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Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman at TED conference 2007
Background information
Birth name	Tracy Chapman
Born	March 30, 1964 (1964-03-30) (age 44)
Origin	Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Genre(s)	Folk, blues, alternative rock
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instrument(s)	Vocals, guitar, harp, bouzouki, harmonica
Years active	1988–present
Label(s)	Elektra Records
Website	Official Site

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", "Give Me One Reason", "The Promise" and "Telling Stories". She is a multi-platinum and four-time Grammy Award-winning artist.¹

Biography

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Tracy Chapman began playing guitar and writing songs at the age of eleven. She was quickly accepted into the program A Better Chance, which enabled her to attend Wooster School in Connecticut; she was eventually accepted to Tufts University.²

In May 2004, Tufts honored her with an honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts, for her strongly-committed contributions as a socially conscious and artistically accomplished musician.

Chapman often performs at and attends Make Poverty History charity events such as amfAR and AIDS/LifeCycle.

Personal life

Although Chapman has never spoken publicly about her sexuality, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker discussed her love affair with Chapman during an interview for The Guardian on December 15, 2006. She explained why they did not go public with their relationship at the time (the mid 1990s), saying, "[the relationship] was delicious and lovely and wonderful and I totally enjoyed it and I was completely in love with her, but it was not anybody's business but ours."³

Chapman is notoriously private regarding her personal life, and may even be considered something of a recluse.⁴

Career

During college, Chapman began street-performing and playing guitar in coffeehouses in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After graduating from Tufts, she signed to Elektra Records, releasing Tracy Chapman (1988). The album was critically acclaimed, and she began touring and building a fanbase. Soon after she performed it at the televised Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert in June 1988, Chapman's "Fast Car" began its rise on the US charts, eventually becoming a #6 pop hit on the Billboard Hot 100. "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution," the follow-up, charted at #75 and was followed by "Baby Can I Hold You," which peaked at #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".⁵

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. However, her fourth album, 1995's New Beginning proved successful, selling over 3 million copies just in the U.S. It 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 #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The next 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 and on Adult Alternative and Hot AC stations in the United States. 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 in major US cities followed in October and continued 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 U.K, Russia and more. On 5 June 2006, she performed at the 5th Gala of Jazz in Lincoln Center, NY, and in a session at the 2007 TED (short for Technology Entertainment Design) conference in Monterey, California.

For 2008, Chapman, who attended the opening of ACT's "Sweeney Todd", has composed and recorded music for the play "Blood Knot". ⁶In the San Francisco area, she recently judged the Beach Blanket Babylon Scholarships for the arts. ⁷

Our Bright Future

On July 3, 2008, Atlantic Records announced that Tracy Chapman would begin recording her eighth studio album, entitled Our Bright Future. A 25-date solo tour of Europe has been announced for the winter, starting on November 12 in Brussels. In addition a Full band tour is set for January 2009 in the U.S. ⁸

Discography

Albums

Singles

Contributions

Duet songs:

• "The Thrill Is Gone" with BB King from his album Deuces Wild
• "Give Me One Reason" with Eric Clapton from the album A Very Special Christmas Live
• "Baby Can I Hold You" with Pavarotti from the DVD/Album Pavarotti and Friends for Cambodia and Tibet
• "Ain't No Sunshine" with Buddy Guy from his album Bring 'em In
• "Trench Town Rock" with Stephen and Ziggy Marley at the One Love Bob Marley All Star Tribute.

Covered songs:

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

Cover versions:

• "Baby Can I Hold You?" — reached number 2 on the UK chart in 1997 performed by Boyzone
• "Talkin' Bout a Revolution" — Real Big Fish, "Our Live Album Is Better Than Your Live Album", Disc 1, 2006

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Tracy Chapman

• Official website
• Podcast performance and interview, BBC World Service, The Strand, 11 Nov 2008
• Discussion Forum
• Tracy Chapman unofficial website
• Tracy Chapman Online
• Tracy Chapman Artist pages on Atlantic Records site.
• Fan Channel on YouTube
• Tracy Chapman on charts