Donovan Chapman (born in

Farmerville, Louisiana Farmerville is a town in and the parish seat of Union Parish, Louisiana, United States. It has also been known as Farmersville. The population was 3,860 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Monroe Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town is ...

) is an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist. he has recorded two studio albums: one on

Curb Records Curb Records (also known as Asylum-Curb and formerly known as MCG Curb) is an American record label started by Mike Curb, originally as Sidewalk Records in 1963. From 1969 to 1973, Curb merged with MGM Records where Curb served as President of ...

, and one on

Category 5 Records Category 5 Records was an independent record label based in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 2005, the label included eight different country music artists in its roster. The label was owned by Raymond Termini and was disestablished in 2009. His ...

. He has also charted four singles on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

charts, with his highest being the No. 42-peaking "House Like That" in late 2006-early 2007.

Biography

Chapman was raised in

.Curb.com : Donovan Chapman biography
/ref> His mother, a native of Hawaii, exposed him to Hawaiian music at an early age, and he soon learned to play the

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

. At age seventeen, Chapman enlisted in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

. He spent eleven years in the Air Force, serving for five years in U.S. Air Force Security Forces and six years as a

Pararescueman Pararescuemen (also known as PJs) are United States Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) and Air Combat Command (ACC) operators tasked with recovery and medical treatment of personnel in humanitarian and combat environments. These spec ...

. During his leave time, he met

Mike Curb Michael Curb (born December 24, 1944) is an American musician, record company executive, motorsports car owner, philanthropist, and former politician. He is also the founder of Curb Records where he presently serves as the chairman. Curb also ...

, head of the

label, and was soon signed to the label. Chapman's first single, "There Is No War", was released in 2003. The single was dedicated to families of American soldiers who had died overseas. Chapman recorded two albums for Curb Records, shortly before returning to duty in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

.Press Release.pdf
In the same time, Chapman released a self titled EP, followed by his first full album, ''I Am America''. After returning to the United States, he signed to

. His first single for Category 5, "House Like That", was released in late 2006. A second single, "All I Need", was released in 2007, shortly before Chapman terminated his relationship with Category 5 Records. "House Like That" was produced by

Billy Joe Walker, Jr. Billy Joe Walker Jr. (February 29, 1952 – July 25, 2017) was an American songwriter, record producer and recording artist. He composed singles for Eddie Rabbitt, including "I Wanna Dance with You", "That's Why I Fell in Love with You" and " B ...

Chapman's music career went into hiatus after he suffered from

post traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a ...

stemming from his service in the Air Force. After recovering, he released the album ''Brotherhood'' in late 2021.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, Donovan Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Farmerville, Louisiana American country singer-songwriters Country musicians from Louisiana American ukulele players Curb Records artists United States Air Force airmen Singer-songwriters from Louisiana American people of Native Hawaiian descent