Tracy Chapman
 |
Tracy Chapman on the cover of her self-titled album |
Tracy Chapman (born
March 30,
1964) is an
American singer-songwriter, best known for her singles "
Fast Car," "Talkin' Bout a Revolution," "Baby Can I Hold You," and "Give Me One Reason." She is a multi-platinum and multi-Grammy Award-winning artist.
Born in
Cleveland,
Ohio, Tracy Chapman began playing
guitar and writing songs as a child. She was accepted into
A Better Chance, the national resource for identifying, recruiting and developing leaders among academically gifted students of color, which enabled her to attend
Wooster School in
Connecticut, and was eventually accepted to
Tufts University in
Medford,
Massachusetts.
During college, Chapman began street-performing and playing her guitar in
coffeehouses in
Cambridge. After waiting to graduate college, she signed to
SBK, releasing
Tracy Chapman (
1988). The album was critically acclaimed, and she began touring and building a fanbase. Soon after performing at the televised
Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert in June 1988, Chapman's "Fast Car" began its rise on the US charts. Album and singles sales were strong, and the album went
multi-platinum and won four
Grammy Awards. 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" [
1].
Her follow-up album
Crossroads (
1989) was less commercially successful. By
1992's
Matters of the Heart, Chapman was playing to a small and devoted audience. However, to the surprise of most industry-watchers, Chapman's fourth
1995 album
New Beginning proved successful, selling over 3 million copies just in the U.S. This album included the hit single "Give Me One Reason" which won the 1996 Grammy for Best Rock Song. The following album was
2000's
Telling Stories, which featured more of a
rock sound than
folk. Its hit single "Telling Stories" received heavy airplay on European radio stations. Her sixth album was
Let It Rain (
2002), in support of which she toured in Europe and the US in 2003.
Where You Live, Chapman's seventh studio album, was released in September
2005. A brief supporting tour took place in major cities across the US in October and continued throughout Europe over the remainder of the year.
The "Where You Live" tour has now been extended into 2006, the 28 date european tour has summer concerts announced in Germany, Italy, France, Sweden, Finland, Norway, U.K, Russia and more. In addition, on the 5th June, Tracy performed at the 5th Gala of Jazz in Lincoln Center, New York.
*
1988 -
Tracy Chapman (US #1)
RIAA: (US: 6x Platinum)(UK #1)
**"Fast Car" (US #6, UK #5)
**"Talkin' 'Bout A Revolution" (US #75)
**"Baby, Can I Hold You?" (US #48)
*
1989 -
Crossroads (US #9)
RIAA: (US: 1x Platinum)(UK #1)
**"Crossroads" (US #90, UK #61)
**"Subcity"
**"All That You Have Is Your Soul"
*
1992 -
Matters of the Heart (US #53)
RIAA: (US: Gold) (UK #19)
**"Bang Bang Bang"
**"Dreaming On A World"
*
1995 -
New Beginning (US #4)
RIAA: (US: 5x Platinum)**"Give Me One Reason" (US #3)
**"New Beginning"
**"Smoke and Ashes"
**"The Promise"
*
2000 -
Telling Stories (US #33)
RIAA: (US: Gold)**"Telling Stories"
2001 -
Collection (UK #3)
*
2002 -
Let It Rain (US #25)
**"You're The One"
**"Another Sun"
*
2005 -
Where You Live (US #49)
**"Change"
**"America"
*
Official website*
About Tracy Chapman*
British Tracy Chapman fan site*
Tracy Chapman on the
Tavis Smiley show
*
Tracy Chapman Artist pages on Atlantic Records site.*
Tracy Chapman MySpace fan group.*
A petition to release Chapman's music videos on DVD
