tracy chapman

Tracy Chapman (nata il 30 marzo 1964 a Cleveland, Ohio) è una cantautrice afro-americana.

Nota per brani di grande spessore artistico come Fast Car, Give Me One Reason e Talkin' About the Revolution, Tracy Chapman viene riconosciuta dal pubblico e dalla critica come una delle più intense e raffinate cantautrici afroamericane viventi, grazie anche alla sua voce profonda e splendidamente modulata.

Tracy Chapman ha incominciato come artista di strada e cantando nei bar. Ha imparato a suonare la chitarra sin da piccola. Finiti gli studi di antropologia e cultura afroamericana alla Tufts University di Medford in Massachusetts anche grazie tramite alcune borse di studio riservate agli studenti neri meno abbienti, è stata subito notata da Brian Koppelman, figlio del produttore Charles Koppelman, che le ha permesso di pubblicare il suo primo disco nel 1988, intitolato semplicemente Tracy Chapman. Non passò molto tempo prima che la critica e il mondo musicale si accorgesse del suo talento: il primo album fuse appieno i ritmi afro, folk e rock miscelati con testi molto toccanti e storie di povertà e marginalità delle periferie americane: per tematiche e sonorità è spesso è paragonata a Joni Mitchell.
Il successo mondiale avvenne negli anni ottanta per la partecipazione ad attività benefiche come il famoso tour Human Rights Now! organizzato da Amnesty International, cantando a fianco di altri celebri cantanti in giro per il mondo.
Inoltre ha partecipato a concerti in onore del settantesimo compleanno di Nelson Mandela o al concerto-tributo a Bob Marley nel 2000.

I giornalisti del settore musicale l'hanno sempre definita come una persona chiusa, introversa, a volte burbera: incapace di adattarsi alle regole della musica commerciale di massa, spesso portando allo scontro verbale l'intervistatore. Questo atteggiamento e le grandi aspettative rispetto all'album d'esordio hanno probabilmente smorzato le vendite dei suoi successivi lavori nella grande distribuzione musicale, ma ha comunque permesso di avere una certa schiera di appassionati e critici musicali che la definiscono una delle migliori cantautrici afroamericane in circolazione.

Ha vinto altri premi e riconoscimenti per molti altri successivi album senza grandi stravolgimenti nello stile e nei racconti descritti: in tutti i suoi lavori scaturisce un vivido quadro di povertà (economica o morale) della società americana nei confronti del popolo afro.

Biography

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Tracy Chapman began playing guitar and writing songs at the age of eleven. She was accepted into A Better Chance, the national resource for identifying, recruiting and developing leaders among academically gifted students of color, which enabled her to attend Wooster School in Connecticut, and was eventually accepted to Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.

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

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

Although Chapman has never spoken publicly about her sexuality, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker discussed her love affair with Chapman in an interview with The Guardian on December 15th 2006. She explained why they did not go public with their relationship at the time (the mid 1990s), and said "[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."[1]

Career

During college, Chapman began street-performing and playing guitar in coffeehouses in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After waiting to graduate college, 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 Top 10 pop hit on the Billboard Hot 100. "Talkin' About 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 honour 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".[2]

Her follow-up album Crossroads (1989) was less commercially successful. By 1992's Matters of the Heart, Chapman was playing to a small and devoted audience. However, Chapman's fourth 1995 album New Beginning proved successful, selling over 3 million copies just in the U.S. This 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. The following 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 took place in major cities across the US 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, U.K, Russia and more. In addition, on 5 June 2006, Chapman performed at the 5th Gala of Jazz in Lincoln Center, New York.

Tracy Chapman performed in a session titled "Tales Of Passion" at the 2007 TED (short for Technology Entertainment Design) conference in Monterey, California.