitar, you know.

You know how guitar players are.

They get to be the pretty boy and stuff.

So he's doing that end of it, man.

But it's.

It's incredible, man.

It is funny because we don't make a lot of money doing that gig.

And it's not about the money.

It's about just coming down there and just getting funky, you know, just enjoying it.

So that's when it's afternoon time and you're thinking about it, that's when you get excited.

One of those kind of gigs, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's like, I can't wait to get down there and just get started.

And that's what we're doing, man.

And we're gonna start doing the same thing.

Hopefully on Thursdays, we're gonna start the same thing and just kind of put a different twist to it, you know, I'm thinking about doing.

Starting up a sort of like a Showtime at the Apollo thing and incorporating that into Thursday nights with this other band.

Ooh, that'd be cool.

Yeah.

Bring out some of the new talent.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, so we want to do.

I want to just kind of, you know, just fill up the envelope there, you know, stretch the envelope, whatever the phrase is, you know?

But.

Yeah, yeah.

Well.

Well, in respect to.

You had St. Paul Peterson on, and I don't know how we got into some conversation about.

Well, he was talking about the synth bass, and he said.

He said he came to check out you at.

At Jasmine's, and he went back out on tour to do a gig in New York with Alita Adams.

And Alita Adams, like, what got into you with.

Because he was doing the synth bass, and he said I. I had to take a few lessons.

And he mentioned you in the interview and, you know, your name and everything, so.

Oh, man, you're doing things right, bro.

Oh, man, that's.

That is a blessing there, man, because that, man, is no joke, right?

I mean, I've grown up just totally tripping out on Paul, man.

I mean, ever since.

Ever since, like, you know, rich man and family and even back when he was with the time and stuff, man, I was like, wow, dude.

You know, And I mean, his nephew Jason is like.

He's like my little brother.

You know, we were out together when we did the solo tour.

And, you know, so I was the musical director for Solo.

And I had him and Little Roger.

Little Roger Troutman Jr.

Right.

As my keyboard players.

And wow, man, it's those guys, man.

Just all of them.

All the ones that I just mentioned now, man, it's just magnificent cats, man.

So if you just tuned in and listen.

Been listening to the interview.

This is Stanley Chance Howard, who, as you know, keyboardist and vocalist with Morris Day and the Time.

And I like to say the Time, because that's how I grew up knowing the Time.

But no disrespect to Morris, but it's.

I hear you.

It's the Time.

And out of Minneapolis, Minnesota, he's there working, creating that magical music.

And you're gonna have to stop by on the show again.

So when that record's ready to drop.

Yeah, man.

We'll do a whole feature on that as well.

Yeah.

And if.

And if you just tuned in, this will be re aired for three days and three nights on the 24.

7 Outlet.

We do.

All you have to do is go to the Upper room with Joe Kelly.com Kelly spelled ey at the end and sign up for the mailing list and just keep abreast of the schedule there.

So I'll ask you one final question.

Off the wall question maybe, but you remember the first concert that you ever attended?

The first concert that I ever attended was Prince concert, Alphabet City, Pittsburgh.

Oh, okay.

So it was cool tour.

Oh, man.

Right.

That.

Right there.

That just.

I was already doing the Minneapolis thing.

And then to go and see the man doing his thing.

Right.

You know, that was just the icing on the cake for me.

So he's checking out your thing.

I understand he's come out to Jasmine's too, right?

Yeah, he's been out, man.

He's been out a lot lately.

And it's an inspiration, man.

It's an inspiration beyond my wildest dreams.

You know what I'm saying?

It's like, you know, just to have that guy, you know, just coming out and just showing the love, you know?

I mean, what more could you ask for, right?

He's the man.

He's the man.

All right, so we're gonna look forward to that solo cd.

And have fun at rehearsal tonight.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Come out and check out Chance Howard and Conversation.

Peace.

Wednesdays at Jasmine's in Minneapolis and Thursday nights.

Look out for the information.

We'll let you know here on the Upper Room so people can get you for two nights out there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, man.

Come on out.

Come on out.

Check it out.

It's funky.

Guaranteed funk, right?

Guaranteed funk.

Unadulterated, right?

So, hey, we'll get into another track you wrote for Alexander o'.

Neill.

Shame.

Oh, yeah, Shame on Me.

How'd you develop on that?

I actually wrote that song for a demo for a friend of mine, and he got strep throat and couldn't sing it, And I wound up singing the song and everything, and I let Jimmy and Terry hear it.

And Jimmy and Terry was like, man, that's Alex all day.

I was like, okay, no arguments there, you know.

You still keep in contact with Flight Time?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah, Yeah.

I love those cats over there, man.

We, you know, we stay in contact and, you know, it's like I'm doing my thing and they're doing theirs, and we just kind of meet up in the middle, right?

You know, stuff like that.

So it's real good.

So this is from Chance Howard's days over at the Flight Time studios with Alexander o'.

Neill.

All true, man, and.

And shame on Me.

So I want to thank you, Chance, so much.

Great to have you on, definitely.

Oh, man.

Thank you, man.

I know the listeners are out there happy, too.

So this is Chance Howard, Alexander o'.

Neill.

Shame on Me.