Photo by Robert Berkowitz

Sandy Gaston Chapin was a teacher and mother of three when she started taking guitar lessons from singer/songwriter/filmmaker Harry Chapin. They married two years later and Sandy began writing poetry and songs late at night, after her children were in bed. One of those poems, inspired in part by a country song and in part by the disconnected relationship between her first husband and his son, became the basis of Harry's song, "Cat’s in the Cradle." When Sandy first shared the poem with Harry, "he sort of brushed it aside," she says. But after their son Josh was born, Harry saw the poem through new eyes, and was compelled to write music and a chorus for the verses Sandy had written. When Harry told her his producer wanted to include the song on his next album, Sandy called the idea "ridiculous," saying, "That song will only appeal to 45-year-old men, and they don’t buy records." "Cat’s in the Cradle" went on to become a #1 hit, earning a Grammy nomination for Best Song, selling millions of copies, and being featured over and over again in settings ranging from church sermons to feature films. Harry’s brother Tom has said the lyrics ". . . put more fathers ill at ease than any other song in history," and Sandy herself admits that it has proven to be a "real teaching opportunity." 

As the mother of five and grandmother of six, Sandy confesses that she writes "almost not at all" these days. She continues to live in New York and devotes most of her time to family matters and running Long Island Cares, a food bank and hunger assistance organization, and the Harry Chapin Foundation, the goal of which is to help make a positive difference in communities around the country.