The band Prime Time was led by singer/keyboardist
Jimmy Hamilton and guitarist Maurice Hayes. The band recorded for
Lonnie Simmons' Total Experience label, and its biggest hit was the sparse, mid-tempo, everyman-toned "I Owe It to Myself," which went to number 21 on Billboard's R&B chart in the fall of 1984. (Prime Time's labelmates the Gap Band covered "I Owe It to Myself" on Gap Band VII.) Other singles were the "Planet Rock"-like "Love Talk" and "Give It to the Beat." Both became post-release favorites of dance/funk fans. Other highlights are the buoyant "Can't Get You Off My Mind" and the mellow "Let's Talk It Over," which has an intimate "coffee talk" feel. Hamilton and Hayes appear on releases by their Total Experience labelmates; the duo wrote and produced the hit single "Guilty" for
Yarbrough & Peoples, various Gap Band LPs, Klique,
Penny Ford's Pennye, and Ganiyu "Gee" Bello. Prime Time's other album was Confess It Baby. ~ Ed Hogan