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March,
30
- Tracy Chapman's birth in Cleveland, Ohio
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| Tracy
graduates from Wooster school, Danbury, CT, and goes on
to study at Tufts University, Medford, MA, where she majors
in anthropology and African studies in 1986. |
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Tracy
joins an African drum ensemble at College, but develops
her own folk guitar playing and performs self-written
acoustic songs on the Boston folk circuit. She records
demos at Tufts campus radio station, WMFO.
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Fellow
student Brian Koppelman recommends her to his father,
Charles, president of SBK publishing, who in turn introduces
her to producer David Kershenbaum and also to Elektra
Records where she links up with manager, Elliot Roberts.
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Tracy
records "For My Lover" for the local paper
"Fast Folk Musical Magazine", a Boston Folk
magazine sold with a record.
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| She
records her debut album for Elektra with Kershenbaum producing,
after several other producers turn her down. |
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March
- Tracy performs 3 nights at the Donmar Warehouse sharing
a bill with Natalie Merchant from 10,000 Maniacs.
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April,
05 -
Debut album’s release.
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May
- She plays 2 nights at the Bitter End Club in New York.
Tracy tours the US and plays some selected UK dates
supporting labelmates, 10,000 Maniacs.
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June,
11 -
She appears at the televised Nelson Mandela’s 70th Birthday
Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium, Wembley,Great Britain.
Her appearance results in Tracy Chapman selling 12,000
copies 2 days later.
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July,
2 -
Tracy Chapman tops the UK chart, while the extracted
Fast Car drives to UK #5.
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August,
27 -
Tracy Chapman also tops the US survey, as Fast Car
hits US #6.
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September
2
- Together with Peter Gabriel, Bruce Springsteen, Sting
and Youssou N’Dour, Tracy performs at the start of a
six week Human Rights Now! World tour for Amnesty International.
The superstar trek will end October, 15 in Buenos Aires,
Argentina.
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October,
10 -
Talkin’Bout A Revolution peaks at US #75.
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December,
04 -
Tracy performs at Bridge School Concert Benefit II at
Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, CA.
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December,
24
- Baby Can I Hold You makes US #48.
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January,
27 -
Tracy is the winner of BAM’s 1988 Critics Poll (LA’s
Music magazine)
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January,
30 -
Tracy wins the Favorite New Artists Pop/Rock category
at the 26th annual American Music Awards, held at the
Shrine Auditorium, LA., CA.
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February,
13 - Tracy is named Best International New Comer
at the eight annual BRIT Awards et London Royal Albert
Hall [22]. She wins Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female
for Fast Car, Best Contemporary Folk Recording
for Tracy Chapman and Best New Artist at the 31st Annual
Grammy Awards.
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April,
25 -
Tracy collects Female Vocalist, Top Song (Talkin’Bout
A Revolution) and Rock Album (Tracy Chapman)
at the third SKC Boston Music Awards, at the Wang Center,
Boston, MA.
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May
- She participates in an AIDS benefit concert at the
Oakland Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland CA.
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September
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Crossroads peaks at UK #61.
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October,
03 -
Crossroads release. Co-produced by Chapman and
Kershenbaum and featuring musical guests Marc Cohn and
Neil Young among others her sophomore effort Crossroads
tops the UK chart.
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October
- Tracy
moves from Boston, Massachussets to San Francisco, California
just two weeks before Loma Prieta, the 1989 San Francisco
earthquake and ironically says "There's no chance
I'm moving somewhere with earthquakes."
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October,
28 -
Tracy performs at Bridge School Concert Benefit III
at Shoreline Amphitheatre.
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November
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Crossroads was certified platinum.
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November,
4 -
Crossroads stales at US #90 as Crossroads
hits US #2.
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March,
30 -
The three winners of Crossroads in Black History,
a high-school essay contest and education program initiated
by Tracy receive scholarships.
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April,
16 -
Tracy performs at the Nelson Mandela : An International
Tribute For A Free South Africa Concert at Wembley Stadium,
Wembley.
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May,
18 -
Tracy embarks on a major summer tour of the US at the
Starplex Amphitheater, Dallas, TX set to end on July,
7.
