Why did Tracy Chapman's career go straight down the shitter?

Better question is how it came up it in the first place?

....

She's been able to live off pretty much one album. Lucky her.

Always heard she made ELLEN seem like the Mary Poppins of Dykes

Tracy has been reincarnated as Thunderstorm Artis. I love him. His vibe and gentleness and sensitive textured voice remind me so much of Tracy. He's bound to be a star from The Voice. Vote. Seriously, he's great. I want him to sing Fast Car. There's this longing and sadness in his very very pretty voice.

She's pretty protective of her copyrights. I believe Gabrielle's "Dreams" initially sampled Chapman but Tracy wouldn't consent to clearance of the sample. There was a similar situation with Chapman and Nicki Minaj recently.

You'd think she'd take advantage of that easy money. being a musician these days is slim pickins, paycheck wise.

Be nice. Kelly Clarkson looks like SHITE here, but she covers Tracy's song so well. Her vocal palette is so fucking superior. Ain't much that KC can't sing.

The OP is an absolute moron. She's a talented musician who has had a great career.

R9 is new here.

DL is so weird. I was just thinking about Tracy Chapman earlier today and wondering what happened to her and Edie Brickell and that one from Texas. They all came out at the same time when I was a youngster working in a record store. Michelle Shocked—that’s the Texas one.

Michelle Shocked is an ex-gay now, isn't she?

She has a few songs which rule them all, nothing else matters.

Did Tracy perform at Lilith Fair?

She had some great songs and was one of the few alternative rock/folk songwriters of the late '80s/early '90s who was worth their salt. Suzanne Vega was more arty/pretentious IMO, whereas Tracy wrote from a place that seemed more humble and earthy (and therefore more relatable).

Fast Car was a huge hit at the time and it was covered recently by Jonas Blue and it was a hit in Europe.

Baby Can I Hold You was covered by Boyzone and was a big hit in Europe as well.

I think the royalties and licensing of her songs have kept her financially secure.

Tracy Chapman is doing fine.

Her career isn’t.

These “down the shitter” threads are fucking stupid. I don’t know if it’s the same person who keeps starting them, but the general premise and phraseology is retarded.

Meg Ryan, Jessica Lange, Faye Dunaway, Tracy Chapman, Demi Moore, Bette Midler at R19!

She skyrocketed to fame and is happily wealthy ever since.

According to Chartmaster (2019) she's sold 44 million albums.

I think she's just fine.

Give me one good reason to stay here!

Here you go OP!

She wasn't into being famous. She's fine being a private, semi-recluse in her ocean-view estate in Half Moon Bay, CA.

I’ve seen her around SF several times over the years and she seems painfully shy. I’ve never understood how she survives financially since she never tours or records anymore. She must be the exception to the rule with musicians who mostly have to tour to survive.

I’ve seen her around SF several times over the years and she seems painfully shy. I’ve never understood how she survives financially since she never tours or records anymore. She must be the exception to the rule with musicians who mostly have to tour to survive.

Was she in a relationship with Alice Walker? Isn't it that she was with Walker and Walker's daughter was with Meshell Mdegeocello?

I hope she's doing well financially because she has written some beautiful songs. When Fast Car comes on in a public place, I can see people bracing themselves for a private moment. That song alone! But she's had a few terrific albums.

Mdegeocello is more talented.

r11, Michelle Shocked went insane and is now a fundamentalist, anti-gay nutbag. I haven't looked her up since pre-Trump, but I'd very surprised if she wasn't on the QAnon train riding around crazyville right now. The jazz album should have been a warning that she needed an intervention.

I hardly doubt she wants to have a residency in Vegas, OP. She had hit songs on various albums, and now has a smaller cult following. Her residuals from 3 major hits (Fast Car, Gimme One Reason, and Baby I Can Hold You) pay the bills, and now does what she wants. She wasn’t ever trying to be Madonna.

Fast Car is a touching song. Some people doesn't want to be famous. There are people who really just love music and want to sing. Her career is not shit just because her album doesn't get to billboard 200 and nobody recognize her.

According to Google, her net worth is $8M. She's doing ok.

I saw her live once. It was such a boring concert. It would have been effectively the same staying home with the CD playing.

We'll be mostly dead so her music is best in the format in which it'll reach the greatest number of people: listened to in private.

Lesbian bars had a period of going nuts at the first notes of Give Me One Reason. Reminds me of a glorious time sweating and dancing and making out with women at Cubbyhole. I miss those days.

A musician who writes all her own songs, sells millions of copies of her albums, and gets residuals from her hits, is not going to have a hard time surviving financially, R27.

There are performing songwriters who’ve had far less mainstream/financial success than she’s had who years later, despite not repeating their chart/sales peak, have no trouble financially whatsoever in the present day.

OP, you started this thread for TIFFANY, Bruce Willis, Laura Branigan, Joseph Gordon Levitt, etc.

Better question, why has OP's credibility and imagination gone down the shitter?

