Tracy Chapman
With “Fast Car” she became a star in 1988 – an extremely private artist whose relationship with a woman became known only through others.
Tracy Chapman grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, raised by her mother, who bought her a ukulele when she was three. A scholarship allowed her to attend a private school, and she studied anthropology at Tufts University near Boston, where she played her songs in coffee houses.
Her first album, “Tracy Chapman” (1988), with songs about poverty, violence and the hope of escape, became a worldwide success. Her performance at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert in London, where she stepped in with only her guitar, made her famous overnight. She won three Grammys, including for “Fast Car”. Later hits included “Give Me One Reason” (1995).
Chapman is known for keeping her private life strictly private and has never spoken publicly about her sexuality. The writer Alice Walker said in an interview in 2006 that she had had a relationship with Chapman in the 1990s. Chapman herself has not commented.
In 2023 a country version of “Fast Car” by Luke Combs became a hit, and Chapman became the first Black songwriter to win the Country Music Association’s Song of the Year award. In 2024 she performed the song with Combs at the Grammys.