Back at very beginning of the 90s, Tevin Campbell had a dream start of any music career. His first single, “Tomorrow (A Better You, Better Me)”, got produced by Quincy Jones. Then, he appeared in a Prince movie (Graffiti Bridge), singing “Round and Round”, which became a huge hit and things got even bigger, global and promising.
For his debut album, “T.E.V.I.N”, more big guns were hired to push his career. He got to work with Babyface and had a massive hit with the Narada Michael Walden produced, “Tell Me What You Want Me To Do”.
At the time, with the music business recovering from the Milli Vanilli scandal, there was a need for real talent. People who could really sing and prove this live. It paved the way for a real vocalist, at the time, like Mariah Carey to get a never seen before type of start of her career. She also created a demand for more acrobatics and wide vocal ranges, within R&B, and Tevin Campbell checked all the boxes.
Oh, yeah, and the most impressive part of this all, was that Tevin was just midway his teens when all of this happened. Great things seemed to be in the cards for him, but instead, things went bad after his second album. Reportedly hooked on drugs, he got arrested and very quickly disappeared from the music scene.
Nevertheless, he had made a lasting impression on R&B fans worldwide, who already remained wondering whatever happened to him. So, in 2012 he went online to post a YouTube video of him singing his own songs. Clearly slimmed down, it sparked many rumors about his health or addiction status, but he still proved he had the voice.
He’s been doing things (performances and theatre) throughout the years, but everything has been sporadic, and his own music rarely made it out there.
At the end of last year, he performed at the Soul Train Awards, during a Babyface tribute. This has rekindled interest in him and finally, 20 years after his last single, a new single is released.
“Safer On The Ground” is the result of years of attempting to get back in the music business, even with the help of big names in the business. It’s a classic R&B track that reminds you of the 90s. Tevin has admitted that a second single is already planned to be released after and hopes to finally release the album, he announced 2 years ago, this summer.
