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".
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. On
5 June 2006, she performed at the 5th Gala of Jazz in Lincoln Center, New York, and in a session at the 2007
TED (short for Technology Entertainment Design) conference in
Monterey, California.
