You guys may be too young to remember, but I remember tuning in on TV with 600 million other viewers to watch Stevie Wonder live at Wembley Stadium for Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday celebration tribute in 1988. There were technical difficulties and Stevie Wonder couldn't go on yet. The crowd was antsy, milling around, singing their own songs. The TV cameras were rolling and the show had to go on, so TOTALLY UNKNOWN ARTIST TRACY CHAPMAN GOT UP ON STAGE AND PLAYED FAST CAR ARMED WITH ONLY HER GUITAR.
The crowd fell silent. Captivated by the absolute raw honesty and talent on display. Did we know we were witnessing history? A black queer artist who would rocket to fame and win a Grammy for this song the following year? I don't remember.
What I do remember is getting to the end of the song and not caring about Stevie Wonder any more. I wanted to know who this woman was!
Watch Tracy Chapman stun a rowdy crowd into silence:
i joke a lot about being the reason for the fast car renaissance, but this is actually so beautiful and i’m glad tracy chapman got to have this moment tonight 🥹
"Fast Car" is a song by American singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman, released in 1988 as the lead single from her self-titled debut studio album. Chapman's appearance on the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute helped the song become a top-ten hit in the US, reaching number six on the Billboard Hot 100. In the UK, it reached number five on the UK Singles Chart in 1988.
"Fast Car" received three Grammy Award nominations: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, the latter of which it won. It also received an MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Female Video in 1989.
Since the release of Chapman's original, the song has had success in two electronic dance versions, as well as a country music cover by singer Luke Combs. Combs's version was a number-one single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts in 2023, and won Chapman the Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year, making her the first Black person to win the award.