Early Life and Recording Career
Harry Chapin was born into a middle-class family in New York City, the second of four children who also included future musicians Tom and Steve. His parents were Jeanne Elspeth (née Burke) and Jim Chapin, a legendary percussionist. His parents divorced in 1950, with Elspeth retaining custody of their four sons, as Jim spent much of his time on the road as a drummer for Big band era acts such as Woody Herman. She married Films in Review magazine editor Henry Hart a few years later.
Chapin's first formal introduction to music was while singing in the Brooklyn Boys Choir, where Chapin met "Big" John Wallace, a tenor with a five-octave range, who later became his bassist, backing vocalist, and his straight man onstage. Chapin began performing with his brothers while a teenager, with their father occasionally joining them on drums. Harry's first instrument was not the guitar, but the trumpet. He took lessons at the famed Greenwich House Music School on Barrow Street in Greenwich Village. Years later, he recalled telling Carl Osheroff, his fellow student there, that he would never become famous playing the trumpet. He remembered that Carl told him to take a look around the Village where they both lived at the time. "He said that the guitar was the way to go. The Village was bursting with folk singers at the time."
Chapin graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1960 and was among the five inductees in the school's Alumni Hall Of Fame for the year 2000. He briefly attended the United States Air Force Academy and was then an intermittent student at Cornell University but did not complete a degree.
Following an unsuccessful early album made with his brothers, Tom Chapin and Steve Chapin, Harry Chapin's first solo album was Heads & Tales (1972), which was a success thanks to the single "Taxi". Chapin, along with three band members who he had never previously met, briefly performed as the opening act for his brothers' band (with many of the songs arranged during these rehearsals ending up on Harry's first album). Several weeks of nightly playing and daily phone calls to labels and media suddenly ignited the interest of two record company giants at Elektra and Columbia.
Chapin ultimately signed a nine-album deal with Elektra, which included a stipulation that he receive free studio time, meaning he paid no recording costs. This was a move that would ultimately save Chapin hundreds of thousands of dollars over the term of his contract and set a precedent for other musicians.
Chapin's follow-up album, Sniper and Other Love Songs (1972), was less successful despite containing the Chapin anthem "Circle". His third album, Short Stories (1973), was a modest success. Verities & Balderdash (1974), released soon after, was much more successful, bolstered by the chart-topping hit single "Cat's in the Cradle", based upon a poem by his wife; Sandra Chapin had written the poem inspired by her first husband's relationship with his father and a country song she heard on the radio. When Harry's son Josh was born, he got the idea to put music to the words and recorded the result. "Cat's in the Cradle" was Chapin's only number one hit, shooting album sales skyward and making him a millionaire.
He also wrote and performed a Broadway musical The Night That Made America Famous. Additionally, Chapin wrote the music and lyrics for Cotton Patch Gospel, a musical by Tom Key and Russell Treyz based on Clarence Jordan's book The Cotton Patch Version of Matthew and John.
Chapin's recording of "The Shortest Story," a song he wrote about a dying child and featured in his 1976 live/studio album Greatest Stories Live, was named by author Tom Reynolds in his book I Hate Myself And Want To Die as the second most depressing song of all time.
Chapin's personal interaction with his fans (he regularly led audiences in sing-alongs) was such that during a 1977 appearance at The University of West Florida in Pensacola, Florida, when he was touring with only his bass violin player, he recruited the back-up singers for "Mr. Tanner" out of the audience.
By the end of the decade, Chapin's contract with Elektra had expired, and the company made no offer to renew it. A minor deal with Casablanca Records fell through, and Chapin settled on a simple one-album deal with Boardwalk Records. The Boardwalk album would be Chapin's final work released in his lifetime.
Death
On Thursday, July 16, 1981, just after noon, Chapin was driving in the left lane on the Long Island Expressway at about 65 mph on the way to perform at a free concert scheduled for later that evening at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, New York. Near exit 40 in Jericho he put on his emergency flashers, presumably because of either a mechanical or medical problem (possibly a heart attack). He then slowed to about 15 miles per hour and veered into the center lane, nearly colliding with another car. He swerved left, then to the right again, ending up directly in the path of a tractor-trailer truck. The truck could not brake in time and rammed the rear of Chapin's blue 1975 Volkswagen Rabbit, rupturing the fuel tank as it climbed up and over the back of the car, causing it to burst into flames.
The driver of the truck and a passerby were able to get Chapin out of the burning car through a window after cutting the seat belts before the car was engulfed in flames. Chapin was taken by police helicopter to a hospital, where ten doctors tried for 30 minutes to revive him. A spokesman for the Nassau County Medical Center said Chapin had suffered a heart attack and died of cardiac arrest, but there was no way of knowing whether it occurred before or after the accident. In an interview years after his death, Chapin's daughter said "My dad didn't really sleep, and he ate badly and had a totally insane schedule."
Long Island / Philanthropy
Chapin was resolved to leave his imprint on Long Island. He envisioned a Long Island where the arts flourished, universities expanded, and humane discourse was the norm. "He thought Long Island represented a remarkable opportunity," said Chapin's widow, Sandy.
Chapin served on the boards of the Eglevsky Ballet, the Long Island Philharmonic, and Hofstra University. He also energized the now-defunct Performing Arts Foundation (PAF) of Huntington.
In the mid-1970s, Chapin focused on social activism, including raising money to combat hunger in the United States. His daughter Jen said: "He saw hunger and poverty as an insult to America." He co-founded the organization World Hunger Year with radio personality Bill Ayres. Many of Chapin's concerts were benefit performances (for example, a concert to help save the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse, New York), and sales of his concert merchandise were used to support World Hunger Year.
The Lakeside Theatre at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, New York, was renamed "Harry Chapin Lakeside Theatre" during a memorial concert held one month after his death, as a tribute to his efforts to combat world hunger. Other Long Island landmarks named in honor of Chapin include a graduate student apartment complex at Stony Brook University, a theater in Heckscher Park, and a playground at the intersection of Columbia Heights and Middagh Street in Brooklyn Heights.
Cache is located at: N 40º AB.CDE W 073º FG.HIJ
To find the North coordinates, answer the following questions:
AB = The top US Billboard Hot 100 Chart position of "Sunday Morning Sunshine" minus The top US Billboard Hot 100 Chart position of "Taxi".
C = How many letters are in Harry Chapin's middle name?
D = How many tracks are on Side 1 of the first Chapin Brothers album ("Chapin Music!")?
E = How many step-children did Harry Chapin have?
To find the West coordinates, visit Harry Chapin's grave and answer the following questions. All "directions" assume you are standing in front of Chapin's grave, facing the inscription on his gravestone:
F = If you look to your right you'll see the gravestone of Virginia Mary Brown Hannaford, who was born on Dec. 4, 19_0. Fill in the blank for F.
G = How many points are on the star in the top left corner of Virginia Mary Brown Hannaford's gravestone?
H = If you look a few graves to the left of the Hannaford gravestone, you will see the gravestone of Richard S. Tretler. How many music notes are on this gravestone?
I = While facing Chapin's grave, directly behind you is the large gravestone of the Kane-Gardiner Family. Leroy Kane was born on Jan. 31, 188_. Fill in the blank for I.
J = According to the Kane-Gardiner gravestone, in what month was Keturah Jarvis born? (Jan = 1, Feb = 2, etc....)
This cache is not recommended at night. As far as I know, the cemetery does not have any offically posted hours and the gates are not generally closed/locked at night, but I believe entry into the cemetery is frowned upon.
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.