John Hiatt

American singer-songwriter John Hiatt was born in Indiana in 1952, one of a family of seven children. Gaining success and recognition for his work has been a long uphill struggle for Hiatt, following a traumatic childhood where he lost his older brother and his father before he was 12 and having to get a job as a jobbing songwriter in Nashville when he was 18. Unable to read or write scores, Hiatt had to record all the 250 songs he wrote for the Tree-Music Publishing Company who paid the young artist $25 per week. Meanwhile Hiatt was honing his live performance skills by playing the clubs and bars in the area with the band White Duck.

After signing a solo deal in 1974 with Epic Records Hiatt's early albums were commercial failures and the company cancelled his contract leaving him without a record deal for the next four years. It wasn't until 1987 and the release of his eighth studio album that Hiatt eventually got the recognition he craved, scoring a number 107 position in the Billboard 200. The album was 'Bring the Family' and as well as being a fine body of work in its own right, numerous songs from the album were covered by major artists and it projected Hiatt into the limelight. He has since gone on to become one of the most respected and influential songwriters of his generation of modern country artists, with further albums charting in the Billboard 200 including 'Stolen Moments' (1990), 'Perfectly Good Guitar' (1993), 'Walk On' (1995), 'Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns' (2011) and 'Terms of My Surrender' (2014). He released his 23rd studio album, 'The Eclipse Sessions', in 2018.