Tracy Chapman
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
Raised in a working class neighborhood in Cleveland, OH, Chapman learned how to play guitar as a child, and began to write her own songs shortly afterward. Following high school, she won a minority placement scholarship and decided to attend Tufts University, where she studied anthropology and African studies. While at Tufts, she became fascinated with folk-rock and singer/songwriters, and began performing her own songs at coffeehouses. Eventually, she recorded a set of demos at the college radio station. One of her fellow students, %Brian Koppelman, heard Chapman play and recommended her to his father, %Charles Koppelman, who ran SBK Publishing. In 1986, she signed with SBK and %Koppelman secured a management contract with %Elliot Roberts, who had worked with Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. %Roberts and %Koppelman helped Chapman sign to Elektra in 1987.
Chapman recorded her debut album with David Kershenbaum, and the resulting eponymous record was released in the spring of 1988. Tracy Chapman was greeted with enthusiastic reviews, and she set out on the road supporting 10,000 Maniacs. Within a few months, she played at the internationally televised concert for %Nelson Mandelas 70th birthday party, where her performance was greeted with thunderous applause. Soon, the single Fast Car began climbing the charts, eventually peaking at number six. The albums sales soared along with the single, and by the end of the year, the record had gone multi-platinum. Early the following year, the record won four Grammys, including Best New Artist.
It was an auspicious beginning to Chapmans career, and it was perhaps inevitable that her second album, 1989s darker, more political Crossroads, wasnt as successful. Although it was well-reviewed, the album wasnt as commercially successful, peaking at number nine and quickly falling down the charts. Following Crossroads, Chapman spent a few years in seclusion, returning in 1992 with Matters of the Heart. The album was greeted with mixed reviews and weak sales, and Chapman had fallen into cult status. Three years later, she returned with New Beginning, which received stronger reviews than its predecessor. The bluesy Give Me One Reason was pulled as the first single, and it slowly became a hit, sending the album into the U.S. Top Ten in early 1996. It was a quiet, successful comeback from an artist most observers had already consigned to forever languish in cult status. Telling Stories followed in early 2000. Let It Rain followed two years later. For 2005s Where You Live, Chapman co-produced the album with Tchad Blake.
