Throwback Artist Bio: Tracy Chapman

Tracy Chapman has a voice and melody that transcends space and time. The Ohio native and four-time grammy award winner reinvented the wheel and made great headway; in terms of music that means something. 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 earned Chapman six Grammy Award nods, three of which she won. The winning nominations included Album of the Year, 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. They include her multi-platinum fourth album New Beginning. It’s lead single “Give Me One Reason” landed her a fourth Grammy Award for Best Rock Song.

Social Activism

Chapman is a politically and socially active musician. In a 2009 interview with the 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”.

Tracy has always kept her private life away from the spotlight and has refused to answer any questions about her sexuality. The Grammy-Award winning singer has chosen to express herself through the lyrics of her songs and has resisted the temptation to share the intimate secrets with the media, which gave her the distance to save grace, deliver what she wanted to her fans personally without commercial influence. In the span of ten years, Tracy would release eight albums, each one reflecting the personal experiences of the folk-singer superstar.

What we especially love about Tracy is her ability to express a condition that very few people can relate to, poverty. Anyone who has touched that state of being, especially in the rural communities around the U.S can hear that struggle in every note, every album.

Not only does Chapman relate to the struggle, but she also relates to dreaming in the struggle.  Striving to see something else and be something else. To transform your current state into what you wish it to be. Butterfly on everything we wish Tracy the best in this world and the next. Thank you for being great.