1. Early life

2. Career

3. Social activism

4. Personal life

5. Discography
    Contributions 

6. Awards and nominations
    Grammy Awards 

7. References

8. External links

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 bought her music-loving three-year-old daughter a ukulele despite having little money.^[2] Chapman began playing the guitar and writing songs at age eight. She says that she may have been first inspired to play the guitar by the television show Hee Haw.^[3]

Raised as a Baptist, Chapman attended an Episcopal high school^[3] and was accepted into the program A Better Chance, which sponsors students at college preparatory high schools away from their home community. She graduated from Wooster School in Connecticut, then attended Tufts University,^[2] graduating with a B.A. degree in Anthropology and African studies.^[4]

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|date=January 2011}} She made her major-stage debut as an opening act for women's music pioneer Linda Tillery at Boston's Strand Theater on May 3, 1985.^[5] 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.^[4]

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]

Chapman performed Ben E. King's "Stand By Me" on one of the final episodes of the Late Show with David Letterman in April 2015. The performance became a viral hit and was the focus of various news articles including some by Billboard and The Huffington Post.^[12]

On November 20, 2015, Chapman released Greatest Hits, consisting of 18 tracks including the live version of "Stand by Me", the album is Chapman's first global compilation release.^[13]

In October 2018, Chapman sued the rapper Nicki Minaj over copyright infringement, alleging that Minaj had sampled her song "Baby Can I Hold You" without permission.^[14] Chapman's lawsuit requested an injunction to prevent Minaj releasing the song "Sorry" and stated that she had "repeatedly denied" permission for "Baby Can I Hold You" to be sampled. Chapman had previously expressed her reservations about being sampled.

Social activism

Chapman is a politically and socially active musician. In a 2009 interview with American radio network NPR, she said, "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] 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.^[15] 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.^[16] In 2004, Chapman performed (and rode) in the AIDS/LifeCycle event.^[17]

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.^[18]

Chapman received an honorary doctorate from Saint Xavier University in Chicago in 1997.^[19] In 2004, Chapman was given an honorary doctorate in Fine Arts by her alma mater, Tufts University, recognizing her commitment to social activism.^[20]

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.^[22]

Personal life

Although Chapman has never publicly disclosed her sexual orientation, during the mid-1990s she was in a relationship with writer Alice Walker.^[23] Chapman maintains a strong separation between her personal and professional life. "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."^[24]

Discography

• 1988: Tracy Chapman
• 1989: Crossroads
• 1992: Matters of the Heart
• 1995: New Beginning
• 2000: Telling Stories
• 2002: Let It Rain
• 2005: Where You Live
• 2008: Our Bright Future

Contributions

Duet songs:

• 1997: "The Thrill Is Gone" with B.B. King from his album Deuces Wild
• 1999: "Give Me One Reason" with Eric Clapton from the album A Very Special Christmas Live
• 1999: "Trench Town Rock" with Stephen and Ziggy Marley at the One Love The Bob Marley All-Star Tribute
• 2000: "Baby Can I Hold You" with Luciano Pavarotti from the DVD/Album Pavarotti and Friends for Cambodia and Tibet
• 2001: "The Maker" with Dave Matthews on October 21, 2001, at the Bridge School Benefit
• 2005: "Ain't No Sunshine" with Buddy Guy from his album Bring 'Em In

Covered songs:

• 1990: "The House of the Rising Sun" – Rubáiyát (LP)
• 1993: "The Times They Are A Changin" – Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Celebration (LP)
• 1997 and 1999: "O Holy Night" – A Very Special Christmas 3 (LP) and A Very Special Christmas Live (LP)
• 2000: "Three Little Birds" – Live at the One Love The Bob Marley All-Star Tribute
• 2003: "Get Up Stand Up" – by Bob Marley featured on the Let It Rain tour edition (CD2 & LP)
• 2005: "Stand By Me" – by Ben E. King on the XM Hear Music Radio Sessions Volume 1 (LP)

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards

References

External links

• {{Official website}}
• {{allmusic|artist/tracy-chapman-mn0000016281}}
• {{Discogs artist}}
• {{DMOZ|Arts/Music/Bands_and_Artists/C/Chapman%2C_Tracy/}}
• Atlantic Records page
• "A Better Chance" education program for minority students

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