John Robert Hiatt (born August 20, 1952) is an American singer-songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including new wave, blues, and country. Hiatt has been nominated for nine Grammy Awards and has been awarded a variety of other distinctions in the music industry.
Hiatt was working as a songwriter for Tree International, a record label in Nashville, Tennessee, when his song "Sure As I'm Sittin' Here" was covered by Three Dog Night. The song became a Top 40 hit, earning Hiatt a recording contract with Epic Records. Since then he has released 22 studio albums, two compilation albums and one live album.
A variety of artists in multiple genres have covered his songs, including Rosanne Cash, Aaron Neville, B. B. King, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy, Chaka Khan, Albert Lee, Dave Edmunds, Delbert McClinton, Desert Rose Band, Emmylou Harris, Eric Clapton, Iggy Pop, I'm with Her, Jeff Healey, Jewel, Jimmy Buffett, Joan Baez, Joe Bonamassa, Joe Cocker, Keith Urban, Linda Ronstadt, Mandy Moore, Maria Muldaur, Marti Jones, Nick Lowe, Paula Abdul, Paulini, Rodney Crowell, Marshall Crenshaw, Ry Cooder, Suzy Bogguss, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Searchers, Three Dog Night, Willie Nelson, Asleep at the Wheel, Don Henley, and Willy DeVille. The Dutch singer-songwriter Ilse DeLange recorded the album Dear John with nine of his songs.
Early life
Hiatt was born in 1952 to Robert and Ruth Hiatt, the sixth of seven children in a Roman Catholic family from Indianapolis, Indiana. When he was 9 years old, Hiatt's 21-year-old brother Michael died by suicide. Two years later, his father died after a long illness. To escape the stress of his early life, Hiatt watched IndyCar racing and listened to Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, and the blues. In his youth, Hiatt reports that he and several others stole a Ford Thunderbird, a crime for which he was caught by the owners but got away with, posing as a hitchhiker. He learned to play the guitar when he was 11 and began his musical career in Indianapolis as a teenager. He played in a various local clubs such as Hummingbird and also with bands, including The Four-Fifths and John Lynch & the Hangmen.
Career
Hiatt moved to Nashville, Tennessee, when he was 18 years old and got a job as a songwriter for the Tree-Music Publishing Company for $25 a week. Hiatt, who was unable to read or write scores, had to record all 250 songs he wrote for the company. He also began playing with the band White Duck as one of three singer-songwriters within the group. White Duck had already recorded one album before Hiatt joined. He wrote and performed two songs on their second album In Season. Hiatt performed live in many clubs around Nashville with White Duck and also as a solo act.
Early solo career (1974–78) Hiatt met Don Ellis of Epic Records in 1973, and received a record deal, releasing his first single "We Make Spirit" later that year. That same year Hiatt wrote the song "Sure as I'm Sitting Here" recorded by Three Dog Night, which went to number 16 on the Billboard chart in 1974.
In 1974, Hiatt released Hangin' Around the Observatory, which was a critical success but a commercial failure. A year later, Overcoats was released and when it also failed to sell, Epic Records released Hiatt from his contract. For the next four years he was without a recording contract. During this time his style evolved from country-rock to new wave of Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe and Graham Parker, among others.