Recruiting Command's Entertainment Team has a new face and a new name: Sgt. Corrin Campbell -- Soldier, musician, singer, songwriter and Army storyteller.
The Army has helped 30-year-old Campbell from Duluth., Minn., achieve her goals and she said that's a message she's genuinely passionate about sharing.
"Soldiers are all real people who achieve real goals -- while they are serving. I wouldn't be the person I am today … I wouldn't be the musician I am today if it weren't for the Army." she said, adding that music is a unique way to connect with people and a great way to show Soldiers as real people.
She is excited about continuing to do what she loves in the Army, but in an entirely new way.
Campbell said she started playing piano by ear at the age of 4 or 5, picked up the cello at 10, and learned the bass guitar as a high school senior so she could enlist as an Army musician, since there are very limited positions for string instruments. She served five years and deployed with the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, where she met a drummer -- now her husband Sgt. Tony Corbett. Campbell then served part time in the Maryland National Guard before deciding she missed being in an Army band and enlisted again in 2009. When she saw the announcement Recruiting Command (USAREC) was looking for musicians to audition for the program, she said she was stunned.
"I was like, 'Get out!'" said Cambell, who was at the time a member of the Army Materiel Command Band at Redstone Arsenal, Ala. "My first sergeant was just asking me what my dream job would be. I said, 'My dream job would be to play my own music and talk to people about the Army.' Here I am, getting to do what I love -- my dream job IN the Army."
While her own music fits into the rock category -- she and her husband have a band -- the commercially trained vocalist said she can sing pop, rock, R&B and some popular country to fit the audience and venue. Having been in the music industry for several years, she said she can also assist units with audience demographic analysis to determine the best genre of music and select appropriate songs for an event.
"I'm flexible. That's what's great about being in an Army band, you have to be proficient in all types of music."
Sergeant 1st Class Jamie Buckley, the country singer who's been touring the country telling his Army story since 2007, completed his tour at the headquarters and is waiting to find out where his next USAREC assignment will take him and his family.
With Buckley's departure, it was time to change the strategy of the program, according to Steve Lambert, USAREC G7/9 marketing division chief.
"We are shifting from a single artist centric brand to more like a label with a brand -- Army Recruiting Entertainment -- separate from the artist's identity and brand," he said. This concept better allows the potential for future growth with additional artists. As with any marketing program, however, the bottom line is leads, he said. To keep the music playing, the entertainment program must continue to demonstrate return on investment through effective lead generation.
Army Recruiting Entertainment presents -- Sgt. Corrin Campbell.
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