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June,
21 - She sings Born To Fight and Freedom
Now at a rally for Nelson Mandela at New York’s
Yankee Stadium, before a sellout crowd of 53,000.
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November,
3 - Tracy takes part in a CBS TV Motown 30
: What’s Goin’On special and sings A Change Is
Gonna Come.
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January,
16 -
Tracy inducts the Impressions into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame at its annual dinner at New York’s Waldorf
Astoria Hotel.
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January,
21 -
She plays at a Martin Luther King celebration at the
Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis, MN.
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November,
02 -
Tracy performs at Bridge School Concert Benefit V
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March,
14 -
Tracy performs at Farm Aid V at the Texas Stadium Irving,
TX, with Living Colour's Vernon Reid supporting.
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April,
16
- Bang Bang Bang [single] release
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Avril,
28 - Matters of the Heart release
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May,
9
- Matters
Of The Heart debuts at its UK #19 peak.
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May,
21
- True
Stories : Too White For Me a behind-the-scene look
at a Chapman concert in Johannesburg, South Africa,
airs on C4-TV.
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May,
23
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Matters Of The Heart makes US #53. June, 17 Tracy
guests on NBC-TV's The Tonight Show.
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June,
25
- Dreaming on a world [single] release
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June,
28 - She headlines the ANC 80th anniversary celebration
at London's Brixton Academy, during current European
tour.
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August,
7
- She is showcased on ABC-TV's
In Concert series.
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September,
20 -
Tracy performs at the Greek Theater, LA, CA during her
round of US dates.
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October,
16 - She sings The Times They Are A Changin'
at the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Celebration held at
New York's Madison Square Garden.
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May,
27 -
Fast Car second release.
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August,
24 -
Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration
release
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Tracy
auditions members of her touring and studio band : Andy
Stoller (bass), Rock Deadrick (drums) and Glenys Rodgers
(percussions) are joining her to form her band. |
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Summer
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Tracy is touring in the US to taste her new songs.
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November,
14 -
New Beginning release
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November,
29 -
Tracy chats online with her fans on New York Online.
She performs Give Me On Reason to the Late Show
with David Letterman.
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February,
26 - Give Me One Reason is currently #1
on HITS Magazine’s Adult Post Modern chart for its sixth
week.
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March,
14 - Tracy begins the third leg of her New
Beginning US tour in Minneapolis, Minn.
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Summer
- The Charlie Hunter Quartet opens for Tracy
on many dates on the US tour.
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July,
16 - Tracy is the guest of Jay Leno on NBC August.
New Beginning is certified multi-platinum with
over 3 million sales by the Recording Industry Association
of America (RIAA). New Beginning, peaked at No.
4 on The Billboard 200 and spent 95 weeks on the chart.
the hit single Give Me One Reason, which spent
five weeks at No. 3 on The Billboard Hot 100. Ultimately,
it stayed on the chart for 39 weeks. And her debut is
also album certified 4x platinum.
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September,
24
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New
Beginning [single] release
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November,
19 -
Smoke and Ashes [single] release
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December,
7 -
Nominations for the 39th annual Grammy Awards are announced
in New York. Tracy is nominated for the Record of the
Year with Give Me One Reason, Best Female Rock
Vocal Performance with Give Me One Reason and
Best Pop Album with New Beginning.
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February,
11 - 1997 Grammy Nominees
release
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February,
26 -
Tracy wins her fourth Grammy Awards for the Record of
the Year with Give Me One Reason.
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March,
16 -
Tracy wins 4 Bammies at 20th Annual Bay Area Music Awards
in San Francisco : she wins for Best Album, Outstanding
Song for Give Me One Reason, Best Female Vocalist and
Musician of the Year.
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July
- Tracy participates in the first edition of Lilith
Fair festival organised by Sarah Mclachlan. She
lines up with Suzanne Vega, Sheryl Crow, Jewel, Paula
Cole, Fiona Apple…
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August,
21 -
Tracy is the musical guest on New York Undercover
on Fox TV-14
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September,
23 - A Very Special Christmas 3 release.
Tracy sings O Holy Night . [She] listened to
countless Christmas tapes before deciding to record
a moving cover of O Holy Night which she produced,
arranged and cut in a single day.
