Round And Round – Tevin Campbell | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning

Chart Performance: Pop (#12) & R&B (#3); 1990

Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne

Born in Waxahachie, Texas, Tevin Campbell honed his vocal skills in the local church choir. At the tender age of 12, Tevin appeared on television’s Wally & The Valentines show, and was discovered by the legendary Quincy Jones when he saw a video of Campbell singing.

(Some sources say jazz flutist Bobbi Humphrey introduced Tevin to Quincy). Quincy was mightily impressed, and flew Tevin to Los Angeles to record a song for his Back On The Block album.

Credited to “Quincy Jones Featuring Tevin Campbell,” Tomorrow (A Better You, Better Me) topped the R&B chart in June of 1990. Accolades for Tevin poured in, including some from Prince, who pegged Tevin to appear in Graffiti Bridge.

For Tevin’s on-screen singing debut, the Purple One wrote and produced Round And Round. Round roared to #3 R&B, went gold, and helped propel Tevin’s self-titled solo album to #5 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart.

This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.

Produced by:

• Prince

Lyrics Written by:

• Prince