Tracy Chapman – Tracy Chapman It was 1988, four years since Live Aid and another huge charity concert was aired on the BBC. Nelson Mandela’s 70th Birthday Concert had the usual rosta of famous names, when during a band changeover, a slightly built lack girl stepped towards a solitary mike carrying a guitar. Practically unknown, especially here in Britain, Tracy captivated the world with her two songs ‘Fast Car’ and ‘Talking About A Revolution’. The eponymous album had already been released to mediocre sales, but now sold 2 million in a few weeks. And rightly so. It is a protest album, unfashionable since the Sixties, but the songs are so powerful and sung with a quiet intensity which captivates. A true original, she went on to great success, but last released n album in 2008. The mere mention of her name now brings a smile to those of us fortunate enough to have witnessed that moment. Almost every song is powerful and brilliantly performed, and still there is nobody with quite that integrity and honesty around today
