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Alabama Music Hall of Fame Achiever
BETH NIELSEN CHAPMAN
Instruments: Vocals, Songwriter
Date of Birth: 1956
Place of Birth: Montgomery, Alabama
1999
Music Creator's Award
Chapman's musical eclecticism found its roots in her childhood, growing up in an Air Force family. Her experiences with many different cultures helped to feed her appreciation and sense of wonder for life's many contrasts.
During those developmental years, Chapman grew to appreciate the compositional richness of greats like Hoagy Carmichael, Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, as well as soaking the sounds of Sixties R&B and The Beatles.
It was the advent of the early seventies singer/songwriter movement that sparked Chapmans' desire to express herself as a writer. Through the sounds of Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, Carole King and James Taylor, Chapman defined her artistic voice.
As a result of various good fortunes in the Muscle Shoals music community, Chapman recorded her first album, Hearing It First, in 1980. Though the album (which was produced by the legendary Barry Beckett) achieved little commercial success, it helped establish Chapman as an artist to watch.
After Hearing It First, Chapman took time off to devote her energies to raising a family, honing her musical skills and expanding her tastes by absorbing the work of artists such as Hank Williams Sr., Emmylou Harris, John Prine and Willie Nelson.
Encouragement from family, friends and music industry professionals helped Chapman re-locate to Nashville in 1985. Shortly thereafter, Chapman began to write what would become a string of substantial song cuts for a widely contrasting range of artists, from the gritty country of Waylon Jennings to the jazzy cabaret of Ute Lemper. Along the way, Chapman scored four #1 hits (Willie Nelson, Tanya Tucker, Lorrie Morgan, Alabama), along with dozens of hit singles and album cuts.
In 1988, Chapman's talents came to the attention of Jim Ed Norman, president of Warner/Reprise Nashville and producer of many great pop and country records. Norman understood that Chapman's artistic potential lay beyond the realm of the country music world, signing her to Reprise and producing her 1990 pop debut Beth Nielsen Chapman. That album spawned four Top Twenty AC hits, three of which went Top Ten.
Chapman's 1997 release "Sand and Water" which dealt with the death of her husband, was covered by Elton John during his U.S. tour as an expression of his hurt over the loss of Princess Diana.
The 1998 Chapman song "This Kiss", recorded by Faith Hill, held the #1 position on the Country Charts for many weeks. The song received a 1999 Grammy Nomination for Best Country Song.
| Song Title | Recording Artist | Chart* | Year |
| This Kiss | Faith Hill | 1 | 1998 |
| Five Minutes | Lorrie Morgan | 1 | 1990 |
| Nothing I Can Do About It Now | Willie Nelson | 1 | 1989 |
| Strong Enough To Bend | Tanya Tucker | 1 | 1988 |
| Happy Girl | Martina McBride | 2 | 1998 |
| Here We Are | Alabama | 2 | 1992 |
| All The Reasons Why | Highway 101 | 5 | 1989 |
| Somebody Else's Moon | Colin Raye | 5 | 1993 |
| You Say You Will | Trisha Yearwood | 12 | 1993 |
| Ain't Necessarily So | Willie Nelson | 17 | 1990 |
| Down On My Knees | Trisha Yearwood | 19 | 1993 |
| Maybe That's All It Takes | Don Williams | 22 | 1990 |
| Baby I Want It | Girls Next Door | 26 | 1986 |
*Chart position is based on Billboard Magazine Pop, Country, R&B, & A/C Charts. Other music industry charts may have shown higher chart positions.