Isaias Gamboa (music producer)

Isaias Gamboa (April 22, 1963) is a Costa Rican-American music producer, songwriter, arranger and author. Born in San Jose, Costa Rica to parents of Spanish and Afro-Caribbean ancestry, his mother, Carmen Gamboa Beckles, was from the mostly afro-caribbean coastal city of Puerto Limon and his father, Danilo Gamboa Mora, from the predominantly white provincial city of San Ramón Costa Rica.

A music industry veteran, Gamboa has written, produced and arranged more than 50 songs for major recording artists including three albums for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame recording artists The Temptations. Gamboa produced the Grammy Award winning CD Ear-Resistible, which won the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Vocal Performance. He also produced the remix for "Pain" by Tupak Shakur for the Multi-Platinum, Above The Rim (soundtrack)^{[1] [2]} Gamboa is also the founder of the non-profit organization, We Shall Overcome Foundation.

Gamboa grew up during the turbulent 1960's and 70's in the primarily African American community of South Central Los Angeles. Considered a child prodigy, by age 11, he played several musical instruments and had even accompanied noted Los Angeles-based Blues singer, Ernie Andrews on the blues guitar; having been schooled in the genre by noted Jump Blues guitarist, Edgar Rice. At age 17, he was discovered by hit R&B producer, Leon Sylvers III, who , in addition to legendary music producer, Richard Perry, mentored him over the next 15 years. Signed by legendary music industry executive, Clive Davis, as a singer and keyboardist, Isaias Gamboa was a member of the 1980's R&B band, Real To Reel (Arista Records). Notably, after having met Leon Sylvers III at a celebrity basketball game in Los Angeles, five-time Grammy Award winning music producers, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis produced their first ever recordings as professional music producers, "Can You Treat Me Like She Does" and "Don't Keep Me Hangin' On", on Gamboa's band, Real To Reel". Isaias Gamboa was also a founding member of the 1990's neoclassical R&B singing group, "Double Action Theatre" (Polydor Records)

Gamboa is a licensed Christian Minister with a rich religious heritage. His mother was Baptist, and his father - Catholic. He also identifies his Jewish heritage through his Jamaican maternal grandmother, Louise Teitelbaum. This background, along with his musical expertise, has inspired and informed several important projects in his life. Notable among them is his 2012 book, We Shall Overcome: Sacred Song on the Devil's Tongue.^{[3] [4]}

^{[5] [6]}

We Shall Overcome: Sacred Song on the Devil’s Tongue is the biography of Louise Shropshire (1913-1993), songwriter and close friend of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth and Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey. Shropshire played an important role in the creation of the iconic freedom song, “We Shall Overcome.” The song's, adapted by Pete Seeger and others, has been credited to “Unknown” for more than half a century, but recently uncovered facts (presented in Gamboa’s book) trace Shropshire’s uncredited involvement with the freedom standard to her 1954 hymn, “If My Jesus Wills,” from which prima facie and other evidence indicates “We Shall Overcome” was derived. ^{[7] [8]}

Louise Shropshire's papers and artifacts were acquired in 2014 by the University of Cincinnati and are preserved in the Rare Books Archives.. ^[9]

According to The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, the Shropshire collection includes photographs, family memorabilia, letters, sheet music and other documents. The collection is held in UC’s Archives and Rare Books Library, located on the eighth floor of Blegen Library. ^[10]

References

External links

• We Shall Overcome Foundation