Early music career (1971–1972) In 1972, there was a bidding war over Chapin between
Clive Davis at Columbia and
Jac Holzman at Elektra. Chapin signed a multi-million dollar recording contract with
Elektra Records. The contract was one of the biggest of its time. It granted him free recording time, along with other perks. The same year, Chapin released his debut album,
Heads & Tales. The album was an international success, selling over one million units, and contained the top-25
Billboard Hot 100 hit single "
Taxi." The song also became a top-five hit in Canada. The success of the song in America is credited to American radio personality Jim Connors, who helped promote the song on the radio despite its length, and helped it to stay on the charts for 16 weeks. It became the number-one requested song for 10 weeks in a row. The song was performed on
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, which received so many calls that Chapin returned the next night. It was the first time in the show's history that a performer had been called back the next night. It was also one of the first performances on
The Midnight Special, with
John Denver hosting. When asked if the song was true, Chapin said "It's emotionally true, if not literally true. I've been in the film business on and off for a lot of years and wasn't doing well at one point. So, I went out and got a hack license for bread, and during the month that I was waiting for it to come through, I heard an old girlfriend of mine had gotten married and instead of becoming an actress, she married a rich guy. I envisioned some night I'd be driving a cab in the big city streets and this lady would get in the back, and I'd turn and look at her and she'd look at me and know we both sold out our dreams." Billboard ranked "Taxi" as the 85th song of the year. "Taxi" also earned Chapin a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist of the Year. The follow-up album,
Sniper and Other Love Songs, was also released in 1972. The album's title song, "
Sniper," is a semi-fictional account of the
University of Texas tower shooting. The single release from the album, "
Sunday Morning Sunshine," charted on the
Billboard Hot 100 and became a top-40 hit on
Billboard Adult Contemporary. The album was less successful than the last, selling 350,000 units. The album also contained the Chapin anthem "Circle." In 2004, the double album
Sniper and Other Love Songs and Heads & Tales was released. It contained previously unreleased tracks from both albums.
Career peak (1973–1975) In 1973, Chapin released his third album,
Short Stories. The album sold over 1 million units and produced another international hit, "
W.O.L.D.," a song about an aging disc jockey who has given up his entire life and family for his career. The song is sung from the point of view of the disc jockey, who is singing to his ex-wife. It was inspired by American radio personality Jim Connors. Chapin wrote the song when he listened to Connors calling his ex-wife in the
WMEX studio in Boston. The song became a top-40 hit on the
Billboard Hot 100, a top-10 hit in Canada, and a top-10 and -20 hit in other countries. Other notable songs from the album not released as singles are "
Mr. Tanner," "Mail Order Annie," and "They Call Her Easy." The song "Mr. Tanner" was loosely based on a pair of
New York Times concert reviews of baritone Martin Tubridy – once in 1971 and once in 1972. In 1974, Chapin released his most successful album,
Verities and Balderdash, which sold 2.5 million units and contained the hit "
Cat's in the Cradle." The song is about a father who does not find time for his son during the boy's childhood; then when the dad has time and wants to hang out with his son, the son has grown up and doesn't have time for his dad. The song earned Chapin another Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, and Chapin was inducted into the
Grammy Hall of Fame.
Verities and Balderdash peaked at number four on the
Billboard 200. The album's follow-up single, "
I Wanna Learn a Love Song," charted at number 7 on
Billboard Adult Contemporary. The song is a true story of how Chapin met his wife,
Sandra Chapin. "
30,000 Pounds of Bananas" was included on the album and became the number-one requested song for a few weeks, despite not being released as a single. It is a semi-fictional account of a truck crash that occurred in
Scranton, Pennsylvania, transporting bananas—based loosely on a March 18, 1965, accident involving truck driver Gene Sesky. Other notable songs from the album include "Shooting Star," "Halfway to Heaven," and "
Six String Orchestra." In 1975, Chapin released his fifth album,
Portrait Gallery, which produced a top-40
Billboard Adult Contemporary hit, "
Dreams Go By." However, it was less successful than the last, selling 350,000 units. Chapin also wrote and performed a Broadway play,
The Night That Made America Famous, which earned two
Tony Award nominations and two
Drama Desk Award nominations.
Later years (1976–1981) In 1976, Chapin released his first live album,
Greatest Stories Live, which sold 2.1 million units. However,
Elektra Records underwent a management change and gave almost no promotion for his later albums with Elektra, but they all sold at least 250,000 units each and charted successfully. By the end of the decade, Chapin concentrated more on touring than producing hit singles, but he still released one album a year. Chapin earned an estimated $2 million per year () until his death in 1981, making him one of the highest-paid artists in the world. Chapin's album
Dance Band on the Titanic sold poorly, but it was voted Album of the Year by
The Times of London. In 1980, his recording contract with Elektra expired. Chapin signed a one-album contract with
Boardwalk Records and released his ninth studio album,
Sequel, which was described as his fastest-breaking album. Three singles were released, with all of them becoming hits. The first single,
"Sequel," became a top-25 hit on the
Billboard Hot 100. The song is a follow-up to “Taxi.” The second single, "
Remember When the Music," became a top-50 hit on the Adult Contemporary Chart. The last single, "
Story of a Life," became a hit on the Bubbling Under chart. The album sold 500,000 units. ==Philanthropic work==