Tom Chapin |
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 Tom Chapin |
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| Born | (1945-03-13) March 13, 1945 (age 78)
New York City |
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| Genres | Folk music, children's music |
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| Occupations | Singer-songwriter, musician, entertainer |
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| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, banjo, autoharp, didgeridoo, mandolin |
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| Years active | 1973–present |
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| Website | www.tomchapin.com |
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Musical artist
Tom Chapin (born March 13, 1945) is an American musician, entertainer, singer-songwriter, and storyteller.
Chapin is known for the song "Happy Birthday",[1] released in 1989 in his Moonboat album.[2] It takes its melody from "Love Unspoken", a song featured in the opera The Merry Widow by Franz Lehar.
Biography
Chapin is the son of Jim Chapin and the brother of Harry Chapin. He graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School.[3] He attended State University of New York at Plattsburgh where he played basketball and baseball. Chapin is a member of the school's 1000 Point Club [4] in basketball and is a 1986 inductee of the Plattsburgh State Athletic Hall of Fame.[5] He graduated in 1966.[6]
From 1971 to 1976, Chapin hosted Make a Wish, an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning Sunday-morning children's TV series broadcast on ABC. He occasionally appears in Harry Chapin tribute concerts (often with brother Steve Chapin). He has appeared in the Broadway production Pump Boys and Dinettes, among others. Chapin has branched in to the storytelling festival circuit and in 2007 was a Featured New Voices Teller at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee.
He is married to Bonnie Chapin (née Broecker), former wife of film director Wes Craven and sister of Wallace Smith Broecker.[7] His daughters and stepdaughter are musicians as well; they perform as the Chapin Sisters.
Activism
In April 2008, Chapin appeared at the New York State United Teachers' Convention, where he sang his song "Not on the Test" for delegates in support of the importance of arts and music education in the age of No Child Left Behind. This song debuted on NPR's Morning Edition in January 2007. His album with John Forster titled Broadsides: A Miscellany of Musical Opinion is a collection of socially conscious songs written for Morning Edition; Forster was nominated for a Grammy for his work producing Chapin's 1998 album In My Hometown.
Chapin continues support of WhyHunger (formerly World Hunger Year), a nonprofit organization cofounded by his brother Harry Chapin. He sits on their board of directors.[8]
