Beth Nielsen Chapman

Beth Nielsen Chapman

Beth Nielsen Chapman is an American singer-songwriter from Harlingen, Texas. She is associated with country and folk, and is known for writing and recording songs that have also been performed by other artists.

Career

In 1976, she performs with the rock and pop group Harmony in Montgomery, Alabama, after Tommy Shaw leaves the group to join Styx. In the band, she plays acoustic guitar and piano and sings vocals. She also performs at Kegler’s Kove, a local bowling-alley venue, and later returns to the area occasionally.

Chapman has several songs on the Adult Contemporary charts in the 1990s, including “I Keep Coming Back To You”, “Walk My Way”, “The Moment You Were Mine” and “All I Have”. She also sings a duet with Paul Carrack, “In The Time It Takes”, in 1993.

Her album Back To Love reaches number one on the UK iTunes country charts in 2010. Her discography includes Hearing It First, Beth Nielsen Chapman, You Hold the Key, Sand and Water, Greatest Hits, Deeper Still, Hymns, Look and Prism.

Songwriting and collaborations

Chapman co-writes Faith Hill’s hit “This Kiss”. Other artists record her songs, including Trisha Yearwood (“Down On My Knees”), Martina McBride (“Happy Girl”), Willie Nelson (“Nothing I Can Do About it Now”), Tanya Tucker (“Strong Enough to Bend”), Lorrie Morgan (“Five Minutes”), Mary Chapin Carpenter (“Almost Home”) and Bette Midler (“The Color of Roses”). Bonnie Raitt provides background vocals on several of Chapman’s songs, including “Shake My Soul”.

Personal life and later work

Her husband, Ernest Chapman, dies of cancer in 1994. After his death, she writes “Sand And Water”; Elton John performs the song during his 1997 world tour. Chapman also experiences breast cancer in 2000.