How Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” Stole the Show and Made Her a Star Overnight

At a massive show at Wembley Stadium, the headliner Stevie wonder was all set to play in front of 72K people and a television audience of over 600 million. When all of a sudden his main instrument with all of his pre recorded backing music was gone… He could’t play so the promoters asked a little known artist named Tracy Chapman with only an acoustic guitar to fill in. She played her song Fast Car, a stark folky acoustic song about tough times and poverty. in less than 4 mins she blew the audience away and a few weeks later due to word of mouth her debut album went from selling a few hundred thousands to over 2 million. Up next the story of a song that didn’t sound like anything on the radio and how it somehow dominated radio in 1987. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .