Mary Chapin Carpenter, born 21 February 1958, is an American singer-songwriter. Carpenter was always very interested in music, but had never thought about singing herself, until her father took her to an open stage. Carpenter never really took music seriously, she enjoyed making covers and performing a little from time to time, but later in life she just wanted to work. When Carpenter finally got a job, she got stressed out and wanted to make music again. She started doing this and after a few years of singing in various clubs, she got a manager, recorded a demo and ended up at Columbia Records, which marketed her as a country singer.
Carpenter's first album, 1987's ''Hometown Girl'', did not produce any hit singles, but 1989's ''State of the Heart'' and '1990's ''Shooting Straight in the Dark'' managed to produce a combined eight Top 20 hits on the Billboard country singles charts.
Carpenter's most successful album to date remains 1992's ''Come On Come On'', which produced seven country singles on the charts and achieved quadruple platinum in the United States for more than four million copies sold. She followed it up with ''Stones in the Road'' (1994) and ''A Place in the World'' (1996), both of which produced hit singles. In the 2000s, Carpenter's albums diverged both thematically and musically from her earlier work, becoming less radio-friendly and more focused on social and political issues. In 2007, she released ''The Calling''. She followed that with ''The Age of Miracles'' (2010), ''Ashes and Roses'' (2012), the orchestral album, ''Songs From the Movie'' (2014) and ''Sometimes Just the Sky'' (2018).
Carpenter has won five Grammy Awards and is the only artist to have won four consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, which she received from 1992 to 1995. She has sold more than 12 million records worldwide. On October 7, 2012, Carpenter was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.