Harry Chapin

Harry Chapin (December 7, 1942 - July 16, 1981) was an American singer and songwriter. He originally intended to be a documentary film-maker, and directed Legendary Champions in 1968. In 1971, he decided to focus on music. With John Wallace, Tim Scott and Ron Palmer, Chapin started playing in various local nightclubs in New York City. Chapin's debut album was Heads and Tales (1972), which was a success thanks to the single "Taxi." His follow-up album, Sniper and Other Love Songs, was less successful, but his third, Short Stories, was a major success. Verities & Balderdash, released soon after, was even more successful, bolstered by the single "Cat's in the Cradle." In the mid 1970s, Chapin focused on his social activism, including raising money to combat hunger in the United States and co-founding the organization World Hunger Year, before returning to music with On the Road to Kingdom Come. He also released a book of poetry, Looking...Seeing, in 1977. Harry Chapin died on July 16, 1981 in a car accident at the age of only 38 and was interred in the Huntington Rural Cemetery, Huntington, New York. His epitaph is taken from his song "I Wonder What Would Happen to this World." It is :
Oh if a man tried
To take his time on Earth
And prove before he died
What one man's life could be worth
I wonder what would happen
to this world
For his campaigning for social issues, in particular his highlighting of hunger around the world and in the US, including being widely recognised as being the key player in the creation of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in 1977, Chapin was posthumusly awarded the Special Congressional Gold Medal in 1987.

Discography

External links

Chapin, Harry Chapin, Harry

 

<< PreviousWord BrowserNext >>
veronica
robert jenkins
pelle the conqueror
thx
daniel day lewis
henry v (1989 film)
jeremy irons
gym
reversal of fortune
christopher durang
the field
1994 in film
gypsy moth
sam shepard
cape fear (1991 movie)
cape fear (1962 movie)
slick rick
muqaddimah
august wilson
ibn nafis
irving thalberg
glen campbell
stephen e. robinson
robert downey jr.
restoration (movie)
b. j. thomas
the fisher king (movie)
singer songwriter
richard crenna
the nice
chaplin
stephen rea
bitnet relay chat
2003 in television
what's love got to do with it? (movie)
the madness of king george
nobody's fool
meep
joaquin miller
mr. holland's opus
nixon (movie)
mindset
music of the united states
children of israel