Austin city limits archives

In an era when the label folksinger-songwriter does little to guarantee success, Tracy Chapman has seen her dreams come true. When Chapman takes the stage sporting short dreadlocks, blue jeans, and a turtleneck sweater, accompanied only by her acoustic guitar, listeners lean forward to hear her husky contralto pour forth poignant reflections on contemporary urban life. As Steve Pond of Rolling Stone noted, Chapman’s voice “is the sound of a smart black woman growing up in the city with her eyes wide open.”

Though she is a relative newcomer to the folk music circuit, Chapman has always made music an important part of her life. Chapman’s parents divorced when she was four years old, and she grew up with her mother and older sister in a largely black middle-class neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio. At an early age she learned to sing, play the clarinet and organ, and compose simple songs that she sang with her sister, Aneta. While still in grade school Chapman beg Tracy chapman personal life!