Tracy Chapman News


Tracy Chapman

Contact Celebrity

Contact Tracy Chapman

Tracy Chapman and Brandi Carlile coming to The O'Shaughnessy

College of St. Catherine - Found Jul. 2, 2009
... musical artists Tracy Chapman and Brandi Carlile in August and September. Four-time Grammy Award-winning recording artist Tracy Chapman will...

Posted on July 2, 2009, 8:49 am

TRACY CHAPMAN TO SPEND SUMMER ON TOUR: T...

EURweb - Found Jul. 1, 2009
*Tracy Chapman has unveiled an extensive slate of summer concert dates, her first full-scale North American itinerary in over three years, according

Posted on July 1, 2009, 8:03 am

Tracy Chapman

AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth - Found Jun. 27, 2009
Joelle and I had such a wonderful time at Tracy Chapman's concert Friday night here in Paris thanks to AMERICAblog reader Joe Gore .

Posted on June 27, 2009, 12:31 pm

Tracy Chapman looks toward 'Bright Future'

LiveDaily - Found Jun. 27, 2009
Singer/songwriter Tracy Chapman [ tickets ] will take to the road for a three-week summer run behind last fall's 'Our Bright Future.' The US trek-

Posted on June 27, 2009, 4:56 am

Tracy Chapman Reveals Summer Schedule; Grammy-Winning Superstar to ...

Reuters - Found Jun. 25, 2009
NEW YORK, NY, Jun 25 (MARKET WIRE) -- Elektra recording artist Tracy Chapman has unveiled an extensive slate of summer concert dates, her first full-

Posted on June 25, 2009, 2:05 am

Tracy Chapman Reveals Summer Schedule; Grammy-Winning Superstar to ...

PR inside - Found Jun. 25, 2009
NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwire) -- 06/25/09 -- Elektra recording artist Tracy Chapman has unveiled an extensive slate of summer concert dates, her first ...

Posted on June 25, 2009, 1:36 pm

Travel Getaway: George Washington sipped here: A guide to Boston ...

Providence Journal - Found 20 hours ago
From poets like Anne Bradstreet and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to musicians like Joan Baez and Tracy Chapman, Cambridge?s Harvard Square has...

Posted on July 3, 2009, 2:29 am

Music hot list - July 3, 2009

Examiner.com - Found 23 hours ago
This songstress is versatile with a laid back style that lends itself well to covers of Tracy Chapman, Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson, and more.

Posted on July 3, 2009, 12:00 pm

Danielia Cotton will rock your world, and your preconceptions

Lancaster Online - Found Jul. 3, 2009
... one of mixed race, slinging an electric guitar over her shoulder and belting out a song that sounds more like Led Zeppelin than Tracy Chapman.

Posted on July 3, 2009, 9:07 am

Music hot list - July 2, 2009

Examiner.com - Found Jul. 2, 2009
Clairede sings favorites from the likes of Tracy Chapman, Janice Joplin, and Melissa Etheridge, as well as some originals.

Posted on July 2, 2009, 2:09 am

Tracy Chapman Biography

Tracy Chapman
extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman at TED conference 2007
Tracy Chapman at TED conference 2007
Background information
Birth name Tracy Chapman
Born March 30, 1964 (1964-03-30) (age 45)
Origin Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Genre(s) Folk, blues, alternative rock, pop, soul
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, musician
Instrument(s) Vocals, guitar, harp, bouzouki, harmonica
Voice type(s) Alto1
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.2

Contents

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.3

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 charity events such as Make Poverty History, amfAR and AIDS/LifeCycle.

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".4

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 in the U.S. alone. 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 #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), which she toured Europe and the US in 2003 in support of.

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 (Technology Entertainment Design) conference in Monterey, California.

Chapman composed original music for the American Conservatory Theater production of Athol Fugard's Blood Knot, an acclaimed play on apartheid in South Africa staged in early 2008.5

On November 11, 2008, Atlantic Records released Chapman's eighth studio album, Our Bright Future.6 Following the album's release, Chapman completed a 26-date solo tour of Europe. A full-band European encore tour was announced for 2009 and a short North American tour has also been added.

Discography

Contributions

Duet songs:

Covered songs:

Cover versions:

  • "Baby Can I Hold You?" — reached number 2 on the UK chart in 1997 performed by Boyzone
  • "Talkin' Bout a Revolution" — Reel Big Fish, "Our Live Album Is Better Than Your Live Album", Disc 1, 2006
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Jody Watley
Grammy Award for Best New Artist
1989
Succeeded by
Milli Vanilli
Preceded by
Whitney Houston
for "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)"
Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
1989
for "Fast Car"
Succeeded by
Bonnie Raitt
for "Nick of Time"
Preceded by
Steve Goodman
for Unfinished Business
Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album
1989
for Tracy Chapman
Succeeded by
Indigo Girls
for Indigo Girls
Preceded by
Glen Ballard and Alanis Morissette
for "You Oughta Know"
Grammy Award for Best Rock Song
1997
for "Give Me One Reason"
Succeeded by
Jakob Dylan
for "One Headlight"

References

External links