Harry Chapin
Personal Information
Description
Harry Forster Chapin was born in New York City, the second of four children of musician Jim Chapin. In 1950, his parents divorced, and he lived with his mother, Jeanne Elspeth, while his father toured as a drummer for Big Band era acts such as Woody Herman. A few years later, his mother remarried. As a child, he sang in the Brooklyn Boys Choir. As a teenager, he performed in a band with his brothers. In 1960 Chapin graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School. He briefly attended the United States Air Force Academy, followed by Cornell University, but he did not complete a degree. In 1968 he married Sandy Cashmore. Also in 1968, he directed his first documentary film, Legendary Champions, which was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1971, he quit film directing and became musician. He started playing in various local nightclubs in New York City. In 1972 he recorded his first album, Heads & Tales. In 1974, the song "Cat's in the Cradle" from his fourth album became a number one hit single. He also wrote and performed a Broadway musical The Night That Made America Famous, and he wrote the music and lyrics for the musical Cotton Patch Gospel. In the 1970s, Chapin began working to combat hunger in the United States, and many of his concerts were benefits to support his charity World Hunger Year. In 1977, he also published a book of poetry, Looking...Seeing. In the last years of his life, he started The Harry Chapin Foundation to continue to raise funds for philanthropy. In 1981, Chapin was killed in a traffic accident. In 1987, he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his work on hunger.
Books
Heads & Tales / Sniper and Other Love Songs
Harry Chapin's first and second albums re-released as a double CD package. Features several previously unreleased out-takes.
Prentice Hall Literature--Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes--Platinum
Cotton Patch Gospel
Cotton Patch Gospel has been highly acclaimed by critics and public alike. This award-winning musical drama is a leg-slappin', toe-tappin', hand-clappin' hoe-down of a story that retells the Gospels of Matthew and John, translated into present day Southern vernacular. It brings the far away places of Nazareth, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem closer to home -- Atlanta and Valdosta, Georgia. From His birth in a Gainesville, Georgia, trailer to His Good Friday lynching and Easter Sunday victory, the story of Mary Davidson's son, Jesus, is presented musically with zest and uninhibited joy. The musical score is by the late Harry Chapin, founder of "World Hunger Year" and composer of such well known hits as "Cat's in the Cradle" and "Taxi". Harry Chapin considered himself "born to write music for Cotton Patch Gospel". Cotton Patch Gospel is special. It is a rare dramatic presentation that succeeds in both entertaining us and sharing fresh insight into the Gospel, the greatest story ever told. - Container.
Sniper and Other Love Songs
Sniper and Other Love Songs is the second studio album by the American singer/songwriter Harry Chapin, released in 1972. The album's title song is a vaguely fictionalised account of Charles Whitman's shootings from the University of Texas at Austin Main Building clock tower in August 1966. In 2004 it was released as a double CD package with "Heads and Tales" featuring several previously unreleased out-takes.
Heads & Tales
Heads & Tales is the first studio album by the American singer/songwriter Harry Chapin, released in 1972. The album contains Chapin's early signature song "Taxi."