Michael Chapman was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist who released 58 albums, displaying a "fusion of jazz, rock, Indian and ragtime styles [that] made him a cult hero". He began playing with jazz bands, mainly in his home town of Leeds, and became well known in the folk clubs of the late 1960s, as well as on the progressive music scene. Having celebrated fifty years as a professional musician in 2016, he continued to regularly tour the UK, Europe and US.
The significance of Chapman's work underwent several favourable reappraisals, particularly in the 1990s and 2010s. Thurston Moore, with whom Chapman collaborated, cited him as an inspiration in the formation of Sonic Youth.