Her music is more meaningful than most of her time period, the late 80s. She and Terence Trent D'Arby had such strong debuts that they never were able to match in success

R28, I thought that Chapman had an affair with Alice Walker and Walker's daughter, Rebecca.

R11, I think Edie married Paul Simon, had kids and fell off the map.

R25, my dream would be that Tracy started coming here to keep us updated on the gas prices in HMB, a la our old friend Cackle Cackle

R39 well well well! I didn't hear that!

Her debut does really well on streaming . It was the second best selling album of 1989 next to Like a Prayer. It was HUGE in Europe. And I believe Tracy maintained her popularity in Europe even though it went downhill here.

I don’t think her career went down the shitter. She had a few big years of global success, and maybe it wasn’t for her. I always saw her as a coffee shop folkie. She certainly must have made enough money to never worry again.

I think she had a good record deal, by artist standards. She toured enough back in her big era. She bought a nice house that has like ten times the value it was in the 80s and - let's face it - she doesn't seem to spend on much else. I read somewhere once she drives a Honda. I think success and privacy outweigh the need for labels and constant attention for some people.

Comedian Marsha Warfield said she was coming out with her own hair care products called "I could give a damn".

Is she a lesbian?

R34: Exactly! I saw her live once and it could’ve been nap time for me. Same goes for Diana Krall, a boring live performer but her CDs are great.

[quote]I’ve seen her around SF several times over the years and she seems painfully shy. I’ve never understood how she survives financially since she never tours or records anymore. She must be the exception to the rule with musicians who mostly have to tour to survive.

Artists -- before the illegal downloading and streaming era -- didn't need to tour. They could live off of albums sales. So best believe, Tracy Chapman made bank off of her 44 million in RECORD sales -- not $1 streams.

FYI: Tracy Chapman had not only a great debut album but her follow-up album was a hit as well too.

She's got a fast car.

[quote]Is she a lesbian?

No Rose, she went to Michfest all those years because she loved the outdoors.

During a concert years and years ago, Michelle Shocked declared, "God hates f*gs!"

The horrified Americana and album-oriented rock radio station programmers who had promoted her music and kept her career afloat blacklisted her post haste, as did many a concert hall.

I don't think she's recorded since then, and she doesn't seem to perform much. Hardly anybody wants anything to do with her.

But give the Devil her due: she was a much-above-average singer-songwriter in her youth. Pity about her reprehensible, Westboro-like beliefs.

R52, she’s severely mentally ill and fucked up from her upbringing, attendance of certain churches in adulthood, and her own self-loathing from being a (once out) lesbian.

I can’t even fault her for what she said. She’s just fucked in the head.

In the 1980’s a friend of mine interviewed for a job as her assistant. Actually, she had the interview with Chapman’s assistant and friend. She thought the interview went okay but she didn’t get the job,

Quote:

While performing at the Wild Goose Festival in June 2011, a Christian event at which the inclusion of gay Christians was debated, Shocked responded to an audience member's question about homosexuality by saying "Who drafted me as a gay icon? You are looking at the world's greatest homophobe. Ask God what He thinks."

On March 17, 2013, Shocked made an impromptu speech against same-sex marriage during a concert at Yoshi's nightclub in San Francisco, which led some audience members to leave in protest and the club's management to end the show. All venues eventually cancelled scheduled performances of her "Roadworks Tour" in response to reports of Shocked's remarks. In a March 20, 2013, email to the news media, Shocked apologized, saying that her comments had been misinterpreted, and that she was not describing her own opinions about homosexuality, but rather those of some Christians. An audio recording of the performance was reported as contradicting Shocked's post-performance explanation.

On April 1, 2013, Shocked appeared on CNN's Piers Morgan Live to clarify her remarks. Morgan asked Shocked three times whether she was "homophobic." Eventually, Shocked stated "If you want to keep this simple for the audience, let me just give you a straight no, I'm not homophobic. But the truth, I don't think, lies in the simplicity. It's in the nuance, and that's been completely lost in this…" She said that the meaning behind her prior comments was misinterpreted.

/quote

quote:

In the mid-1990s, Walker was involved in a romance with singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman, saying: "It was delicious and lovely and wonderful and I totally enjoyed it and I was completely in love with her but it was not anybody's business but ours.

/quote

I told Tracy that I love her - and there ain’t no more to say

I thought she was with Meshell Mdegeocello?

Anyway, loved her on Seth Meyers.

Not everybody wants to be a plastic surgery junkie, adopting foreign children, and twittering themselves into oblivion for attention.

who is she?????

R38 Tracy’s “New Beginning” album was a smash and gave her the biggest single of her career. She wrote her own stuff and owns it, was smart about money and the business and was able have the freedom to do what she wanted as an artist.

Her voice is still as distinctive as it was 30 years ago. I'm so glad that Seth Meyers was able to book her this week.

She ate Alice Walker's snatch.

[quote] I thought she was with Meshell Mdegeocello?

No gurl! Two butches? No way.

She may be shy but it comes across as smug.

C'mon, sister-friend! Go talk to the people at Thirty Tigers and put out a new album, already!

Happy Birthday