Readers of That Grape Juice know what avid music lovers we are – especially of hits past.
So, as our retrospective segments, ‘From the Vault’ and ‘TGJ Replay,’ allow us the chance to re-spin the gems and jams of yesterday of one artist, our latest feature – Chart Rewind – serves as a variation of our Retro Rewind assay to salute an entire era of music history.
This week, we’re going to tell you about ‘Tell Me What You Want to Do’ – the first Hot 100 top 10 hit from R&B veteran Tevin Campbell.
By the time Tevin Campbell unveiled his Prince-penned debut single, ‘Round & Round,’ in fall 1990, he was already a bona fide R&B sensation having earned a #1 hit the year prior on the genre’s Billboard chart as the leader of Quincy Jones‘ inspirational tune, ‘Tomorrow (A Better You, Better Me).’
Cementing his status as R&B’s new “it” kid on the block, ‘Round’ made its rounds on rhythmic and Pop radio before stalling at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 – his first entry as a solo act. After its follow-up, ‘Just Ask Me To,’ failed to live up to the pressure of meeting or exceeding the chart performance of ‘Round,’ Campbell & co. went back to the drawing board to select the soaring ballad ‘Tell Me What You Want Me To Do’ as their next swing at bat.
Produced by Narada Michael Walden (famous for his work with Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, and more), the song’s launch to radio quickly proved a homerun.
Cracking the Hot 100’s top 10 this week in 1992 (a first for the then-15-year-old), ‘Tell’ went on to show and tell – eventually peaking at his career-high of #6, becoming his second Gold-certified single for sales of 500,000 in the United States, and helping to push its parent project, ‘T.E.V.I.N.,’ to Platinum status for sales of 1 million in the United States.
Hot 100 This Week in 1992
*click to enlarge*
Hot 100 This Week
Click here to see this week’s full TGJ Chart Check: Hot 100.