UB Celebrates: 30th Anniversary of Tevin Campbell’s ‘I’m Ready’

“I’m Ready” is singer Tevin Campbell‘s sophomore album release.

The double platinum album was actually released on October 15th, 1993, however Wiki states today October 26th as the release. Due to that, this is the date the fans are going with, so we decided to celebrate the release on this day as well.

Tevin stated to Billboard shortly after the release; “I sat down with all of the producers on the album and let them know that I wanted a personal relationship with the songs. I was interested in singing about things that I could relate to. Feeling the emotion is important to me, and I think it comes across in my singing.”

“I’m Ready” is a 14-track endeavor that contains work from some of the music industry’s most elite producers. Babyface & Daryl Simmons, who produced the first single, “Can We Talk.” As well as Narada Michael Walden, Quincy Jones and the late great Prince.

“On my first album, I was working with all these name producers, but I wasn’t as in tune with the record business back then,” Tevin stated to an industry trade. “So it wasn’t as big a deal as it was when I began working on ‘I’m Ready.’”

Tevin stated he learned a lot from working with all of the players on “I’m Ready,” but particularly enjoyed working with Prince, who wrote and produced Tevin‘s 1991 hit single, “Round And Round,” from Prince‘s “Graffiti Bridge” soundtrack and Narada, who worked on his debut album. “Prince is one of the most talented producers I’ve ever worked with. In the studio, he’ll change things right in the middle of the session if it’ll make things better. He’s real easy-going, not shy or anything like his image. He talks a lot, in fact.”

As for Narada Michael Walden, “I learned the most from Narada. We connect because we’re a lot alike. We both look at life in a spiritual way. In the studio, there are candles and incense burning, it’s a laid-back situation.”

Tevin‘s label, owned by his early mentor Quincy Jones, Quest Records felt early on the album would be a huge success. “We’re positioning Tevin as a superstar to be reckoned with,” stated Benny Medina at the time. “With this album, we’re going to help him develop a more international presence.”

“It was important to me from the beginning that Tevin be able to live as normal a life as possible. With that in mind, we all made sure he remained in a position to continue doing all the things a young man his age would do,” stated Benny.

Tevin felt that being a high-profile recording artist sent his life around additional twists and turns. But Tevin knew that he used those experiences to his advantage. “I wanted to make a more mature sounding album to reflect my current state of mind. “‘I’m Ready” says a lot about who I am as a person because of the things I’ve been through during the last four years or so. I hope people will see that I’m not the same young kid that I was on my first album.”

According to Tevin, it took only two months for him to record the vocals for “I’m Ready” in Los Angeles, and an additional couple of weeks with Narada Michael Walden at the producer’s San Francisco studio.

The first single, “Can We Talk,” reached #1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and the album debuted on the Top R&B Albums chart November 13th, 1993 at #4.

Other singles released included the title track, which reached #2 on the R&B singles chart, “Always in My Heart” an instant classic followed hitting the Top 10. The Narada Michael Walden “Don’t Say Goodbye Girl” was released a year after the album release. Two more songs were also released during the albums era, “Brown Eyed Girl” and the midnight storm Prince penned classic “Shhh.”

Tevin sounds a like lot Prince on the song, which at first listen had radio listeners thinking it was him. Prince‘s sassy “Halls Of Desire“, was another album highlight. The sentimental “Brown Eyed Girl,” was co-written by Tevin Campbell, along with Narada Michael Walden. “Infant Child,” effectively exhibits an angst that seems an emotional by-product of that proverbial gray area between childhood and adulthood.

“Age is not indicative of experience,” Tevin stated to an industry trade. “I’ve done and seen a lot already that has changed me. This business makes you grow up fast, but it doesn’t mean you become something other than who you are inside. I’m not interested in false images and stuff like that. I’m a singer. Period. That’s my image.”

In October of 1994, Tevin Campbell hit the road with Babyface and Boyz II Men.

It’s no wonder Tevin drew the ears and attention of the music world at an early age. Shortly after Back On The Block, a certain artist named Prince tapped Tevin to perform on his soundtrack to Graffiti Bridge. The result, “Round and Round,” topped charts and gave Tevin instant industry credibility.

That status was quick to change when, in 1991, Narada Michael Walden, Prince and Al B. Sure! weighed in on the production of Tevin’s official solo debut, T.E.V.I.N, immediately establishing the young artist’s platinum-selling stature. The follow-up, I’m Ready, was certainly an aptly-titled offering, earning Tevin two million in sales and landing him the honor of Billboard magazine’s #1 Most Played Crossover Artist of 1994, thanks to such hits as “Can We Talk” and “Always In My Heart,” adding to Tevin’s grand total of three Top 5 pop hits and six #1 R&B chart toppers.

But even before he could begin work on a new album, former Take 6 member Mervyn Warren asked Tevin to perform on the Grammy-winning Handers Messiah: A Soulful Celebration. And that was only one of many guest studio appearances Tevin was to make in subsequent months. He recorded “One Hand, One Heart” for Songs From West Side Story “Keep On Pushing” for All Men Are Brothers: A Tribute To Curtis Mayfield; “Oh Holy Nights for A Very Special Christmas; and “You Will Know” with Black Men United on the soundtrack for Jason’s Lyric. After receiving a thunderous ovation for singing “Come Fly With Me” during a star-studded Las Vegas tribute to Frank Sinatra, Tevin was asked by Paul Anka to sing a duet on “One Kiss,’ produced by David Foster.

Apart from music, and aside from Graffiti Bridge. He also made guest appearances on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Moesha, voiced the character named Powerline in Disney’s animated A Goofy Movie film and was cast as Seaweed in the Broadway musical Hairspray in 2005.

Take A Trip Down Memory Lane with Tevin Campbell’s “I’m Ready!”

R&B Bridgez: Tevin Campbell | Gordon Chambers Contributes