Draft:Camara Kambon

• Comment: None of the cited sources represents significant coverage; all are just IMDb listings, or articles about other artists that may (or may not) mention Kambon. WikiDan61^ChatMe!_ReadMe!! 20:08, 30 January 2024 (UTC)

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Camara Kambon (born February 4, 1973) is an American film composer, songwriter, pianist, music producer and educator. He is known for his collaborations with Dr. Dre on the 6x platinum Chronic 2001, 4x platinum Eminem’s The Slim Shady LP and diamond certified The Marshall Mathers LP. He co-wrote Mary J. Blige’s first #1 hit Family Affair, composed the theme for the Mara Brock Akil produced hit CW sitcom, Girlfriends, the score for the Dreamworks’ feature film, Biker Boyz, and at age 23, became the youngest composer to receive a national Emmy Award for scoring the HBO film, Sonny Liston: The Mysterious Life and Death of a Champion.

Camara Kambon has received an Emmy Award, three Emmy Award nominations, three Grammy nominations, a BMI Pop Award and BMI Film/TV Award.

Early life

Camara Kambon grew up in northwest Baltimore, Maryland. His mother first noticed his attraction to music when, at 10 months, he began rhythmically tapping on his highchair. He began taking drum lessons at age two and piano lessons at four. By age six, he began writing original compositions.  

At age 10, Kambon was awarded the Jacques Kahn scholarship to attend the Peabody Preparatory School of the Johns Hopkins University studying jazz with Charles Covington, classical piano with Nancy Roldan, and musicianship with Carol Thomas. He simultaneously attended the St. Paul’s School for Boys, and later, Friends School of Baltimore during the daytime, while taking evening and weekend classes at Peabody four days a week.

While a student at Peabody, Kambon attended the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina in the summer of 1988 and The Walden School for Young Composers in Dublin, New Hampshire, during the summers of 1985, 1986, and 1987.  At 14, he was awarded the Eubie Blake scholarship and performed with jazz legend trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie at Blues Alley in Washington, D.C. It was during this same year he encountered composer and longtime Bill Cosby collaborator, Stu Gardner, who inspired an interest in composing for TV and film. In the summer of 1990, he composed La Puesta del Sol for the music composition category of the NAACP's ACT-SO national competition, where he was a second-place winner, and first place in the music contemporary performance category. The following year, he composed Paskhaius for the music composition category, where he was a first-place winner. In spring of 1991, Kambon would graduate from Friends School and Peabody with honors in classical & jazz piano and musicianship.

In the fall of 1991, Kambon received the Jesse Stone scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he majored in film scoring and music production & engineering. While there, he composed his first score for the Emmy-nominated film, Dancing: New Worlds New Forms, produced by award-winning documentary filmmaker Orlando Bagwell, featuring the late jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove and his quintet. At 19, he also composed music for a second Orlando Bagwell film, the PBS Emmy Award winning feature length documentary, Malcolm X: Make it Plain. Kambon composed music for Bagwell’s Frederick Douglass: When the Lion Wrote History, released in 1994.

In 1995, Kambon premiered his commissioned piece, Korikabaya, with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Career

1995–1999

After graduating from Berklee in 1995, Kambon moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a composer, initially working as a pianist, performing locally in clubs and on small tours. During this time he was hired as assistant music director for Fox Broadcasting Company’s talk show The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show.

A year later, then 23, Kambon became the youngest composer to receive a national Emmy award, for the Kirby Bradley produced HBO film Sonny Liston: The Mysterious Life and Death of a Champion. In that same year, Kambon was hired to work with rapper and record producer Dr. Dre as his keyboardist, music director and orchestrator in residence for all recordings of his newly formed company, Aftermath Entertainment. He co-wrote Dr. Dre hits Forgot About Dre and The Next Episode drawing on his classical background, which influenced the usage of strings and other orchestral instruments in this signature sound; Eminem’s My Name Is and Guilty Conscious; Snoop Dogg’s B**** Please; and co-wrote Mary J. Blige’s Family Affair, the singer’s first song to top the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1997, Kambon composed the music for the PBS documentary Family Name by filmmaker Macky Alston. He earned a second Emmy nomination for the HBO documentary, Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio? in 1998. That same year, he was selected as a fellow in the first Sundance Institute Composer’s Lab, composed the music for comedian Damon Wayan’s first primetime TV sitcom, Damon on Fox, and the score for LeVar Burton’s Emmy-nominated directorial debut, The Tiger Woods Story, starring Keith David and Khalil Kain.

