In 1988 Tracy Chapman was the guest of label mate Natalie Merchant in London during a number of showcases. An article from 1988 explains... Natalie Merchant of 10,000 Maniacs had flown from New York that afternoon to see the woman whose record had made her cry and had decided on the way to offer to play with Tracy on a couple of London showcases intended for the end of March. Merchant had already written to Chapman –“I felt a kinship because her record is made from the soul rather than to make money”- and was burning to see this person who’d touched her so deeply... Even Natalie Merchant remains astounded by the speed with which Tracy Chapman has been adopted by the world, adopted in a manner which still allows her to have a private appeal, a sense of personal discovery, to all who encounter her. “No one understands it but everybody marvels at it” says Merchant. “She certainly doesn’t need any help from me in retrospect. I played with her in England and had her tour with us to get my crowd to see her rather than have her relegated to women’s bins or folk bins in the stores. When she toured with us not many people had heard the album but people sat completely enthralled and she got standing ovations most nights.” Each night of the tour Chapman would join Natalie onstage for an a cappela version of the old spiritual Where The Soul Never Dies. I guessed right about her from the record », says Merchant. « She’s very strong, very enclosed and very talented. » - 1988 Fast Forward, By Marc Cooper, Q Magazine, September 1988 (p. 72-77) via about-tracy-chapman.net
Posted on: Fri, 16 May 2014 23:06:38 +0000