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After 20 years, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis re-launch Perspective Records with Peabo Bryson album

Peabo Bryson performs in 2016. (Teresa Kroeger/Getty Images for Thurgood Marshall College Fund)
Peabo Bryson performs in 2016. (Teresa Kroeger/Getty Images for Thurgood Marshall College Fund)

by Adrian Williams

August 08, 2018

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are best-known as megahit producers, but they also have a record label imprint that's been responsible for releases by many notable artists, including some of their Minnesota peers. Perspective Records has been the avenue for albums by Sounds of Blackness, Mint Condition, Lo-Key?, Drama, 4.o, Rufus Blaq, Bobby Ross Avila, Solo, Ann Nesby and more. Now, for the first time in two decades, the duo are bringing Perspective back. The label's first new release will be veteran singer Peabo Bryson's 21st album, Stand For Love.

The soul singer from South Carolina is a two-time Grammy Award winner and has a discography that dates back to the mid-1970s, encompassing collaborations with Natalie Cole, Roberta Flack, Minnie Riperton and Celine Dion. In an interview with Billboard, Bryson said, "Teaming up with Jam and Lewis is something that I personally wanted for a long time. They're fearless in terms of genre range. And all three of us are stupid enough to believe that there's nothing we can't do."

The nie-track album features the lead-singles "Love Like Yours and Mine" and "Love," which have both been available prior to the Aug. 3 release of the LP.  “Stand for Love isn’t just about romantic love or relationship love,” Bryson told Billboard. “It’s about all kinds of love in every kind of relationship. It’s about what we do with our time here on this good earth.”

Next up for Perspective: a new release featuring Sounds of Blackness, Ann Nesby, and James "Big Jim" Wright. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking for the former Flyte Tyme studio in Edina, where Jam and Lewis recorded for years; it's slated for demolition sometime next year.

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This activity is made possible in part by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment’s Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.