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Harry Chapin 1942–1981 wrote the hit Cats in the Cradle and Taxi, and directed the Oscar-nominated documentary Legendary Champions in 1968. He convinced President Jimmy Carter to create a Hunger Commission and co-founded World Hunger Year. He died in a car accident at age 38 while en route to a benefit concert.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Harry Chapin — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Harry Chapin by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Harry Chapin — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
The son of big-band drummer Jim Chapin, Harry Chapin came into the world on December 7, 1942 in Greenwich Village, New York City. He attended P.S. 41 and Brooklyn Technical High School before studying architecture and philosophy at Cornell University. His musical path started with trumpet, then guitar, and by the 1960s he performed with his younger brothers Tom and Steve as The Chapin Brothers.
After a short stint in the Air Force Academy, Chapin turned to filmmaking and directed Legendary Champions 1968, a documentary about heavyweight boxers that earned an Academy Award nomination. In the 1970s, he signed with Elektra Records and released Taxi, which became one of the longest songs ever played on radio. He followed with hits like Cats in the Cradle and W.O.L.D, and produced Broadway shows while writing songs for his brother Tom’s children’s TV series Make a Wish.
Harry Chapin married Sandy Chapin on November 26, 1968, and they had two children: Joshua and Jen Chapin. He was the childhood sweetheart of actress Mary Woronov. His father Jim and brothers Tom, Steve, Butch, and James all played roles in his life and music. Chapin was interred in Huntington Rural Cemetery with an epitaph quoting his song I Wonder What Would Happen to This World.
Chapin received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1987, and his foundation World Hunger Year continues his fight against global hunger. The Harry Chapin Memorial Humanitarian Award was created in 1981. He performed over 300 concerts a year, half for charity, and supported 82 charities. He is remembered as a folk singer who used his fame to combat world hunger.
The complete filmography of Harry Chapin — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Harry Chapin — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
Harry Chapin's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
A wall of memorable lines from Harry Chapin — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
I’ve Got Nothing Against Selling Out, but Just Let Me Do It for Something That Matters. Not so I Can Be Number One with a Bullet, as It Were, but so I Can Leave This World Feeling Like I Made a Difference.
Most Celebrity Stuff Is Gestureville. I Call It Event Psychosis. the Bottom Line Is That the Serious Changes That Happen Are Part of a Long-range Process. You Have to Commit to That, Even Though It’s Nice to Have Those Moments of Punctuation That Are Events.
Given This Short Opportunity We Call Life, It Seems to Me That the Only Sensible Way – Even If You Have Pessimistic Thoughts About the 99 Percent Possibility That Things Are Going Wrong – Is to Operate on the One Percent Chance That Our Lives Mean Something.
The Very Reason We Ask, Why World Hunger? Tells You Why We Have a Hunger Problem. There Are Three Necessities of Life: Water, Air and Food. It’s Not a Luxury. It’s Not a Cause Like Cystic Fibrosis, Cancer, Heart Disease. You Haven’t Got the Option to Get Those Things If You Don’t Have the Three Necessities.
Feeding Hungry People Is Important in the Short Run, but in the Long Run You’ve Got to Realize That Powerful Forces Are Creating Those Hungry People. Those People Don’t Just Choose to Starve. Our Job Is to Look at Those Forces and Deal with Them.
This Nation Is Looking for a Vision. We Had Manifest Destiny. We Built the Railroads, Industry, Won Two World Wars. We’re Looking for Something Grand and Good to Do. I Don’t Have Much Hope of It Happening but Feeding the World Could Be That Thing.
I Hold on to the Blissful Notion That the Journey Is Worthwhile, and I Tip Toe ‘Cross the Chasm with a Song and a Smile.
I’d Rather Make a Mistake Than Do Nothing.
Yes We Can. Yes We Can Dream. Yes We Can Believe. Yes We Can Compete. If a Brave New America Is One Where We Can’t Dream, I’m Very Worried.
There’s Enough Food to Feed Everyone on This Planet Twice Over, Why, Why, Why Are People Going Hungry?
The Credo of My Life Is Very Simply, When in Doubt, Do Something. the Errors I Make Are Going to Be Errors of Commission, Not Omission.
I Sing One Night for Me and One for the Other Guy.
Little-known facts about Harry Chapin — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
He gave more than 300 concerts annually, and half of those were benefit shows for causes like World Hunger Year.
His siblings include James Chapin, Butch Chapin, Tom Chapin, and Steve Chapin, with Steve serving on the board of World Hunger Year from its founding.
In 1987, he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his philanthropic work.
Mary Woronov was his childhood sweetheart.
With wife Sandy Chapin, he had a son Joshua and a daughter Jen Chapin.
His biography appears in The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 140-142.
He was the grandson of James Chapin.
His maternal grandfather was the prominent American philosopher, poet and literary critic Kenneth Burke.
He is interred in Huntington Rural Cemetery in Huntington, Long Island, New York. The epitaph on his tombstone is a verse from his song I Wonder What Would Happen to This World.
The Harry Chapin Memorial Humanitarian Award was created in 1981 to honor his legacy.
His father’s name is Jim Chapin.
He was the uncle of Lily Chapin and Abigail Chapin.
During his life, he supported 82 charities and 33 organizations focused on ending world hunger.
By age 33, he had been nominated for an Oscar, a Tony, and a Grammy, and had the ear of President Carter, inspiring a Presidential Commission on world hunger. He also won a Peabody award.
He was fifth cousin of singer-songwriter Mary Caplin Carpenter.
His song Mr. Tanner inspired the character of Mr. Tanner in the 2015 film Cadence.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Harry Chapin.
Celebrities similar to Harry Chapin — same craft, ranked by reach.
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