Your place for listening to rare, hard to find, and out of print soul and funk
T-Mad’s Music is a trademark of TMJ Productions, Inc. — Copyright © 1997–2010 TMJ Productions, Inc.
Today is Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
(An e-mail interview from May, 1998)
Mazarati circa 1984 — courtesy of Jim Brewer
The year was 1986 and Prince and The Revolution were riding high with their success in the music world. However, you might also remember hearing a song from that year titled 100 M.P.H.. That song was written by Prince but was performed by a Minneapolis-based band called Mazarati.
The members of this band included Sir Casey Terry on lead vocals, Romeo on bass guitar, Tony Christian on rhythm guitar, Kevin Patricks on drums and percussion, Craig Powell on lead guitar, and Aaron Paul Keith and Marr Starr on keyboards. They were produced by Brownmark of The Revolution and co-produced by David Z.
However, prior to Craig Powell, the band had a different lead guitarist who was involved with them during the recording of their debut album. His name is
Jim Brewer, a.k.a. JimiB, and he left feedback at
The following is the original interview with Mr. Brewer from May of 1998, culled from e-mail correspondences with him and presented in his own words where he gave me the lowdown on that 1986 debut project from the band as well as what he was up to.
I lived in Minneapolis about 4 years, and left the band, before the first album came out. Our old slogan was Mazarati is not a name it is a religion. I am currently doing a little research on finding old members of the band, without having to travel to Minneapolis.
JimiB holarin [sic] at you again. Hey man get in touch with me if you need any questions to be answered about Mazarati, Prince and the whole memorabilia.
Well this is a treat getting feedback from a former member of a group featured on my site. Thanks for checking out
Were you involved with your band’s debut album at all or did they put it together after you left?
I was there when all of the songs on the first Album were created. All the
songs were written by Mark Brown [Brown Mark, formerly of The Revolution] except for 100 Miles per Hour that was written by Prince. I actually played the lead guitar on
the Album and did not get credit for it, being that Mark and I had a dispute. I quit the band after having a nasty dispute with Mark over a Monetary problem. I packed my
stuff and left. My name was not even mentioned on the album. (That was his way of getting back at me.)
Do you think things would have turned out differently for Mazarati if you had stayed?
No not at all. Now that I look back the band they didn’t go anywhere.
Mark only got what he deserved. The way I hear it Prince walked into rehearsal one day and told everybody to leave. Then’s forth creating the New Power Generation an
all New Band. Mark was Blackballed in the Music Business I believe. And is now writing Jingles for different radio commercials across the Nation. Brown Mark
had a 1 Album flop, about a year later after he left Prince. And has not done anything hence forth.
Out of curiosity, since you worked with Prince, what do you think abouthis name change to "O+>" ?
Prince used to come to some of our rehearsals, and that’s how I had gotten to know him. Prince is a very weird individual, personality wise he’s caught up in himself. The name change really didn’t surprise me being that I think he’s suffering from an [insatiable craving for attention]. Prince will do anything to create controversy and to keep people talking about him. After all that’s what made him rich.
Far as Talent Prince owes his whole career to his present Bass Player Sonny
Thompson [Sonny T. of The New Power Generation] (Whom ended being a good friend of mine).
Sonny taught Prince everything he knows about music. Now Sonny is a bad
individual whom never got any credit from Prince until the last few years. Growing
up in North Minneapolis Prince had learned to play multi-different instruments and had
Gotten the Idea to show off that talent from Sonny. The reason Sonny had not gotten
anywhere with Prince was because Sonny could not lose the weight (Body Fat) to be in his
first band. And actually left Sonny doing the Bar thing in Minneapolis.
Prince’s Name change had something to do with his contract with Warner Bro. By
using that name he was not bound to Warner Bro. or the previous record contract he had.
One more question — I’ve read various accounts concerning Prince's song Kiss. Namely, the fact that while he wrote the song, it was originally intended to be a Mazarati song as opposed to being a Prince song. What’s your take on that?
The only info that I can give you on the song Kiss is that Mazarati just sung the background on the tune. I do know that Prince wrote the song, but I doubt
if it was really meant for Mazarati. It could have been meant for Maz but I never got that info from Mark or [Casey] Terry or anybody in the band.
If you’re down with George Clinton and
Oh by the way I am a Funkster. Love George Clinton (I Used to set in in some of his sessions before I went to Minneapolis). George is a Home Town Brother.
I grew up with Most of the Parliament Funkadelic crew. Most of Funkadelic were from Detroit (The Motor City).
JimiB is currently retired from the music industry and is involved in the computer field in his hometown of Detroit, MI.
Me myself I’m an X-musician. A+ certified, MSP certified (still working on my MCSE), and Novell CNA certified. Started in Computers to midi up my keyboards and
ended up more interested in the Computers than I was in Music. Even though my first love is music, but for now the computers makes the money.
Well, I’d like to thank JimiB for taking the time to answer a couple of questions for me about his days with Mazarati and for granting me permission to put his
answers up here at If you’d like to send feedback to JimiB or if you
have any info to give on the current whereabouts of the other members of Mazarati, send
Check out JimiB’s Insanities Sins Web Site [NOTE: Believe it or not, his old site still exists on the
Internet. However, it has not been updated since February, 2002 so any information on his site is very much out of date. But it’s still there for the sake of prosperity so feel free to enjoy an early, simpler, old school website long before the current
This interview is the property of
Copyright © 1998–2010
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |