Teddy Campbell
American Idol
Flick the channel to The Jay Leno Show and you can check out Teddy Campbell five nights a week, working off the host's comedy bits and backing just about everybody who's contemporary. Before that, season after season, Teddy was a big reason—and the perfect excuse—to watch America's favorite television talent show American Idol. With him at the helm, the house band was beyond heavy. Whether he was applying snap to Bill Withers or smack to Aerosmith, he was as exciting as it gets.
You'd think Campbell would have chilled a little, played it safer on Idol, given the audience numbers in the millions worldwide. But his default setting is an unholy barrage, tasteful as it is wicked.
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Attribute this to a background in contemporary gospel drumming, meaning Campbell can negotiate your basic fusion track with his left arm in a plaster cast. He works stadiums with A-listers including Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, and Queen Latifa, and assumes the role of musical director at major award shows. A founding member of The Soul Seekers, Teddy sings and shares the drum throne with Nissan Stewart.
Teddy Campbell hits you like...well, imagine you're sitting buck-naked on a folding chair at the mouth of a car wash. The track moves and you grind through a gauntlet of scalding sprays, crushing rollers, searing walls of wind, and a pummeling of buffer pads. You emerge drained of energy but gleaming.
You arrive at band rehearsal aglow. Your drumming exudes new energy. The band is knocked out. They ask what gives. You've just gone through the ringer at the Montréal Drum Fest.
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