Tracy Chapman (born March 30, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter, known for her hits "Fast Car" and "Give Me One Reason", along with other singles "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution", "Baby Can I Hold You", "Crossroads", "New Beginning" and "Telling Stories". She is a multi-platinum and four-time Grammy Award-winning artist.[1]
Chapman was signed to Elektra Records by Bob Krasnow in 1987. The following year she released her critically acclaimed debut album Tracy Chapman, which became a multi-platinum worldwide hit. The album garnered Chapman six Grammy Award nominations, including Album of the Year, three of which she won, including Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her single "Fast Car", and Best New Artist. Chapman released her second album Crossroads
the following year, which garnered her an additional Grammy nomination.
Since then, Chapman has experienced further success with six more
studio albums, which include her multi-platinum fourth album New Beginning, for which she won a fourth Grammy award, for Best Rock Song, for its lead single "Give Me One Reason". Chapman's most recent release is Our Bright Future, in 2008.
Early life
Chapman was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She was raised by her mother, who recognized Tracy's love of music and, despite not having much money, bought her a ukulele when she was just three.[2]
Chapman began playing guitar and writing songs at the age of eight. She
says that she may have been first inspired to play the guitar by the
television show Hee Haw.[3]
Raised Baptist, Chapman attended an Episcopal high school.[3] She was accepted into the program "A Better Chance", which helps minority students attend private schools. She graduated from Wooster School in Connecticut, then attended Tufts University.[4] She graduated with a B.A. degree in anthropology and African studies.[5]
Career
During college, Chapman began busking in Harvard Square and playing guitar in Club Passim, the Nameless Coffeehouse, and other coffeehouses in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[citation needed] Another Tufts student, Brian Koppelman, heard Chapman playing and brought her to the attention of his father, Charles Koppelman. Koppelman, who ran SBK Publishing, signed Chapman in 1986. After Chapman graduated from Tufts in 1987, he helped her to sign a contract with Elektra Records.[5]
At Elektra, she released Tracy Chapman (1988). The album was critically acclaimed, and she began touring and building a fanbase. "Fast Car" began its rise on the US charts soon after she performed it at the televised Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert in June 1988; it became a number 6 pop hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending August 27, 1988. Rolling Stone ranked the song number 167 on their 2010 list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[6]
It is the highest-ranking song both written and performed by a female
performer. "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution", the follow-up, charted at
number 75 and was followed by "Baby Can I Hold You", which peaked at
number 48. The album sold well, going multi-platinum and winning three Grammy Awards, including an honor for Chapman as Best New Artist. Later in 1988, Chapman was a featured performer on the worldwide Amnesty International Human Rights Now! Tour. According to the VH1 website, "Her album helped usher in the era of political correctness—along with 10,000 Maniacs and R.E.M., Chapman's liberal politics proved enormously influential on American college campuses in the late '80s."[7]
Her follow-up album Crossroads (1989) was less commercially successful, but still achieved platinum status. By 1992's Matters of the Heart, Chapman was playing to a small and devoted audience. Her fourth album New Beginning (1995) proved successful, selling over three million copies in the U.S. The album included the hit single "Give Me One Reason", which won the 1997 Grammy for Best Rock Song
and became Chapman's most successful single to date, peaking at Number 3
on the Billboard Hot 100. Following a four-year hiatus, her fifth
album, Telling Stories, was released in 2000. Its hit single, "Telling Stories", received heavy airplay on European radio stations and on Adult Alternative and Hot AC stations in the United States. Chapman toured Europe and the US in 2003 in support of her sixth album, Let It Rain (2002).
To support her seventh studio album, Where You Live
(2005), Chapman toured major US cities in October and throughout Europe
over the remainder of the year. The "Where You Live" tour was extended
into 2006; the 28-date European tour featured summer concerts in
Germany, Italy, France, Sweden, Finland, Norway, the UK, Russia and
more. On June 5, 2006, she performed at the 5th Gala of Jazz in Lincoln
Center, New York, and in a session at the 2007 TED (Technology Entertainment Design) conference in Monterey, California.
Chapman was commissioned by the American Conservatory Theater to compose music for its production of Athol Fugard's Blood Knot, a play on apartheid in South Africa, staged in early 2008.[8]
Atlantic Records released Chapman's eighth studio album, Our Bright Future (2008).[9]
Chapman made a 26-date solo tour of Europe. She returned to tour Europe
and selected North American cities during the summer of 2009. She was
backed by Joe Gore on guitars, Patrick Warren on keyboards, and Dawn
Richardson on percussion.[10]
Chapman was appointed a member of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival U.S. Documentary jury.[11]
Social activism
Chapman is widely regarded as a politically and socially active musician. In a 2009 interview with American radio network NPR,
she is quoted as saying: "I'm approached by lots of organizations and
lots of people who want me to support their various charitable efforts
in some way. And I look at those requests and I basically try to do what
I can. And I have certain interests of my own, generally an interest in
human rights."[3] This interest in human rights can be seen lyrically in her music. Songs such as 1988's "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution" highlight the importance of speaking up against injustice:
Don't you know, talking 'bout a revolution sounds like a whisper / when they're standing in the welfare lines.
Chapman's song "Fast Car" also brings awareness to the struggles of poverty, with lyrics such as:
I know things will get better / you'll find work and I'll get promoted / we'll move out of the shelter / buy a bigger house and live in the suburbs
Chapman's activism extends further than her lyrics. She has performed
at numerous socially aware events, and continues to do so. In 1988, she
performed in London as part of a worldwide concert tour to commemorate
the 40th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with
Amnesty International.[12]
The same year Chapman also performed in the Nelson Mandela 70th
Birthday Tribute, an event which raised money for South Africa's
Anti-Apartheid Movement and seven children's charities.[13] More recently, in 2004 Chapman performed (and rode) in the AIDSLifeCycle event.[14]
Chapman has also been involved with Cleveland's elementary schools. A
music video produced by Chapman that highlights significant
achievements in African-American history has become an important
teaching tool in Cleveland Public Schools. Chapman also agreed to
sponsor a "Crossroads in Black History" essay contest for high school
students in Cleveland and other cities.[15]
In 2004, Chapman was given an honorary doctorate in Fine Arts by her
alma mater, Tufts University, recognizing her commitment to social
activism.[16]
I'm fortunate that I've been able to do my work and be involved in certain organizations, certain endeavors, and offered some assistance in some way. Whether that is about raising money or helping to raise awareness, just being another body to show some force and conviction for a particular idea. Finding out where the need is – and if someone thinks you're going to be helpful, then helping.
—Tracy Chapman[17]
Chapman often performs at and attends charity events such as Make Poverty History, amfAR and AIDS/LifeCycle, to support social causes. She identifies as a feminist.[18]
Personal life
Although Chapman has never disclosed her sexual orientation, during the mid-1990s she dated writer Alice Walker.[19]
Chapman maintains a strong separation between her personal and
professional lives. "I have a public life that's my work life and I have
my personal life," she said. "In some ways, the decision to keep the
two things separate relates to the work I do."[20]
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