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November,
6 -
B.B. King releases Deuces Wild, an album composed
of only with duets with famous artists. Tracy sings
The Thrill Is Gone (track 2). The single is a
hit.
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November,
18
The Bridge School Concerts Vol 1. release : All
that you have is your soul performed by Tracy on
the second edition of the festival in 1988 appears on
track 3.
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December,
10 -
Paris concert for Amnesty International : The Struggle
Continues is given in Paris, France. Tracy opens
with her Human Rights Now tour ! friends [Bruce
Springsteen, Peter Gabriel & Youssou N’Dour] on Get
Up Stand Up, sang 6 of her songs and finished with
Seven Seconds accompanied with Youssou N’Dour,
Peter Gabriel and Jocelyn Berouard from Kassav’
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December,
17 -
Tracy performs a private White House concert in celebration
of the Special Olympics 30th anniversary, A Very
Special Christmas From Washington, D.C with Eric
Clapton, Sheryl Crow, John Popper, Mary J. Blige and
others. She performs her rendition of O Holy Night
and pairs up with Eric Clapton for Give Me One Reason.
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June,
13
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Tracy participates in the Tibetan Freedom Concert
held in Chicago, Amsterdam, Tokyo, and Sydney in the
same time. Tracy played at Alpine Valley Music Theater
in Chicago.
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June,
15 -
Paris Concert For Amnesty International : the Struggle
Continues release on DVD and VHS.
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October,
19 -
A Very Special Christmas Live release with her
live version of O Holy Night and a Give Me
One Reason live duet with Eric Clapton.
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December,
4 -
Tracy performs at the One love Bob Marley All Star
Tribute in Oracabessa Jamaica. She sings Three
Little Birds, Trenchtown Rock (in duet with
Ziggy & Stephen Marley) and lines up with all the artists
to sing One Love.
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December,
22 -
Elektra, her record company, sends the set's first single
Telling Stories, the title track, to triple-A
radio.
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January,
28 -
Two songs from the album are made available for preview
at Amazon.com.
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February,
8 - Top 40 radio gets Telling Stories
[single]
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February,
15 -
Telling Stories release
Tracy performs at the Late Show With David Letterman
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February,
16 -
Tracy performs at The Rosie O'Donnell Show
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February,
18 -
Tracy performs at Good Morning America
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February,
19 -
The single Telling stories moves to No. 1 on
the Triple-A chart, published in Billboard's sister
publication Rock Airplay Monitor.
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March
28
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Tracy Chapman embarks on her Telling Stories tour set
to end on Sept ,23 in Boston, Mass at the Mixfest Festival.
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Early
May
- While she's on tour in Europe,Tracy performs Telling
Stories, Behind The Wall and Speak The Word
on BBC in the 104th show Later with Jools Holland.
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May,
30 - One Love Bob Marley All Star Tribute
release on DVD and video
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May
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Telling Stories is certified gold.
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June,
06 -
Tracy participates in the Pavarotti & Friends Concert
For Cambodia and Tibet in Modena, Italy. She performs
Baby Can I Hold You in duet with Luciano Pavarotti
and Telling Stories with her band. She lines
up with all the artists to sing All We Need Is Love.
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July,
05
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Tracy
is the musical guest of The Late Show With David Letterman
on CBS.
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October,
17 - A tribute to Tracy Chapman release
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February
12 -
Tracy picked up a nomination for Outstanding Female
Vocalist at the 24th Annual California Music Awards.
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April
28 - Tracy
is Carlos Santana presenter at the California Music
Awards 2001 where she's nominated for the Outstandin
Female Vocalist.
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May
19 -
Tracy sings Gotta Serve Somebody at a benefit
birthday tribute to Bob Dylan in New York for PEN American
Center, a group of 2,600 poets, playwrites, editors,
essayists, translators and novelists whose mission is
to advance the cause of literature and reading.
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September
17 - Collection release in Europe and
Asia.
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October
20 & 21 - Tracy
participates in the XV Bridge Benefit Concert in Mountain
View, CA.
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Octobre
15 -
Release of Let It Rain, 6th album studio
for Tracy Chapman
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More
news about Tracy see the NEWS
page
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