Folk Music Icon Tom Chapin Returns to AZ's Prescott Center for the Arts Tonight

Grammy winner and folk music icon Tom Chapin returns to Prescott tonight, January 13 for an evening concert at Prescott Center for the Arts.

In a career that spans five decades, 22 albums and three Grammy awards, multi-talented artist Tom Chapin has covered an incredible amount of creative ground. In addition to his work as a recording artist and concert performer, Chapin has acted on Broadway, as well as working extensively in television, radio and films. The New York Times called Chapin "one of the great personalities in contemporary folk music," while Billboard called him "the best family artist around" and described him as "totally captivating." Parents magazine stated, "Nobody today is writing and performing better kid's songs than Tom Chapin."

The son of noted jazz drummer and teacher Jim Chapin and the grandson of author/critic Kenneth Burke and portrait painter James Chapin, Tom grew up in a family that encouraged artistic pursuits. He began performing professionally as a teenager in the early 1960s, playing in Greenwich Village folk clubs alongside his siblings Harry and Steve as The Chapin Brothers. In 1971, he began a five-year run as the host of the Emmy- and Peabody awardwinning ABC-TV children's series Make A Wish. Chapin and his songs were also featured in the seminal 1970 documentary film Blue Water, White Death, for which he spent six months sailing the Indian Ocean searching for Great White sharks.

Chapin launched his solo recording career with 1976's Life Is Like That. It was the first of a string of albums that further established his reputation as both a gifted storyteller and a natural entertainer, winning him an uncommonly loyal fan base in the process. He also continued to venture into other creative areas, playing the lead role in the hit Broadway musical Pump Boys and Dinettes, working off-Broadway as musical director of both Cotton Patch Gospel and Harry Chapin: Lies and Legends, and serving as host of TV's National Geographic Explorer. He's also written and performed satirical topical songs for National Public Radio's Morning Edition, and had a cameo role as the Vice Presidential candidate in Jonathan Demme's 2004
remake of The Manchurian Candidate.

In addition to his varied musical and media endeavors, Chapin is also a powerful advocate on behalf of a variety of charitable causes. He is an active board member of WhyHunger, the organization which the artist's older brother, the late singer-songwriter/activist Harry Chapin, founded (as World Hunger Year) in the 1970s. He also remains active in a variety of environmental causes, as well as efforts on behalf of music and the arts in our public schools. "I'm at that place in my life where I follow what interests me," Chapin concludes. "I still love the guitar, I still love to sing, and I still love the thrill of creation: a good song, a good recording, a good concert. I feel blessed to be my own boss, creating my own material and performing it to different audiences, ages and generations."

For more information, visit www.tomchapin.com.

The concert will take place tonight, January 13 at Prescott Center for the Arts at 7:30pm. Tickets are $17.00. To purchase, call (928) 445-3286 or visit www.pca-az.net. Presented by PCA and the Folk Sessions.

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