Thomas Wolfe once said, "If a man has talent and cannot use it, he has failed. If he has talent and uses only half of it, he has partly failed. If he has a talent and learns somehow to use the whole of it, he has gloriously succeeded, and won a satisfaction and triumph few men ever know."

Dr. Eric J. Chambers has been gifted with many talents and has tasted that triumph Thomas Wolfe spoke about. And he is maximizing them in print, radio, TV and film. The 4-time Emmy/5-time Golden Mike Award winner (formerly of CBS in Hollywood) is riding the wave of his latest success story, Dining With The Ancestors: When Heroes Come To Dinner, a beautiful Black History coffee table picture book that’s inspiring, educating and entertaining people all over the nation~and the world.

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The idea of the book came about when he was looking at a picture taken in 2000 at dinner with his “surrogate grandmother,” the late Mrs. Mamie Till Mobley, the mother of civil rights icon Emmett Louis Till, and another picture of Rosa Parks, whom he’d dined with. It prompted him to ask more than 350 celebrities and notables, “If you could have dinner with anyone from history’s past, who would it be and what would the conversation consist of?” Among those featured are Tyler Perry, Taraji P. Henson, Kendrick Lamar, Tyrese Gibson, India Arie, Sheryl Underwood, Tamar Braxton, Dawnn Lewis, T'Keyah Crystal Kemah, Willard Pugh, Bishop TD Jakes, Brandy, Yolanda Adams, Charlie Wilson, Morgan Freeman and Gladys Knight, who revealed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was her cousin.

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Chambers, a veteran journalist and Hollywood red carpet reporter, has toured the nation in support of his book, appearing on TV and radio shows, and in print. “We see and hear the violence among our youth all over America. I believe if they understood the sacrifices that were made on their behalf, the awesome accomplishments of the ancestors and the journeys it took to achieve them, they would honor them by doing good, not destroying each other’s futures.”

 

His love for history began as a child when he watched Alex Haley’s Roots, the national TV mini-series that swept the nation. “It was then, I fell in love with learning more about my people and our genealogy. My great-grandparents were alive at the time and I remember asking them if they were slaves. They were not, but their grandparents were.”  Willis Johnson and Rose Isaac Jordan are two of the people they referred to as slaves. Both appear on the front cover of his book, Dining With The Ancestors.

 

Through AfricanAncestry.com, Chambers was able to trace his family’s DNA back to Cameroon, West Africa on his mother’s side of the family, and Gabon, West Africa on his father’s side. “Learning where my roots originated was liberating. My soul felt at ease knowing exactly where my ancestors were stolen from before making the unfortunate journey to this new world called America.”

 

His love for history and skills as a journalist enabled him to merge both, creating the book. He says, in the words of the late June Carter Cash, “I’m just trying to matter.”

 

On November 17, 2011 he created The CUT: The Chambers Urban TV Network, a Hollywood based entertainment and news syndicate. It offers video reports to urban media all over the world~from Hollywood to South Africa via print and You Tube.

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June 14, 2003 he launched his national TV show, The Jazzspel with Eric J. on The Word Network, the nation’s second largest urban TV network based in Southfield, Michigan. Available in over 86 million US homes and worldwide, Dr. Chambers aired 137 episodes and was on TV 458 consecutive weeks!!! His fan base stretched as far as Africa and London.

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The Hollywood-based reality program featured celebrity interviews and music videos. Among the guests who appeared are Beyoncé, Harrison Ford, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Arsenio Hall, Vivica A. Fox, R. Kelly, Toni Braxton, Tamar Braxton, Yolanda Adams, Stevie Wonder, Kanyé West, Gladys Knight, Loretta Devine, Kelly Rowland, Jason Alexander, Mark Wahlberg and Magic Johnson to name a few.

 

Before The Word Network, for six years Chambers worked as an editor/producer for the CBS2 News in Hollywood where his career was decorated with four Emmy Awards and five Golden Mike Awards. He also served as an editor/reporter at KGTV10 (ABC) in San Diego, CA. He has worked at ABC, NBC, Big Brother, The Amazing Race, The Reelz Channel, CNN, DirecTV and NFL Network.

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The accomplished documentary filmmaker’s works include Storm Cloud Rising: I Wanna Go Home, a compelling, heart-wrenching look at Hurricane Katrina’s affect on his native New Orleans, La. and its gulf neighbors. Other works include It's Something Wonderful About Truth: Remembering Emmett Louis Till, which includes a never-before-seen interview with Till’s mother, the late Mrs. Mamie Till Mobley. He also covered President Barack Obama’s historic run for the White House and a plethora of red carpet premieres and events dating back to 1995's Waiting To Exhale.

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He appears on the 2013 audio bible, The Bible Experience: New International Version, directed by Chip Hurd. It stars Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Idris Elba, Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine, Bishop T.D. Jakes and more.

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He launched his Jazzspel radio show on Smooth Jazz 98.1 KIFM in San Diego on July 10, 1994. The show aired a record 888 straight weeks! In 1993, he started at the station as the news and public affairs director, and morning drive anchor. In January 2013, The Jazzspel was re-launched in online syndication and can be heard worldwide from LA to Barbados. Over 1025 weekly episodes have aired!

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Chambers is also author of The Love I Have For You: Breaking The Baby-Daddy Cycle with Fatherly Love, a book about the love for his daughter Aerica and the importance of fathers being an integral part of their children’s lives. Pastor Rick Warren, the best selling author of all times and author The Purpose Driven Life endorsed the book.

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He began his journalism career on June 22, 1976 as a 13-year-old sportswriter for his hometown Slidell (La.) Daily Sentry-News, earning $3.00 per article. His first beat was covering little league baseball. He eventually covered high school and college sports, and professional wrestling. 

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Dr. Chambers is a US Navy veteran, serving as a radioman (communications specialist) and International Morse Code operator. While in the military, he traveled to such places as Africa, Japan, The Philippines, Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Australia. 

 

He has a degree in Speech Communications, having attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, LA and New Orleans, LA; San Diego City College and San Diego State University.  And he has a doctorate in Theology from Next Dimension University in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. He is single and resides in North Orange County, CA.

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For more information on Dr. Eric J. Chambers please visit: www.EricJChambers.com.