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 ...