SONG OF THE DAY

“New Beginning” by Tracy Chapman (New Beginning, Elektra Records, 1995). Written by Tracy Chapman.

INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)

– New Beginning is the fourth album by singer/songwriter Tracy Chapman, released in 1995.

– According to Nielsen Soundscan it is her biggest-selling recording with 3.8 million copies sold, and has shipped a total of five million copies throughout the United States according to the RIAA.

– The album is most known for its hit single “Give Me One Reason”.

– The album was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Album in 1997.

– Tracy Chapman (born March 30, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her singles “Fast Car”, and “Give Me One Reason”. She is a multi-platinum and four-time Grammy Award-winning artist.

– Tracy Chapman was born in Cleveland, Ohio, where she was raised by her mother. Despite not having much money, her mother recognized Tracy’s love of music and bought her a ukulele at the age of three. Tracy Chapman began playing guitar and writing songs at the age of eight. She says she may have been first inspired to play the guitar by the television show “Hee Haw”.

– Chapman was raised Baptist and went to an Episcopalian high school. She was quickly accepted into the program A Better Chance, which enabled her to attend Wooster School in Connecticut; she subsequently attended Tufts University. At Tufts she graduated with a B.A. degree in anthropology and African studies.

– In the mid-1990s Chapman dated author Alice Walker.

– 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. She currently lives in San Francisco and says she enjoys going to the beach, going to the woods, a really good meal with friends, and fresh organic food. Chapman maintains a strong separation between her personal and professional lives. “I have a public life that’s my work life and I have my personal life,” she said. “In some ways, the decision to keep the two things separate relates to the work I do.”

– During college, Chapman began street-performing in Harvard Square and playing guitar in Club Passim and within other coffeehouses in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Another Tufts student, Brian Koppelman, heard Chapman playing and brought Chapman to the attention of his father, Charles Koppelman. Koppelman, who ran SBK Publishing, signed Chapman in 1986. After Chapman graduated from Tufts in 1987, he helped her to sign a contract with Elektra Records.

– 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.

– According to the VH1 website, “her album. Tracy Chapman, 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”.

– 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.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Live and amazing:

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