Harry Chapin
| Harry Chapin | |
|---|---|
Chapin in 1980
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Harry Forster Chapin |
| Born |
December 7, 1942 Brooklyn, New York City, United States |
| Died | July 16, 1981 (aged 38) Jericho, New York, United States |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, Composer, Arranger, Author, Humanitarian, Playwright |
| Instruments | |
| Years active | 1962–1981 |
| Labels | |
| Website | harrychapinmusic |
Harry Forster Chapin (December 7, 1942 – July 16, 1981) was an American singer-songwriter best known for his folk rock songs including "Taxi", "W*O*L*D", and the No. 1 hit "Cat's in the Cradle".
Chapin was also a dedicated humanitarian who fought to end world hunger; he was a key participant in the creation of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in 1977. In 1987, Chapin was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his humanitarian work.
Chapin was born in New York City, the second of four children who also included future musicians Tom and Steve. His parents were Jeanne Elspeth (née Burke) and Jim Chapin, a legendary percussionist. He had English ancestry, his great-grandparents having immigrated in the late 19th century. His parents divorced in 1950, with his mother retaining custody of their four sons, as Jim spent much of his time on the road as a drummer for Big band era acts such as Woody Herman. She married, secondly, to Films in Review magazine editor Henry Hart a few years later. Chapin's maternal grandfather was literary critic Kenneth Burke.
Chapin's first formal introduction to music was while singing in the Brooklyn Boys Choir, where Chapin met "Big" John Wallace, a tenor with a five-octave range, who later became his bassist, backing vocalist, and his straight man onstage. Chapin began performing with his brothers while a teenager, with their father occasionally joining them on drums. Chapin graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1960 and was among the five inductees in the school's Alumni Hall Of Fame for the year 2000. He briefly attended the United States Air Force Academy and was then an intermittent student at Cornell University but did not complete a degree.
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