Chapman aims to puncture foreign music market

“If something great happens, I’ll accept it. If it doesn’t happen I’ll still accept it, because I would feel that was meant to be. But I am just going to do my work and put it out there and the rest is up to God. I have no control over that! My goal is to puncture the international market, to bore through it and I am going to do what I have to do.” Those were the words of Oliver “Stompy” Chapman during his recent visit to his birthplace to launch his latest piece of work, titled Give Thanks. Known for rich bass voice, Chapman shot into the local limelight in 1962 when he started with the group Sparks, which was later renamed Wildfire. It was one of the more popular local groups of the 60s, 70s and early 80s that thrilled audiences wherever they performed. The voice of Stompy stood out during several of those performances. During the Sparks and Wildfire years too, Stompy was responsible for giving us a string of hits as several of the band’s compositions were done by him. Those songs included “Try Making Love”, “Island Girl,” “Love To Daddy,” “My Life,” “Come On Down” and “Check It Out.” The singer/songwriter also wrote for the likes of Junior Byron, Mavis John and Peter Brad, and was the recipient of a gold record, awarded to him for excellence in songwriting by the president of Sure Shot Productions. That song was “Say A Little Prayer” which he wrote for Wildfire.

But one of the high points in Chapman’s career came in 1985 when he released “Tanty Say,” “Sunday Morning” and  “Cryin’s Easy”, sung by three different artistes and held down #1, #2 and #3 positions on the musical charts. The last of them stayed on the charts for 20 weeks. Chapman’s first trip to the USA was in 1976 and from then to 1985, when Wildfire was disbanded,  he decided on a more permanent stay in the US as he sought greener pastures. “That is when I really migrated and settled down, although my “Tanty Say” was a hit here. But I felt that I wanted to expand and do something that would reach out to more people,” he said. And as the settling process began 23 years after his first visit, he recalled: “Things wasn’t that easy. I knocked around for a while just visiting friends and family while trying to get at what was happening in the entertainment business.” It took me four years before I met James Mironchik, my current manager, in 1989.” During those years Stompy was back and forth to New Jersey and St Thomas. Mironchik and Stompy started talking about the music business and the former soon invited him to his studio  where it all began. They started working on the Give Thanks album in 1998, not consistantly as both were pursuing different agendas, always keping in mind that they had to complete the CD. That only happened earlier this year.The album  was subsequently released it in TT last month.

The CD consists of ten songs, some of which he performed before migrating to the US. “I am looking to reach out much bigger than that. We are now getting appreciative responses. It’s not no big thing that I haven’t had a major hit there yet, but I am going to”. A demo copy of the song Give Thanks was sent to a Billboard song contest which received a rating of 8 out of 10. An Honourable Mention Certificate was also presented to him given that the song was placed in the first 500, out of some 80,000 entries. Though Stompy hasn’t done any major gigs or big concerts, he certainly intends pushing his new album with such a force so as to create an impression on the American market. “Give Thanks is Christian contemporary gospel, with a bit of distant country which is like the crossover rock, even a pop thing. So we’re going to put out a few singles and see what’s going to happen,” he said. With that intent, Mironchik and Chapman recently put a band together to promote the album. Chapman said they have already spoken to some reputable labels who wanted a Trinidadian feedback, hence the reason for the recent launch in Trinidad. Depending on those reviews, they can go a long way in getting one of those reputable labels. For Mironchik, the project meant that it was a great chance to work on the CD from the ground up and build a wide diversity of music, and to get the gratification of seeing something from the beginning to the end. When not lost in his music world, Chapman finds the time to spend with his second wife Isabella, whom he married in 1993 after divorcing the mother of his four children (one died) in 1988. His two boys and one girl are all grown now and living in Trinidad.