Biografia
Marcus Chapman is a professional radio personality, music historian, voice over talent, best selling author, screenwriter, and on-air contributor for the TV One music documentary series "Unsung" & the film documentary series "Unsung Hollywood". Hailing from Chicago's south east side, Chapman started collecting music at the age of 4, and began researching music charts at the age of 17. He started his radio career in 1992 at WKDI in DeKalb, Illinois while attending Northern Illinois University. Upon graduating in 1995 with a Bachelors of Arts Degree and a minor in Black Studies, Chapman became the youngest employee at WGCI; Chicago's #1 radio station at that time. In less than a year, he joined the staff of on-air personalities; a staff that produced national alumni such as Tom Joyner, Doug Banks, and Steve Harvey. After four years of being at WGCI, MC Marcus Chapman (as he became known on-air) was the host of the station's two hottest weekend shows and a host of the city's number one weekly party. Chapman was then hired by Indianapolis radio station WTLC as host of their nightly 6 to 10 show. While helping WTLC achieve number 1 ratings at night, and the highest overall ratings in the station's history, Chapman earned attention from stations in various cities around the country. After nearly landing in New York, DC, Miami, Philadelphia, and North Carolina, MC was hired by Dallas-Ft. Worth's KKDA (K104). Following his stint in Dallas, MC returned to Chicago and WGCI. During that time he also worked as a music researcher for the radio data company Mediabase. He tracked the daily playlists of stations throughout the country, and the reported data was used to compile weekly charts for the industry magazine Radio & Records. After nearly being hired by stations in Los Angeles and Atlanta, Marcus re-joined the WGCI air staff for a third and final time. He then relocated from Chicago to Atlanta, and was heard several times on that city's #1 station WVEE (V103). In 2014 he joined Radio One Dallas station KBFB 97.9 The Beat, as well as Greenville, Mississippi's WIBT 104.7 The Beat. In 2015 Chapman released "The Coolest Music Book Ever Made aka The MC 500" the first half of a music guide with short write-ups about 500 different songs from various genres and eras covering over 40 years. The book release led to Chapman contributing to the TV One music documentary series Unsung; lending his experience as a music historian to an episode about the funk band Lakeside. In 2016 he released "The Coolest Music Book Ever Made aka The MC 500 Vol. 2" and contributed to the Unsung Hollywood episode about comedian, actor & filmmaker Rudy Ray Moore aka Dolemite; as well as Unsung episodes about soul singer Johnnie Taylor, blues singer Bobby "Blue" Bland, and DJ Frankie Knuckles & the Roots of House Music. In 2017 Marcus Chapman appeared in Unsung episodes about SWV, After 7, Case, Lenny Williams, a special James Brown tribute show, Jagged Edge, Switch, The Dramatics, Ice-T, and the Unsung Hollywood episode about the acting career of Tupac Shakur. He also filmed for the Unsung episode about the group Blue Magic, which aired in 2018. That year Marcus filmed for Unsung episodes about Skyy and Billy Paul; both of which were shown on TV One in 2020. During the midst of his TV appearances, Chapman relocated back to his hometown of Chicago and worked as an instructor at the Illinois Media School in 2017 and 2018. In 2019 Chapman wrote the screenplay for a feature film adapted from a 2010 autobiography about his radio career in the '90s and early 2000s. In 2021 he began hosting, producing, and programming a weekly R&B and hip-hop radio show called "The Best of the 90s with MC Marcus Chapman" for the Chicago based FM Omni Channel (formerly 95.1 FM Chicago). In 2022 the show was syndicated to radio stations in other markets and countries. He also appeared in three special "Unsung" episodes called "The Decades" that focused on the 1980s, 1990s, and the first ten years of the 2000s. Marcus Chapman can be located on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Linked In at mcmarcuschapman. Video footage, interviews & audio of various shows from his radio & TV career can be found on his YouTube channel. Previously aired episodes of his "Best of the 90s" show can be found on Mixcloud.