In 1999, Kambon composed additional music for director Rick Famuyiwa’s film The Wood and Oliver Stone’s film Any Given Sunday, for which he also co-wrote and produced the song, Dinosaur, featuring Macy Gray.

2000–2003

In 2000, Kambon composed the music for the first season of the CW series, Girlfriends, including the show’s theme song featuring singer Angie Stone. He would go on to compose the music for the MTV series 2gether: The Series, Reggie Rock Bythewood’s directorial debut, the HBO film Dancing in September and the documentary Michael Jordan to the Max. 

In early 2001, Kambon was hired as A&R/Producer-in-Residence by Virgin Records, working with artists including Aaliyah and Nikka Costa. He produced songs for Dreamworks artists, Kina and Jessy Moss and received three Grammy nominations for co-writing Family Affair; for his keyboard work on Nelly Furtado’s album Whoa, Nelly!; and for his contribution to Eve’s album, Scorpion. Kambon also recorded, wrote and/or arranged songs for artists, including 50-Cent, Nas, Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, George Michael, Nine Inch Nails, Gwen Stefani, Xzibit, N.W.A., Warren G, Mack-10, and D12.

In 2002, Kambon received his second Emmy Award nomination for scoring the HBO documentary, OJ: A Study in Black and White, reunited with Alston to compose the score for the HBO Cinemax film, Questioning Faith: Confessions of a Seminarian and co-wrote and produced the song Soy el Baile for Miramax’s Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights. He also co-wrote and produced, Thank Heaven for You for Esthero’s Reprise Records release, Wikked Lil’ Grrrls, and Ladyfingers (remix) for the Shout Factory release Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass Whipped Cream and Other Delights Rewhipped.

In 2003, he received his third Emmy nomination for scoring the HBO documentary A City on Fire: The Story of the ’68 Detroit Tigers, and reunited with Bythewood to compose the score for the Dreamworks film Biker Boyz. He also reunited with Bagwell to score the award-winning PBS Matters of Race series and Citizen King, a two-hour documentary that explores the last five years of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

2004–2009

Kambon collaborated with director Tyler Perry as a music consultant, co-music supervisor on his first three films, Diary of a Mad Black Woman in 2005, Madea’s Family Reunion in 2006, and Daddy’s Little Girls in 2007.

In 2008, Kambon composed the score for the Oscar-nominated HBO short film, La Corona. The soundtrack was released on Lakeshore Records, becoming Kambon’s first commercial release as an artist. He reunited with Macky Alston to compose the score for the HBO Cinemax documentary, Hard Road Home. He also composed the score for director Andrea Muller’s PBS film Now En Español and reunited with Bythewood for TV One’s, Daddy’s Girl.

"But when I compose and I'm in the process of dealing with musicians, how I interact with the movie, how I interact with the characters is all the same. What I try to do is really connect. There's a specific sound that directors are coming to me for. Although instrumentation may change, orchestration may change, context may change, the sentiment behind it is all the same. What I want to do is always come with integrity, with passion." – Camara Kambon

https://www.documentary.org/feature/composers-confab-creating-best-score-your-film

2010–Present

In 2010, Kambon would again reunite with Bythewood to score his documentary One Night in Vegas, for ESPN’s 30 for 30 series before taking a break from music to earn a master’s degree in transpersonal psychology from Atlantic University.

For the next 6 years, Kambon focused on educating youth and up-and-coming composers and music producers. He conducted master classes and seminars at Berklee College of Music, UC Fullerton, USC, UCLA, Sundance Institute, Musicians’ Institute, Duke at USC, and for the Orquestra Criança Cidadã (Recife, Brasil).

Kambon composed the music for the 2015 PBS documentary, John Lewis: Get in the Way and reunited with producer Kirby Bradley to compose for the 2018 ESPN 30 for 30 documentary Seau, about the life and times of the late San Diego Charger linebacker, Junior Seau. 

Most recently, Kambon’s work was featured during the 2022 Super Bowl LVI Halftime show and in Marvel Studios’ Thor: Love and Thunder.  He served as the music director for writer/producer Ligiah Villalobos’ (Under the Same Moon) first scripted podcast, Adelita: Changing the Key, starring Diane Guerrero (Encanto, Orange is the New Black), Ana Ortiz (Ugly Betty, Devious Maids), Jesse Garcia, Ellie Hernandez and Lamar K Cheston.  

Kambon is currently composing the score for Acts of Reparation, his fourth collaboration with director Macky Alston, co-directed with fellow producer Selina Davidson Lewis.

External links

Official website.

Camara Kambon on IMDb.