The 500 - #263 - Tracy Chapman (debut) - Tracy Chapman

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #263
Album Title: Tracy Chapman
Artist: Tracy Chapman
Genre: Contemporary Folk, Roots Rock, 
Recorded: Powertrax Studios, Hollywood, California, U.S.A.
Released: April, 1988
My age at release: 22
How familiar was I with it before this week: Very
Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #256, moving up 7 spots since 2012
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Fast Car

A reflective Chapman on the cover of her debut record.
(Photo taken by Matt Mahurin - guest on The 500 Podcast).

In the summer of 1988, I was living a whirlwind life that, for the 57-year-old man who sits in front of this keyboard today, seems impossible to fathom. My day began at 8 a.m. with a seven-km ride to Wally World, a water park and recreation facility (batting cages, mini-golf, go-karts) sprawling across a dozen, treeless acres on the fringes of London, Ontario's city limits.

An arial view of Wally World's waterpark in 1988

The next six hours were spent in the blistering sun, monitoring hundreds of over-ebullient adolescents as they careened down waterslides and excitedly bobbed and splashed in the churning waters of the newly constructed wave pool. At 3 p.m. sharp, suntanned, with traces of neon zinc sunblock still on my nose, I pedaled home to grab the (now available) family car, a powder blue 1980 Chevy Chevette.

A Chevette similar to our family car.

Five o’clock saw me behind the bar at a local pizza restaurant (the now defunct London chain, Fluffy's). For the next four to six hours, I slinged pizzas, panzerottis, beers and shots. A post-work pint and I was in the Chevette heading to a municipal community centre near my home. This was my first job –  where I had worked as a custodian two hours a night, five days a week, since the spring of 1981. At 15, I was an early entrant into the workforce.

Byron Optimist Centre - renovated since my time there (81-89).

My summer work days were long and exhausting, but my spirits were always ballasted by music. I had my portable music player on bike rides and while cleaning floors and a well used car stereo. My other two places of my employment, Wally World and Fluffy's Pizza, played contemporary music through their speaker systems. It was the summer of big hair and bigger music, with songs from INXS, George Michael, Paula Abdul, Def Leppard, Guns and Roses, Van Halen and Richard Marx dominating the charts and setting the fashion trends.

Then, seemingly from nowhere, came a quiet song from a solo, black folk-singer that began to dominate the airways. The song was Fast Car and it was the first single from the debut record from guitarist, singer and songwriter, Tracy Chapman.

Tracy Chapman (1988).

The heart-wrenching realism of Fast Car levelled me the first time I heard it – a narrative about a woman, living in a homeless shelter, trying to escape the cycle of poverty in which she is trapped despite working minimum wage jobs. The desperation evoked by the tragic lyrics, juxtaposed against the backdrop of a light, pop-folk melody, was powerfully arresting. It stood in stark contrast to the life I was living -- residing comfortably at home, going to university and banking plenty of disposable cash at my three fun and socially rewarding jobs -- all of which paid more than minimum wage.

Final lyrics from Fast Car

Chapman was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1964 and was raised in an impoverished neighbourhood by her divorced mother. She was accepted into a social change program called A Better Way, which sponsored students from disadvantaged communities into college preparatory high schools away from their homes. Consequently, the bright and musically gifted Chapman graduated from Wooster School in Connecticut and was accepted to Tufts University in Boston.

The prestigious Wooster Private High School in Connecticut.

While attending Tufts, Chapman earned cash playing her guitar and singing in coffee shops in the hip, college neighbourhood of Harvard Square. It was there that she was discovered by a fellow Tufts student, Brian Koppelman. Who was destined to make his own mark in the entertainment industry. He co-wrote the films Rounders and Ocean's 13, as well as becoming the co-creator, producer and showrunner for the hit television series Billions.

At 20, Koppelman had managed bands in Long Island, New York, for several years before leaving for Tufts. His father, Charles, was a musician, music producer and businessman whose industry connections enabled  Brian to embark on securing  Chapman a music contract with a record company. It wasn’t easy, though.

Koppelman (2019).

Koppelman recounted on several podcasts that his efforts to secure Chapman a deal were fraught with challenges he had never anticipated. In his retelling, he would take record executives to hear Tracy perform. Despite being moved, sometimes to tears, by her raw talent, they always declined to sign her up. Flabbergasted, Koppelman’s refrain was, "Why not?" Their flat response was, "She's too black, too big and too masculine. We can't market that."

Eventually, she was signed to the American label Elektra Records and recorded her self-titled debut, releasing Fast Car as a single in April, 1988. Unsurprisingly, it did not sell well at a time when radio stations were dominated by Hair-Metal, Synth-Pop, Post-Punk,  Power Ballads and mainstream Hip-Hop. However, her break came on June 11 of that year when she was invited to be among performers at the iconic Wembley Stadium in England to mark the 70th birthday of imprisoned anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela. 

Poster for the Nelson Mandela Tribute Concert

Chapman's three-song performance to a stadium audience of 90,000 spectators was broadcast globally to 67 countries and 600 million viewers. Her scheduled set, early in the day, featured songs from her self-titled debut record, Why?, Behind The Wall, and Talkin' 'bout a Revolution.

Screen shot of Chapman performing superimposed over 
a packed Wembley Stadium

By a quirk of fate,  circumstances led to an unscheduled second performance later in the show. Stevie Wonder had been flown in as a surprise guest. But when it came time for him and his band to take the stage, it was discovered that a computer hard-disc had gone missing for his Synclavier -- a then-state-of-the-art digital music sampling system. Unable to perform without it, Wonder stormed off and the promoters leaned on Chapman to fill in with her acoustic guitar.

A view of the crowd and stage at Mandela's 70th birthday concert

With an even larger audience tuning in, Chapman performed, Across The Lines and a riveting performance of Fast Car. Chapman went from being an unknown “too black, too big, too masculine” coffee house performer to global superstar.

The under-performing single rocketed up the charts, eventually selling millions of copies and landing in the Top 10, often #1, in dozens of countries. Chapman took home three Grammy Awards in 1989 for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, as well as the MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video of 1988..

Album cover for Fast Car by Tracy Chapman

Chapman, now 59, still performs. More than 35 years since her debut record, she has released seven additional albums. In April, 2023, the South African government announced that Chapman would be bestowed with the National Order to recognize her contribution to the fight for freedom and for raising awareness of human rights violations globally.

Chapman (2020).

Like many of my friends, we watched the Mandela Concert when it was rebroadcast on MuchMusic (Canada’s Music Video Station). We also became Chapman fans, purchasing her first CD. It, along with the music of other contemporary artists, informed the direction of my political viewpoint in ways I still recognize today.

Chapman performed in Toronto on September 15, 1988, as part of the Human Rights Now concert tour. The show was one of 19 performances held at venues worldwide to increase awareness of both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on its 40th anniversary and the work of Amnesty International. Chapman performed a small set along with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Youssou N’Dour and k.d. lang. I wasn’t there, despite being flush from three summer jobs. It remains one of my biggest concert regrets.