Jesse Camp

2025-07-12T21:12:19Z

2601:182:382:650:449:FDC5:9B24:AD59: I added his exact birth date.

{{Short description|American musician (b. 1980)}}
{{BLP sources|date=May 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jesse Camp
| birth_name = Josiah Jesse Camp
| birth_date = November 4, 1979
| birth_place = [[Granby, Connecticut]], U.S.
| occupation = Television personality, musician, songwriter, filmmaker
| spouse =
| years_active = 1998–present
| website =
| children =
}}
'''Josiah Jesse Holden Camp IV''' is an American [[musician]] and [[celebrity|television personality]] who was the winner of the first ''[[Wanna Be a VJ]]'' contest on [[MTV]].<ref name="abcnews.go.com">{{Cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/mtv-star-jesse-camp-missing-police/story?id=56778532|title=Former MTV star Jesse Camp no longer missing, police say|website=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] }}</ref>

==Career==
Camp entered MTV's first ''[[Wanna Be a VJ]]'' contest in 1998. Portraying himself as [[homeless]] and projecting the image of a "street kid",<ref>''Spin'' magazine, [https://books.google.com/books?id=xY9xO99TYMYC&dq=jesse+camp+spin&pg=PA50 "Poetry, man"]</ref> controversy arose when it was discovered that he had been raised and attended private school in [[Connecticut]].<ref name="rollingstone">''Rolling Stone'', "[https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/catching-up-with-jesse-camp-172821/ Catching up with Jesse Camp]"</ref><ref>Kaufman, Gil. [https://web.archive.org/web/20060419143225/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1526730/20060321/ford_willa.jhtml?headlines=true "Where Ya Been? Willa Ford Strips Down, Jesse Camp Drops Out"],''[[MTV]]'', March 22, 2006. Accessed October 7, 2007.</ref> Additionally, ''[[The Village Voice]]'' reported that an [[internet]] source, known only by the [[User (computing)|handle]] "UglyPig", claimed to have cast over 3,000 votes for Camp in the ''Wanna Be a VJ'' contest, exploiting a security flaw in the system.<ref name="MTV Contest Hacked">{{cite web|publisher = villagevoice.com|url = http://www.villagevoice.com/music/9818,lee,271,22.html|title = ''MTV Contest Hacked''|date = 1998-05-05|access-date = 2007-05-20|archive-date = 2007-07-04|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070704152516/http://www.villagevoice.com/music/9818,lee,271,22.html|url-status = dead}}</ref>

Camp beat fellow contestant [[Dave Holmes (actor)|Dave Holmes]] for a [[VJ (media personality)|VJ]] job on ''[[MTV Live (American TV program)|MTV Live]]''. Holmes was also later hired by MTV.

Camp was popular on the channel, with ''[[Rolling Stone (magazine)|Rolling Stone]]'' saying: "An unlikely instant star, he was soon adored by preteen fans, who crowded around him devotedly as he paraded through Times Square in feather boas, leather trousers, sparkly [[Steven Tyler]] scarves, and mismatched leg-warmers during his wacky man-on-the-street segments for MTV."<ref name="rollingstone"/>

Camp held his position on TRL with [[Carson Daly]] as the main host for over a year. Camp also hosted two additional programs of his own for daytime MTV audiences. Camp convinced MTV executives to let him book acts such as [[Faster Pussycat]], [[Ratt]], [[Sebastian Bach]] and [[Dee Snider]] as guests on his summer series "Lunch with Jesse" at a time when these artists were years past being in rotation on the channel.<ref name="rollingstone"/> For over a year, Camp hosted the contemporary rock program ''MTV Rocks Off'' interviewing artists such as [[Joey Ramone]], [[Henry Rollins]], [[Korn]], [[Limp Bizkit]], [[Sugar Ray]], [[Garbage (band)|Garbage]], [[Peter Steele]], [[Silverchair]] and [[Metallica]].

Following his departure from ''TRL'', Camp parlayed his MTV fame into a rock career with his 1999 debut album ''Jesse & the 8th Street Kidz'' on the [[Hollywood Records]] label. The album was produced by [[Rob Cavallo]] ([[Green Day]], [[Kid Rock]]) and [[Julian Raymond]] ([[Cheap Trick]], [[Glen Campbell]]), and specialized in the 1980s-style [[glam metal]] that fell out of fashion almost a decade before the album's release. Guest stars on the album included [[Stevie Nicks]] duetting with Camp on ballad "My Little Saviour", [[Rick Nielsen]], [[Steve Hunter]] and [[Gregg Bissonette]]. Camp cowrote the album with Alex Kane (Life, Sex and Death, Antiproduct), Bam Bam and Jo Almeida (Dogs D'Amour) and [[Share Pedersen]] (Vixen, Bubble). The album sold 2,600 copies in its opening week.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.laweekly.com/music/kreayshawns-new-album-is-not-in-fact-the-worst-selling-ever-2405039|title = Kreayshawn's New Album is Not, in Fact, the Worst-Selling Ever|date = 28 September 2012}}</ref>

A video for the first single "See You Around" included cameos from [[Reverend Run]] and [[Marky Ramone]]. Critical reviews were mixed. [[Rob Sheffield]] gave the album a review (3.5 stars) in Rolling Stone, while [[Stephen Thomas Erlewine]] of Allmusic gave the album 1 star out of a possible 5, writing: "At times, the music is catchy, but most of the time it's simply irritating, since Camp's singing is every bit as grating as his persona."<ref>[https://www.allmusic.com/album/jesse-the-8th-street-kidz-mw0000239816 AllMusic]</ref> In a retrospective review for ''[[The A.V. Club]]'', [[Nathan Rabin]] noted that the album was well-produced and featured solid performances by the [[session musicians]], but that the choice to obscure Camp's vocals on most songs betrays his limited musical ability, particularly on the duet with the far more talented Stevie Nicks.<ref>[https://www.avclub.com/article/contest-winning-case-file-17-jesse-the-8th-street--79754 The A.V. Club]</ref>

Camp appeared in an impromptu cameo on the documentary titled ''Power & Control LSD in The Sixties'', by Aron Ranen.<ref>Ranen, Aron. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZdz0G4lG6k "Power & Control LSD in the Sixties"], ''[[YouTube]]'', April 30, 2006. Accessed October 7, 2007.</ref>

==Personal life==
Camp was born in [[Granby, Connecticut]]. His father was a college professor and his mother was an elementary school principal. Camp attended public school in Granby through the eighth grade. For high school, Camp received a scholarship to [[Loomis Chaffee]], a New England boarding school, graduating in 1997. Also in 1997, Camp received a scholarship to the drama department of UCLA but never attended.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.laweekly.com/2008-05-22/la-vida/jesse-camp/|title='Jesse Camp'|accessdate=January 12, 2012}}</ref>

On July 19, 2018, Camp was reported missing by his sister Marish to the [[Riverside, California|Riverside]] Police Department.<ref name="rpd">Riverside Police Department [[Facebook]] post: "[https://www.facebook.com/RiversidePD/posts/10157329841686037 MISSING PERSON: JOSIAH "JESSE" CAMP]."</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.laweekly.com/2008-05-22/la-vida/jesse-camp/|title='Jesse Camp'|accessdate=January 12, 2012}}</ref><ref name="usa">''[[USA Today]]'' article: "[https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2018/07/23/jesse-camp-star-mtvs-wanna-vj-missing/823992002/ Jesse Camp, star of MTV's 'Wanna Be a VJ,' has been reported missing to police]".</ref> She stated that he had been out of contact with his family for about a week, which was unusual behavior for him, and that he was seen in Riverside around "the 11th or 12th of July".<ref name="variety">''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' article: "[https://variety.com/2018/music/news/jesse-camp-reported-missing-1202881792/ Former MTV VJ Jesse Camp Reported Missing]"</ref> He was later seen in [[Fontana, California|Fontana]] on July 19, when a bike patrol officer made a "pedestrian check" on Camp outside of a [[Sherwin-Williams]] store, just hours before his sister reported him missing.<ref name="et">''[[Entertainment Tonight]]'' article: "[https://www.etonline.com/jesse-camp-former-mtv-vj-reported-missing-police-investigating-possible-disappearance-106576 Jesse Camp, Former MTV VJ, Reported Missing, Police Investigating Possible Disappearance]."</ref><ref name="rpd" />

On July 24, 2018, the Riverside Police Department confirmed that Camp was found safe.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2018/07/mtv-vj-jesse-camp-trl-josiah-riverside-police-department-1202432336|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180724073232/https://deadline.com/2018/07/mtv-vj-jesse-camp-trl-josiah-riverside-police-department-1202432336/|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 24, 2018|title=Former MTV VJ Jesse Camp No Longer Considered Missing – Update|date=24 July 2018}}</ref>

== References ==
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==External links==
* {{Discogs artist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Camp, Jesse}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:American video jockeys]]
[[Category:Reality show winners]]
[[Category:Loomis Chaffee School alumni]]
[[Category:1979 births]]

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Jesse Camp