The Chapins were an outgrowth of the 1960s pop-folk-rock group the Chapin Brothers, who had featured Steve Chapin, Tom Chapin, and Harry Chapin. Harry Chapin was not a performing member of the band, which included his brothers Steve and Tom, along with drummer Phil Forbes and guitarist Dough Walker, when they formed in 1969. Harry Chapin, however, did write a lot of material for the group, which often performed at the Bitter End in New York, and were managed by Bitter End owner Paul Colby.

The Chapins did briefly have a deal with Epic, and an unremarkable obscure singer/songwriter-rock single emerged in 1970, with Harry Chapin's Workin' on My Life on the A-side; Chapin was not involved in the writing of the flip, The Only Thing (You Ever Really Have to Do Is Die). Peter M. Coan's Harry Chapin biography also refers to a couple of other unreleased Harry Chapin songs recorded by the group for Epic, Greyhound and Lady of the Highway. It was once suggested that the Chapins merge with the Simon Sisters, the duo of Lucy Simon and the pre-solo stardom Carly Simon, with the name the Brothers Sisters, though this merger didn't take place. The Chapins petered out in the early '70s, as Harry Chapin concentrated more on building his ultimately successful career as a solo singer/songwriter. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi