Tevin Campbell

Like Rahsaan Patterson, Tevin Campbell was a child prodigy. In fact, as we learned yesterday, they collaborated once. But there are also differences. Rahsaan came out on his own terms and managed to maintain a balanced and long career, even if it was commercially unspectacular. Tevin, on the other hand, was outed in a traumatic way and his once very promising career was derailed because of the repercussions of this event.

Tevin Campbell was born in Texas in 1976. He displayed a passion for singing at a very early age, performing gospel in his local church. Following an audition for a famous jazz musician in 1988, Campbell was signed to Warner Bros. Records. In 1989, at age 13, he collaborated with none other than Quincy Jones, performing lead vocals for Tomorrow on Jones' album Back To The Block. The single made #1 in the US R&B chart and #75 in the Hot 100.

Campbell's first solo hit was Round And Round (#3 US R&B, #13 Hot 100). It was produced by yet another legend, Prince himself. It was also featured in Prince's film Graffiti Bridge.

The song Round and Round earned Campbell a Grammy nomination but lost to Luther Vandross for Here And Now. (See how I've already connected two of our previous guests to today's story? It's all just a few degrees of separation, my friends...)

Campbell followed the success of his first two singles by releasing his debut album, T.E.V.I.N. in 1991 (#5 US R&B, #38 Hot 100). It went platinum in the US. Including Round and Round, it contained 6 singles that made the US Hot 100. The most successful of which was Tell Me What You Want Me to Do (#1 US R&B, #6 Hot 100).

Alone with You was another R&B #1 hit from this album:

Goodbye made #2 in the US R&B chart:

Tevin's second album, I'm Ready (1993) was even more successful, peaking at #3 in the US R&B chart and #18 in the Top 200. It went double-platinum in the US and gold in Australia. The first single, Can We Talk, was also a very big hit (#1 US R&B, #9 Hot 100).

I'm Ready made #2 in the US R&B chart and #9 in the Hot 100.

Always in My Heart made #6 in the US R&B chart and #20 in the Hot 100.

During the first half of the 90s, he was involved in various different projects: he appeared as an actor in Graffiti Bridge and in The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. Also he took part in the recording of Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration in 1992. Here he is in I Know That My Redeemer Liveth:

He also took part in Grammy Award-winning album Take 6; A Very Special Christmas 2 singing Oh Holy Night:

Another album in which he appeared on was Barcelona Gold, celebrating the 1992 Olympics. He sang One Song:

In 1994, he was featured on the sountrack to the film, A Low Down Dirty Shame singing Gotta Get Yo' Groove On:

During that period, Campbell also scored an R&B hit with the charity single U Will Know as part of the R&B super-group Black Men United, a group that also included El DeBarge, Gerald Levert, Tony Toni Toné, Boyz II Men, Al B. Sure!, Lenny Kravitz, R. Kelly, Aaron Hall, Brian McKnight, Silk, Keith Sweat, Stokley, H-Town, Christopher Williams, Portrait, Damion Hall, Lil' Joe, Intro, DRS, After 7, Usher, Sovory, Joe, D'Angelo.

In 1995, Campbell voiced the character Powerline in A Goofy Movie performing the songs I 2 I...

... and Stand Out:

In 1996, Tevin contributed a version of the Stevie Wonder classic Knocks Me Off My Feet to the soundtrack of the movie A Thin Line Between Love and Hate:

During that same year, Tevin, now 19, released his third album, Back to the World which, compared to the first two, was a commercial disappointment. Tevin was trying to make the transition from teenager to adult, which isn't always smooth. The only sizeable hit of the album was the title track, co-written by Rahsaan Patterson. We heard it yesterday, but let's hear it again today anyway:

For the 1996 Olympics, he covered The Impossible Dream:

At around the same time, he joined other Soul superstars for a West Side Story tribute album. Here he is with One Hand, One Heart:

In 1999, his fourth album, titled Tevin Campbell, 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, an R&B Top 30 song called Another Way:

Then, in September 1999, it happened: Tevin, not yet 23, got busted for soliciting oral sex from a male undercover cop in a well-known gay cruising zone. Not exactly the way you want to come out to the world.

I said it once before when we were discussing George Michael's arrest and I'll say it again: policemen cruising gay men and then arresting them for lewd behavior is one of the dirtiest tricks. It's homophobic, pure and simple.

During 2000, Campbell stayed out of the public eye. In 2001, his record company released the compilation album, The Best of Tevin Campbell. In 2002, it was reported that he had stopped making music. Through 2003 to 2004, Campbell had still not made a public appearance and kept a low profile. It was evident that he as a person and his support network (family, friends, manager, record company) didn't know how to deal with this forced outing. George Michael dealt with it well, but he was much older when it happenned, plus he didn't grow up in the bubble of a child star like Tevin did. Even then, it did destroy George Michael's career in the US. (Thankfully the Brits aren't shocked as easily).

Even when he started doing interviews, he was defensive and a bit confused when describing his sexuality. Here’s an excerpt from the 2003 interview with Jamie Foster Brown for Sister 2 Sister Magazine:

Jaime: You don’t want them to know what your sexuality is?

Tevin: I’m not gay, but there are a lot of different things that I do like, sexually. Being in the business, you are introduced to a lot of different things. I’m not gay but I’m a freak and I think a lot of people know what a freak is.

Jaime: I don’t. What is it?

Tevin: Basically, I’m trying a lot of things. Being open-minded. It has nothing to do with attraction. It’s just having fun and I did a lot of that on the road with dancers. We had truth or dare.

Jaime: So you’re saying it could be male or female? Whatever is happening at that time?

Tevin: Right. I am not exclusively attracted to men. I’m not gay, but sexually…

Jaime: Would you say you’re bisexual?

Tevin: No, just TRY-sexual

Jaime: What is that? You, me and he?

Tevin: Leave that to the imagination

7 years later, in another interview for imisstheoldschool, he said:

You have been out of the media spotlight for a while, but the last time you were really in the news was when you were arrested in 1999

… That was… a part of me. When I got pulled over, I was drunk and I remember the cops putting their handcuffs on me and throwing up. It was a lewd conduct charge… and you know I was 22 at that time. It had nothing to do with who I am today. I have never actually spoken on the subject…

Will you speak on it now?

I did some stupid shit. I was driving around drunk, doing drugs. I had too much time on my hands and I got caught doing something I shouldn’t have been doing. It has nothing to do with who I am today or my sexuality, or whether I’m gay or straight.

Are you gay?

That’s nobody’s business. If someone is interested in me and they wanna be my friend or whatever, then we can talk. It’s nobody’s business what I like to do behind closed doors, just because I am a celebrity. I hate that. And I like the fact that people wanna know. Let ‘em wonder. I like to leave a little bit to the imagination. But if you happen to get to know me and we hit it off… I share a lot of personal things with friends, which is a normal thing to do.

But with so many years of speculation, don’t you want to take the chance to clear things up?

I don’t care what people think of me. I like a lot of different things – you have no idea. But that was all part of acting out and just being lost. And I got into a whole bunch of more trouble after that, which no one even knew about. I mean jail and really really bad stuff. God was talking to me and telling me ‘you better watch it.’ That arrest was just the beginning of a long road. Kids today want to be in the business so bad, but you have to be protected, and I was, but I still got into it. It is not a place for a young person to be.

Campbell is a tenor who possesses a three-octave vocal range. At the age of 22, when most people make the first timid steps of their career, Tevin had it all. He then had his recording career taken from him because he was cruising for c*ck. That's just f*cking unfair, that's all I have to say.