Camara Kambon

Camara Kambon (born February 4, 1973) is an American film composer, songwriter, pianist, music producer and educator. He is known for collaborating with Dr. Dre on Chronic 2001, as well as Eminem on The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP. He co-wrote the Mary J. Blige song Family Affair, composed the theme for the Mara Brock Akil produced CW sitcom, Girlfriends, and the score for the DreamWorks' feature film, Biker Boyz. Kambon has received an Emmy Award, two Emmy nominations, three Grammy nominations, a BMI Pop Award and a BMI Film/TV Award.

Early life and career Camara Kambon grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and began piano studies at an early age. At 10, Kambon received the Jacques Kahn scholarship to attend the Peabody Preparatory School of the Johns Hopkins University, to study jazz, classical piano, and musicianship. Later at 14, he performed with jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie at Blues Alley in Washington, D.C. In the same year, he met Bill Cosby collaborator, Stu Gardner, which led to an interest in composing for TV and film. In the 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 company, Aftermath Entertainment. He contributed to songs including Dr. Dre's Still D.R.E, Forgot About Dre, Xxxplosive, and The Next Episode, In addition, he educates young composers and songwriters while performing as a jazz pianist.

Filmography

Film

Family Name (1997) The Wood (1999) Any Given Sunday (1999) Michael Jordan to the Max (2000) John Lewis: Get in the Way (2015) Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

Television

Dancing: New Worlds New Forms (1993) Malcolm X: Make it Plain (1994) 2gether: The Series (2000) A City on Fire: The Story of the ’68 Detroit Tigers (2002) This Far by Faith (2003) Citizen King (2004) Daddy’s Girl (2007) One Night in Vegas (2010) Now En Español (2015) Seau (2018) The First Lady (2022)

Awards and nominations In 1995, Kambon won a Sports Emmy Award for scoring the HBO film Sonny Liston: The Mysterious Life and Death of a Champion. In 1997, Kambon received an Emmy nomination for scoring the HBO documentary, Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?. In 1997, Kambon won a BMI Film/TV Award for scoring Sonny Liston: The Mysterious Life and Death of a Champion. In 2001, Kambon received a Grammy nomination for co-writing Mary J. Blige’s song Family Affair. In 2001, Kambon received a Grammy nomination for his keyboard work on Nelly Furtado’s album Whoa, Nelly!. In 2002, Kambon received a Grammy nomination for his keyboard work on Eve’s album Scorpion. In 2002, Kambon received an Emmy nomination for scoring the HBO documentary A City on Fire: The Story of the ’68 Detroit Tigers. In 2003, Kambon won a BMI Pop Award for co-writing Mary J. Blige’s song Family Affair.