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

• Chapin Music (1966, Rock-Land Records)
• Heads and Tales (1972, Elektra)
• Sniper and Other Love Songs (1972, Elektra)
• Short Stories (1973, Elektra)
• Verities & Balderdash (1974, Elektra)
• Portrait Gallery (1975, Elektra)
• Greatest Stories Live (Double Album, 1976, Elektra)
• On the Road to Kingdom Come (1976, Elektra)
• Dance Band on the Titanic (Double Album, 1977, Elektra)
• Living Room Suite (1978, Elektra)
• Legends of the Lost and Found (Double Album, 1979, Elektra)
• Sequel (1980, Boardwalk Records)
• Anthology of Harry Chapin (1985, Elektra)
• Remember When the Music (1987, Dunhill Compact Disc Classics)
• The Gold Medal Collection (1988, Elektra)
• The Last Protest Singer (1988, Dunhill Compact Disc Classics)
• The Bottom Line Encore Collection (1998, Bottom Line / Koch)
• Story of a Life (1999, Elektra)