Tevin Campbell

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Biography

Tevin Jermod Campbell (born November 12, 1976) is an American R& B singer-songwriter and actor.

Music career

Born in Waxahachie, Texas , Tevin Campbell had a passion for singing at a young age. Campbell began by singing gospel, first as a choir member, and then as a soloist at Jacob's Chapel in a small town just south of Dallas, Texas.

In 1988, a friend of Campbell's mother arranged for him to audition for jazz flutist Bobbie Humphrey by singing over the phone to her in New York. Humphrey took an interest in Campbell and submitted an audio and videotape to Warner Bros. This led to a meeting with Benny Medina, the Warner's senior vice president and general sales manager of black music.

Campbell was introduced to the R& B world by Quincy Jones in August 1989. Campbell's debut single was "Tomorrow (A Better You Better Me)" which reached number 1 on the Billboard (magazine)|Billboard Hot R& B / Hip hop Singles chart in June 1990. This was a vocal version of a 1976 instrumental by The Brothers Johnson . It was the lead single from Jones' critically acclaimed ensemble LP Back on the Block which won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1991. After working with Jones and writers and producers including Siedah Garrett , Campbell worked with producers Narada Michael Walden , Al B. Sure , Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds|Babyface , and others to record additional music.

Campbell's first solo hit was "Round and Round", which charted at #3 on R& B charts in November 1990 and #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1991 was produced by Prince (musician)|Prince and was featured in Prince's film Graffiti Bridge (film)|Graffiti Bridge . Campbell followed the success of his first two singles by releasing his debut album, T.E.V.I.N. (album)|T.E.V.I.N. , in November 1991 which featured the R& B hit singles and Campbell's #1 R& B hit: "Tell Me What You Want Me To Do" followed by:, "Alone With You", and "Goodbye".

Between interviews and television appearances following the release of T.E.V.I.N. , he contributed to three special projects: ''Handel's Messiah'', a Grammy Award-winning album produced by Mervyn Warren of Take 6; a Special Olympics Christmas album, featuring Campbell's rendition of "Oh Holy Night"; and Barcelona Gold , the 1992 Olympics album which includes his hit "One Song."
The singer's second album, the 1993 release of the album '' I'm Ready (Tevin Campbell album)|I'm Ready '', was also produced by Jones and Medina. "I wanted to make a more mature-sounding album to reflect my current state of mind," Campbell explained to J. R. Reynolds in Billboard magazine. "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."

''I'm Ready'' released October 1993, yielded the #1 R& B hit and #9 pop single " Can We Talk " in December 1993, " I'm Ready (Tevin Campbell song)|I'm Ready ", " Always in My Heart (Tevin Campbell song)|Always in My Heart " which charted at #3 on the R& B chart. He also scored a Top 30 hit with " Don't Say Goodbye Girl " on the R& B charts. In September 1994, Campbell also scored an R& B hit with the single "U Will Know" as part of the R& B supergroup Black Men United, a group that also included singer Usher (entertainer)|Usher .In 1995 he sang two songs featured in A Goofy Movie which were "Eye to Eye" and "Stand Out".

The year 1996 saw the release of his third album, Back to the World (Tevin Campbell album)|Back to the World (#11 R& B). The title track was a success (hitting the R& B Top 20), but additional singles failed to make an impact on the chart. His early 1999 self-titled album found Campbell venturing into the neo-soul venue. The project was rushed, and as a result charted below the R& B Top 30, with only a single charting, a Top 30 song called "Another Way".

In 2009, Campbell made an appearance at the 2009 BET Awards as he paid tribute to The O'Jays with Trey Songz , Tyrese , and Johnny Gill .

In May 2010, Campbell performed on The Mo'Nique Show . He said that many people wanted him to work again on music and is thinking about a comeback. In November 2010, he was featured on the remake of a song by Quincy Jones called "Secret Garden". The remake features Usher, Robin Thicke, Tyrese Gibson, LL Cool J & Barry White.
TVOne's hit show Life After will feature Campbell's life and career, as well as updates on his comeback. Air dates are scheduled for early 2012.

Acting career

After his appearance in the 1990 film Graffiti Bridge , Campbell made a guest appearance the following year on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air , playing fictional teen idol, "Little T", a celebrity crush and date of List of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air characters#Ashley Banks|Ashley's in the first season episode, "Just Infatuation". In a later episode, he was referenced when Will threatened to destroy Ashley's Tevin Campbell posters after she plays with Will's autographed baseball. In 1995, Campbell voiced the character Powerline in Disney's A Goofy Movie , singing the songs were "I2I" and "stand out"

In 1999, Campbell made another guest appearance on the hit show Moesha alongside Brandy (entertainer)|Brandy Norwood in the episode, "Rite Stuff."

He also appeared singing "The Closer I Get to You" with Brandy on the September 28, 1995 " NY Undercover " episode called "Digital Underground.Com".

Campbell played the role of Seaweed J. Stubbs in the Broadway theatre|Broadway musical Hairspray (musical)|Hairspray . He joined the cast in December 2005. Campbell is currently reprising his role of Seaweed in the Broadway musical, Hairspray in the Melbourne & Sydney production in Australia.

Arrest

In September 1999, Campbell was arrested after Solicitation|soliciting a lewd act from an undercover police officer http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1426856/19991110/campbell_tevin.jhtml during a sting operation in Van Nuys , California. The sting operation was reportedly conducted in an area where there had been numerous complaints from the public about Cruising for sex|cruising and solicitation. According to police reports, Campbell was also in possession of a small amount of marijuana at the time of his arrest.

Campbell pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor of solicitation, and as a result was ordered to pay $1080.50 in fines, attend meetings of Narcotics Anonymous and participate in a court-sanctioned AIDS awareness class. He returned to court in February 2000 to provide proof that he had completed the requirements of his sentence.

Discography

Studio Albums

Year	Album	Peak chart positions		Certifications
Year	Album	U.S.	U.S. R& B	Certifications
1991	T.E.V.I.N. Released: November 19, 1991 Label: Qwest Records\|Qwest / Warner Bros. Records\|Warner Bros.	38	5	Recording Industry Association of America\|US : Platinum
1993	I'm Ready Released: October 26, 1993 Label: Qwest / Warner Bros.	18	3	US: 2× Platinum
1996	Back to the World Released: June 25, 1996 Label: Qwest / Warner Bros.	46	11
1999	Tevin Campbell Released: February 23, 1999 Label: Qwest / Warner Bros.	88	31

Compilations

Year	Album	Billboard		sales threshold )
Year	Album	US	US R& B	sales threshold )
2001	The Best of Tevin Campbell Released: January 30, 2001 Label: Qwest / Warner Bros.	-	-

Singles

Year	Title	Chart Positions			Album
Year	Title	U.S.	U.S. R& B	AUS	Album
1989	" Tomorrow (A Better You, A Better Me) "	75	1	-	Back on the Block
1990	" Round and Round (Tevin Campbell song)	12	2	-	T.E.V.I.N. (album)
1991	" Just Ask Me To " (featuring Chubb Rock )	88	9	-
1991	" Tell Me What You Want Me to Do "	6	1	1
1992	" Goodbye (Tevin Campbell song)	85	2	-
	" Strawberry Letter 23#Tevin Campbell version	53	40	-
	" Alone With You "	72	1	-
1993	"Confused"	-	33	-
	"One Song"	-	-	-
	" Can We Talk "	9	1	12	'' I'm Ready (Tevin Campbell album)
1994	" I'm Ready (Tevin Campbell song)	9	2	21
1994	" Always in My Heart (Tevin Campbell song)	20	6	1
1995	" Don't Say Goodbye Girl "	71	28	-
1996	" Back To The World (Song)	47	16	31	Back to the World (Tevin Campbell album)
1996	"I Got It Bad"	-	41	-
1997	"You Don't Have to Worry"	-	58	-
1997	"Could You Learn To Love"	-	73	-
1998	" Another Way (Tevin Campbell song)	100	25	-	Tevin Campbell (album)
1999	"For Your Love"	-	54	-
1999	"Losing All Control"	-	83	-

As featured performer

Year	Title	Chart Positions			Album
Year	Title	U.S.	U.S. R& B	AUS	Album
1992	"I Know That My Redeemer Liveth"	-	-	-	'' Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration (various artists)

Awards and nominations

Year	Result	Award	Category	Song or album
1990	Won	Young Artist Award	Favorite New Recording Artist	"Tomorrow (A Better You Better Me)"
1994	Won	Soul Train Music Award	Best R& B/ Soul Single - Male	"Can We Talk"
1991	Nominated	Grammy Award	Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance - Male	"Round and Round"
1993	Nominated	Grammy Award	Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance - Male	T.E.V.I.N.
1994	Nominated	Grammy Award	Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance - Male	"Can We Talk"
1995	Nominated	Grammy Award	Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance - Male	"I'm Ready"
1995	Nominated	Grammy Award	Best Rhythm & Blues Album	''I'm Ready
1992	Nominated	American Music Award	Favorite Male Artist - Soul/ Rhythm & Blues	-
1994	Nominated	American Music Award	Favorite Male Artist - Soul/ Rhythm & Blues	-

Copyright Citations

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Urban/R&B Music Artists