Walt Disney Records:
Biography of Tevin Campbell
In the nearly two years since the release of Tevin Campbell's debut album on Qwest Records, this multitalented young man has established himself as one of today's brightest and most original new stars.That reputation is considerably enhanced with the release of I'm Ready, Campbell's dazzling new Qwest offering, featuring his latest single, "Can We Talk," along with ten other cuts highlighting a top-notch supporting cast and a vocal talent that belongs to this artist and this artist alone.
With a production and songwriting team that includes Quincy Jones, Prince, Babyface & Daryl Simmons, Narada Michael Walden, and Campbell himself, I'm Ready takes Tevin to the next level of a career that has already earned him a place in musical history. Along the way, it showcases a selection of songs ranging from haunting ballads to high-energy dance tracks, from sophisticated soul to pure pop, all delivered in his utterly distinctive style. In short, when Tevin says I'm Ready, he's got the music to back him up.
Campbell was born in Dallas, Texas, and virtually raised in the choir of his local church. His talent was already in evidence by the early age of four...way back in 1982. Six years later, he was discovered by legendary producer Quincy Jones through Bobbi Humphrey, who taped Tevin to sing on his multi-Grammy®-winning hit album Back on the Block, sharing the bill with Ray Charles, Chaka Khan, James Ingram, Sarah Vaughan, and a host of other luminaries.
Campbell's rich, resonant vocals were spotlighted on the album's title track and subsequent No. 1 hit, "Tomorrow (Better You, Better Me)." Quite an accomplishment for a youngster still shy of teenhood, Back on the Block proved to be only the beginning.
Campbell's extraordinary vocal abilities -- often compared to the young Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson -- next attracted the attention of Prince, who recruited the singer for his Graffiti Bridge soundtrack album. The result was a second hit single, "Round and Round," which put Tevin in the unprecedented position of having two hit singles to his credit before releasing his own album; that, of course, was the natural next step.
Entering the studio to record his solo debut, T.E.V.I.N., in early 1991, Campbell brought with him a carefully selected tunestack that included several songs he had co-written, plus specially penned material from Al B. Sure!, Marilyn and Alan Bergman, and Narada Michael Walden.
The album's release was followed by a flurry of activity for Campbell, including numerous television appearances, scores of interviews, and enough magazine covers to blanket a newsstand. In between the seemingly endless rounds of promotional touring, he found time to participate in a few exceptional projects, including: an appearance on the Innovative and Grammy® award-winning Handel's Messiah album, produced by Mervyn Warren of Take 6; a Special Olympics Christmas album that featured Tevin's rendition of "O Holy Night"; and the track "One Song," heard on the Barcelona Gold 1992 Olympics album.
Following a 1993 "Welcome Home" concert in Dallas, Campbell stepped back from his busy schedule to begin concentrating on his follow-up album. "I wanted to find songs that I could relate to," explains Tevin. "I really wanted to reflect what's been happening to me both as a person and an artist, to show that growth, and point the way to the next stage of my life and career."
Recorded in Los Angeles in the summer of this year, with executive production by Quincy Jones and Benny Medina, I'm Ready, features an A-list assembly of producers, musicians, and arrangers, including Babyface, Prince, Narada Michael Walden, guitarist Levi Seacer, Jr., Eric Leeds and Atlanta Bliss on horns, keyboardist Louis Biancaniello, saxman Marc Russo, Jerry Hey (string arrangements), and many others.
The result is an album that consolidates Tevin Campbell's standing as a powerful and persuasive vocalist, even as it ushers in a new chapter in a career that, for all its accomplishments, is just getting underway.