TRACY CHAPMAN

Beginning twenty years ago with the release of her eponymous debut, Tracy Chapman has created a body of work that has been as consistently compelling as it is honest and uncompromising, eloquently telling stories with perennial appeal that are at once personal and universal.
 
· Our Bright Future will be released on November 11, 2008.  Recorded this summer in Los Angeles with Larry Klein (Herbie Hancock, Joni Mitchell, Madeleine Peyroux), the album comprises 11 new songs written by Tracy.  Our Bright Future is Tracy's eighth studio album and her first since 2005's acclaimed Where You Live.
 
· Joining Tracy in the studio for the recording of Our Bright Future were guitarists Dean Parks (B.B. King, Anita Baker) and Joe Gore (Tom Waits, P.J. Harvey), drummers Steve Gadd (David Sanborn, Paul Simon) and Joey Waronker (R.E.M., Smashing Pumpkins), pianists Larry Goldings (John Mayer, Madeleine Peyroux) and Rob Burger (Norah Jones, Lucinda Williams), violinist Carla Kihlstedt and Larry Klein on bass.  The album was mixed by Dave Way and mastered by Bernie Grundman.
 
· Since her breakthrough performance at Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday concert in London in 1988, Tracy has appeared frequently in support of social and humanitarian causes, including Amnesty International's Human Rights Now! Tour, the annual Bridge School benefit concerts, the Nelson Mandela Free South Africa Concert, Farm Aid, Tibetan Freedom Festival, Vote for Change, the Driving Votes tour, San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and many others.
 
· Our Bright Future marks the latest stop in a musical journey that began in 1988 with the release of Tracy Chapman.  The multi-platinum debut earned three Grammy Awards and featured the classic singles 'Fast Car', 'Talkin' Bout A Revolution' and 'Baby Can I Hold You'.  It went on to become one of the most successful debuts of all time, selling more than 18 million copies worldwide.  To this day, it still makes regular appearances on album charts around the world, and in the UK it is the most successful album by a female artist in chart history, having spent almost 200 weeks on the chart.
 
· Impervious to trends, Tracy has commendably stayed her musical course, earning the approbation of fans, critics and peers for her subsequent albums: 1989's multi-platinum Crossroads, 1992's Matters Of The Heart, 1995's multi-platinum New Beginning (which featured the Grammy-winning single 'Give Me One Reason'), 2000's platinum Telling Stories, 2001's multi-platinum Collection, 2002's platinum Let It Rain, and 2005's Where You Live.
 
· In addition to her four Grammy Awards, Tracy has earned an American Music Award, a BRIT Award, three SKC Boston Music Awards, and four Bammy Awards.
 
· To coincide with the release of Our Bright Future Tracy will begin a solo tour of Europe in November.  The dates mark Tracy's first solo tour in over a decade and will give audiences a rare chance to hear the work of this truly individual musician's celebrated 20-year career performed in an intimate and memorable way.