John Hiatt Biography

One of the best known crossover artists of all time, John Hiatt is not only recognized for his own work as an artist, with singles stylistic in everything from rock ‘n' roll, to blues and country, to pop, but also in the several hit singles that were remixed from his original works.Born in Indiana, he moved to Nashville after a two-year time span left both his father and brother dead. While in high school he spent a lot of time playing with garage bands, with much of their sound influenced by Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones. While first in Nashville, he worked as a songwriter at Tree Publishing before signing with Epic and MCA in the late ‘70s. His first several albums received little commercial acclaim and he was dropped from the several labels he was recording with. Haitt's alcoholism escalated as his second wife committed suicide and he had to take care of his one-year-old daughter Lilly. After his album Warming up to the Ice Age, he entered rehab. In 1986 he remarried and signed with A&M Records. With this new record contract his career finally sparked some warranted attention.He formed a rock band, including Ry Cooder (guitar), Nick Lowe (bass) and Jim Keltner (drums), to create his first chart album, Bring the Family. His sophomore effort with A&M Records saw similarly positive reviews, and Hiatt started touring around the UK and the US. Around this time, legendary artists including Bonnie Raitt started looking through some of Hiatt's work, and began covering his songs. Her single Thing Called Love, gave her unprecedented success.After his album Stolen Moments appeared and he won BMI's 1991 Country Music Award for the single Bring Back Your Love to Me, Hiatt's songs were being covered by Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and more. He has continued to create albums into the most recent decades.