A combination of country, folk, rock, and blues, Mary Chapin Carpenter�s music defies easy categorization. Although Carpenter has been embraced by the country music world, listeners from all backgrounds have found meaning in her descriptions of triumphs and failures in everyday life.

Mary Chapin Carpenter was born on February 21, 1958 in Princeton, New Jersey, and is the third of four daughters. Her father, Chapin Carpenter, was an executive with Life magazine, and her mother, Bowie Carpenter, worked as a teacher at a private school.

In 1969 Chapin Carpenter was named publishing director of Life�s Asian edition, so the family had to move to Tokyo, Japan. They returned to New Jersey in 1971. Three years later Chapin Carpenter accepted a job in Washington DC, forcing the family to relocate again.

When Mary Chapin�s parents divorced shortly after the move to DC, she left home to finish high school at the exclusive Taft School, in Watertown, Connecticut. Partly because of her unstable childhood, Carpenter became a loner, and began writing music as a way to deal with her insecurities.

She attended Ivy League, Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island. At the urging of her father, Mary Chapin began performing at open- mike nights in area clubs, around the time of her freshman year at Brown in 1976. Despite her stage fright she performed at the campus coffeehouse at Brown, and during summer vacations she became a popular regular in DC area clubs.

Carpenter graduated from Brown in 1981 with a BA degree in American Civilization. She then returned to Washington where she became a fixture at local bars covering tunes by well-known performers. Eventually she began to slip some self- written songs into the act as well.

In 1986 she signed a deal with Columbia records. Carpenter�s demo tape became her first album, Hometown Girl, which was released in the summer of 1987. Most of the songs were ballads averaging 5 minutes in length. It received many praising reviews, but only sold about 20,000 copies in its initial release.

Mary Chapin began to reach commercial success in 1989 with the release of her second album, State of the Heart. The songs on this album were shorter and a little less serious. The first single, �How Do� reached number nineteen on billboard charts, and the second, �Never Had it so Good� reached number eight.

The album remained on the country charts for sixty- four weeks and also broke through to the pop charts at number 180. In 1990 she won an Academy of Country Music award for best new female vocalist, and her song �Quittin� Time� was nominated for a Grammy.

Her third album, Shooting Straight in the Dark, was released in 1990. The album was about dealing with aging and relationships. Also in 1990 Carpenter was invited to perform an unrecorded song called �The Opening Act� on the Country Music Association award show. She received a standing ovation and became a household name almost over night. This resulted in appearances on Late Night with David Letterman and CBS This Morning, as well as several other talk shows and magazine articles.

Carpenter spent most of 1991 promoting the album. Mary Chapin, her band, and the Cajun band Beausoleil performed �Down at the Twist and Shout� at the 1992 Grammy awards ceremony, at which she won the best country female vocal performance for the song.

Her fourth album, Come On Come On featured guest appearances by Shawn Colvin, the Indigo Girls, and Roseanne Cash. The album went gold within 30 days of its June 1992 release, platinum six months later and double platinum in early 1994.

Also in 1992 she received her first CMA award for female vocalist of the year. The single �He Thinks He�ll Keep Her� reached number one, and Come On Come On landed on the year end best lists for publications including Rolling stone, Billboard, the New York Times, and Entertainment Weekly.

She won her second Grammy in 1993 for best country female vocal performance, for the song �I Feel Lucky�, about a woman who wins the lottery. Carpenter also received the ACM award for female vocalist of the year, and her second consecutive CMA award in the same category. The song �Passionate Kisses� earned her a third straight Grammy for best country performance, in 1994.

In late 1993, after eighteen months on the road, Carpenter decided to take a year off from touring. The entirely self- written album, Stones in the Road was released in October 1994. It sold more than 1 million copies in the first few weeks.

Stones in the Road was the first to win the newly created best country album category at the Grammy Awards. She also won her fourth consecutive best country female vocal performance at the show.

Mary Chapin�s sixth album, A Place in the World, released in October of 1996 displays the full range of her music. The album features tastes of gospel and Motown, as well as horns never before heard on a Mary Chapin Carpenter album. The song, �Let Me into Your Heart� was featured on the soundtrack to the motion picture Tin Cup.

On May 13th, 1999, the long awaited seventh album, Party Doll and Other Favorites was released. It debuted at number four on Billboard charts. The album contains 17 songs, including live versions of her biggest hits, obscure recordings, and 3 new songs. The title track was previously recorded by Mick Jagger and appeared on his album, Primitive Cool.

Carpenter spent most of the three years between the release of A Place in the World, and Party Doll and Other Favorites working on her career as an author. Her first children�s book, Dreamland came out in late 1996, and the second, Halley Came to Jackson, in 1998.

Raising awareness on a variety of issues is a responsibility Mary Chapin takes seriously. She contributed an essay to A Voice Of Our Own: Leading American Women Celebrate the Right to Vote. Dreamland�s proceeds went to The Voiceless Victims of the Institute for intercultural Understanding. She regularly advocates on behalf of environmental causes, and has supported numerous national and local charities in the Washington DC area. Her extensive 1995 Stones in the Road tour and tour book celebrated the 50th anniversary of C.A.R.E. She has been a supporter of a variety of human rights organizations, and has performed for Presidents Bush and Clinton. Carpenter is the cochairman, with Mark Chesnutt, of the Country Music AIDS Awareness Campaign Nashville, which records AIDS related public service announcements by country music stars to be broadcast on country music radio stations. Mary Chapin has also performed at Nashville Cares, Farm AID and at Earth Day benefit shows in Atlanta and Washington DC. She also did a Christmas concert for troops in Bosnia in 1997.

Mary Chapin Carpenter is a rare performer who is of her audience not above it. The lyrics in her songs seem like words we can hear ourselves speaking and her music is a warm, familiar embrace.




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