But she will nonetheless be seen round city. The proprietor of a bookstore the place she generally outlets posted on X after her Grammys efficiency that she was “so down to earth in real life” when noticed shopping for meals for her canine at an area pet retailer. (The put up was later deleted.) Others have noticed her standing in line at a well-liked bakery. Before the pandemic, she served as a decide for a highschool scholarship program run by the founders of Beach Blanket Babylon, a now-defunct cabaret.
Lee Houskeeper, a public relations govt and music promoter in San Francisco, mentioned he had met Chapman a couple of occasions at her studio and rehearsal area. He mentioned she was very good and that they’d chatted about performing artists they each know.
A state assemblyman, Matt Haney, mentioned he’s solely seen her as soon as, at a college board assembly in 2018 when he served on that board. She was there to assist the college district naming a theater on its property after her good friend Sydney Goldstein. It now homes San Francisco’s well-liked City Arts & Lectures program.
“She didn’t make a big deal of being there,” Haney recalled in an interview. “I don’t think she even came to the mic.”
Could she return?
The Grammys efficiency immediately grew to become a profession spotlight for Chapman, and it may properly stoke demand for her return to recording and touring. This yr she can be nominated for the Songwriters Hall of Fame. If she is inducted — an excellent guess — that might present one other alternative for a public look.
“There’s always been demand for Tracy Chapman to return to performing,” Rich McLaughlin, this system director at WFUV, a radio station in New York that celebrates songwriters, mentioned in an e mail. “Whether or not it will increase the chances of her doing so, however, is difficult to predict.”
Chapman’s longtime followers might have their fingers crossed, however they’ve additionally discovered endurance.
“Tracy Chapman is an artist who follows her muse, not market demand,” McLaughlin added. “If she based her decision solely on demand, she’d have returned to touring years ago.”
