R&B Bridgez: Tevin Campbell | Gordon Chambers Contributes

Some artists take a lifetime to reach musical maturity.

Tevin Campbell was born that way.

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Well we’ll start by telling you who Tevin Campbell is. He’s a Five-time Grammy nominated artist, a child prodigy discovered by Quincy Jones and endorsed by Prince. Tevin is a multi platinum artist, with 9 top #10 Billboard singles, two platinum albums and one gold.

Now what someones opinion of him may be, really doesn’t matter. In the age of social media, people have learned quick, that there will be no Tevin Campbell slander.

At the tender age of 13, Tevin had his first #1 hit with “Tomorrow (A Better You, Better Me),” featured on Quincy Jones’ historic multi-platinum, multi-Grammy-winning album Back On The Block.

With a fervent following that literally spans the globe, he has had the kind of success, on stage and in the studio, that most artists need a whole lifetime to achieve.

But record sales, chart numbers and concert grosses only begin to tell the story of this uniquely gifted man. Creativity, the love of music and the ability to turn his remarkable vision into memorable words and melody have always been at the core of Tevin’s success.

And it’s that love, ability and vision that are front and center in the strongest, most assured and appealing album of Tevin’s career to date, titled simply and aptly, Tevin Campbell. The last album from Tevin, was released 20 years ago today, February 23rd, 1999.

Tevin declared in his label bio at the time, ‘This is my favorite album.” The collection of material spotlighting consistently potent vocal performances and topnotch original songwriting. “It speaks to who I am right now really well. I’ve learned a lot about life, about friendships and just about people, generally. At this point in my life, I’m happy with where I am, who I am and what I have to offer musically.”

The album is sexy without having to try hard, down-to-earth but with classic style, Tevin had graduated at the head of the class. As a young male R&B artist and songwriter.

Among the many highlights of Tevin Campbell is the moving track “Don’t Throw Your Life Away,” co-written by Tevin with Narada Michael Walden and Sally Jo Dakota, a song which evokes his childhood days singing in a Waxahachie, Texas, church choir. “I was inspired to do that song after a young family member was shot in Texas. It was a tragedy that really struck me and it started me thinking about the dilemmas kids face today. It’s as if, with all this shooting and killing, that they didn’t have anything to live for. So, I wanted to offer them something in my own way, some kind of hope.”

Another key selection from Tevin Campbell is “Since I Lost You.” Likewise, it has an intriguing point of origin.

“What’s wild about this song is that we used a sample from James Taylor’s ‘Fire & Rain,’ which I had never heard before. I knew who James Taylor was, of course, but when I finished writing the song and was driving over to record it, Fire and Rain’ came on the radio. And I thought, ‘Okay, this song was meant to be.’“

On the other end of the stylistic spectrum, the sweet somethings skillfully delivered in both English and Spanish on the alluring ballad “Dandelion” come together to create what Tevin calls “the definition of a beautiful song. Usually I have to hear a song more than once to feel it and deliver it. But as soon as I heard this song, I knew it was just for me.”

The lead single was the slinky and savvy “Another Way.” Crafted by the internationally renowned House Music producer Mark Kinchen, the track continues Tevin’s tradition of crafting meaningful music that transcends the latest fad or dance step.

It’s a tradition that carries through on each and every selection of this remarkable album, which, along with Kinchen, boasts an all-star roster of top producers and songwriters. Stevie J spent serious studio time with Tevin, cutting “Dandelion,” “For Your Love,” and “Losing All Control,” while Stevie’s wife now the First Lady Faith Evans co-wrote “The Only One For Me” with Tevin and sings background. Grammy-winning producer/rapper Wyclef Jean contributed the pulsating “Never Again” to the collection, while Daryl Simmons was at the helm of Tevin’s candlelit duet with SWV’s Coko on “Everything You Are.”

Another songwriter apart of this project was Gordon Chambers. Along with Stevie J, they wrote the second single released from the album “For Your Love.” UrbanBridgez.com spoke with Gordon regarding his involvement in the album, for this feature.

“So glad you’re choosing to highlight “For Your Love” in this article. I’ve always been very proud of this song that I think deserved better promotion. At that time, I was doing a lot of writing with Stevie J. We had also co-written Deborah Cox’s “September” and a couple of songs for Tamia. Stevie sent the song to Tevin’s camp and they accepted. However, there was a technical difficulty and his original track which had much more programming got accidentally deleted from his hard drive. Stevie, who is a complete musical genius, called the now-closed HIT FACTORY, and ordered keyboards, drum machines and lots of live instruments and completely recreated the track with live piano, guitar and organ added that wasn’t on the original track in about 3 hours about two hours before Tevin was scheduled to do another session.

He left me there to track all the background vocals, then add Tevin’s backgrounds on top and start his leads. We were kind of a team at that point. Tevin didn’t know this however. He came to the studio expected to see Stevie and not me. It was very tense. His mom who was his manager explained to me that he hadn’t recorded in a couple of years and may have been nervous. We finished the backgrounds that evening, and Stevie cut Tevin’s leads the following day without me which is what was best politically and creatively at that moment.

I thought the song came out amazing. Tevin nailed the leads, and the backgrounds with both of our vocals were warm and lush. It became a grown-up love anthem–a complement to his teenage anthem “Can We Talk” in my eyes. I was disappointed when it wasn’t included in his Greatest Hits albums years later. But I’ve heard that he sings it in live shows, and I still hear it on the Quiet Storm formats sometimes.

Proud to have worked with this amazing young crooner whose voice touched me deeply, when Quincy first featured him on ‘Tomorrow.” He’s a legend. A tone you never forget.“

It’s a contention borne out at each stage of Tevin’s extraordinary career. In 1989, no less a musical master than Quincy Jones thought 12-year-old Tevin’s soaring alto could fill the slot that many thought had been reserved for Michael Jackson on the above-mentioned Back On The Block. “I heard Michael sing when he was 12, and I heard Tevin sing when he was 12,” the visionary Jones recalled. “I got the same feeling from both experiences.”

With word-of-mouth like that, 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.

In 2016, Tevin Campbell signed to Spectra Music Group and reemerged with the single “Safer On The Ground.” In April of that year UrbanBridgez.com was proud, to give the world the very first listen of the single.

No official word on what Tevin is cooking up, for his first full length album in 20 years. Whatever he puts out from past experience, we know it will be solid and full of amazing vocals & growth.

UB First Listen: Tevin Campbell Returns – “Safer on The Ground”