Thread by @mrajchan

Like everyone else, I was moved by Tracy Chapman & Luke Combs at the Grammy's

Tracy's an anti-celebrity:
-uncomfortable in the public eye
-doesn't own a smart phone
-not on social

There isn't a lot of info on her

But here's what I found on her and the history of Fast Car 🧵

1/Tracy was born and raised in Cleveland, by a single mom who brought her up to be a free thinker

She loved reading, poetry & music

And she saw education as her "way out of Cleveland, and out of poverty"

At 16, she won a scholarship to a private boarding school in Connecticut

2/Tracy played music since the age of 3 and wrote songs since the age of 8

Her high school yearbook said "Tracy Chapman will marry her guitar & live happily ever after”

And that's what happened

Her big break came at Tufts University, where she thought she wanted to be a vet

3/Classmate @briankoppelman (creator of Billions) saw Tracy performing at Tufts and intro'd her to his dad, who ran SBK, a top indie music-publishing company

He told her: "You know, I never do this, bc I try to be my own person, but I really think my father could help you"

4/Tracy wanted to form a band but instead stuck to being solo, bc "every song was moving, every song meant something — it was all driven by passion"

Fast car was the 1st single off of her debut alum was released on April 6, 1988

And another big break would come 3 months later

5/Tracy was scheduled to perform at Nelson Mandela's 70th Birthday Tribute

After Stevie Wonder had technical difficulties & didn't perform, Tracy went on stage to perform Fast Car with just a microphone and her guitar

This propelled the song to the top of the Billboard charts

6/Tracy went on to release 7 more albums, but Fast Car was was brought her her most commercial success

She parlayed this to using her platform to support causes she cares about, and has been mostly out of the spotlight ever since her last album in 2008

Until @lukecombs...

7/Luke covered Fast Car in 2023, because

"My dad had that record & would play it all the time. That was just one of the first songs really that I ever remember hearing listening to... it's always just been one of my favorite songs for my entire life"

It won CMA song of the year

8/And at the 2024 Grammy's Tracy and Luke won everyone's hearts and soul, because of

1. The juxtaposition of an unlikely duo
2. A genuine respect & chemistry
3. And most importantly... Fast Car being a universal & unifying song for the human struggle - poverty

Simply beautiful

If you enjoyed this deep dive, RT this thread and follow me @mrajchan for more breakdowns on culture and business trends

https://twitter.com/mrajchan/status/1754541823882936427

Here's another one I've done on the future of religion blowing up because of Gen Z and America's loneliness epidemic

https://twitter.com/mrajchan/status/1741856274374168843

And today’s deep dive is on a baking company that created something called “The Baker’s Hotline” to create a world class customer experience for bakers

https://twitter.com/mrajchan/status/1754884456295592174