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John Hiatt
Background information
Born	August 20, 1952 (age 54) Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Genre(s)	Rock Country Blues
Instrument(s)	Singer Guitar Keyboards
Years active	1972–present
Website	http://www.johnhiatt.com

John Hiatt (born August 20, 1952 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA) is an American rock guitarist, pianist, singer, and songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including New Wave, blues and country. Hiatt has been nominated for eleven Grammy Awards and has been awarded a variety of other distinctions in the music industry.

Hiatt was working as a songwriter for a record company in Nashville when his song "Sure As I'm Sitting Here" was covered by Three Dog Night. The song became a top forty hit, earning Hiatt a recording contract with Epic Records. Since then he has released eighteen studio albums and two live albums. His songs have been covered by a variety of notable artists in multiple genres, including Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Willie Nelson, Joan Baez, Paula Abdul, Jimmy Buffett, and Rosanne Cash.

Contents 1 Musical Career 1.1 Early career 1.2 Success at last 1.3 The 1990s and beyond 1.4 TV and Movie Appearances 2 Discography 2.1 Official Discography 2.2 Other 2.3 Appearances on Compilation Albums 3 Singles 4 Trivia 5 References 6 External links

John Hiatt started his musical career in Indianapolis, Indiana as a teenager. He played in a variety of local clubs, most notably the Hummingbird. Hiatt played with a variety of bands, one of which was The Four Fifths.

Hiatt moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he got a job as a songwriter for the Tree-Music Publishing Company. Hiatt, who was unable to read or write scores, had to record all 250 songs he wrote for the company. Hiatt wrote the song "Sure As I'm Sitting Here," which was recorded by Three Dog Night and went to number 16 on the Billboard chart.

Hiatt meanwhile began playing with a band, White Ducks, which recorded an album, In Season, in 1972. Hiatt performed with both the White Ducks, and solo in a variety of clubs around Nashville.

Hiatt met Don Ellis of Epic Records in 1973, and received a record deal, releasing his first single, "We Make Spirt," later that year. In 1974, Hiatt released Hangin' Around the Observatory, which was a critical success and a commercial failure. A year later, Overcoats was released, and when it failed to sell, Epic released Hiatt from his contract. Hiatt would suffer a similar fate with his next two labels, MCA Records and Geffen Records.

While working with Geffen, Hiatt received some praise by being called "the American Elvis Costello" by some. Hiatt even recorded a duet with Costello, a cover of the Spinners' song, "Living A Little, Laughing A Little," which appeared on Warming Up to the Ice Age. Shortly after its release, Bob Dylan covered Hiatt's song "The Usual," which had appeared on the soundtrack to the movie Hearts of Fire.

Hiatt finally came into success in 1987, when he released his first big hit, Bring the Family. For the album, Hiatt had a backing band consisting of Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe, and Jim Keltner. One of the cuts from the album, "Have a Little Faith in Me," would be covered by a number of artists, including Joe Cocker, Jewel, and Mandy Moore. "Thank You Girl" was a moderate radio hit, but nothing that would garner Hiatt national attention.

Following Bring the Family, Hiatt would have varied success on his following albums, though he did have a string of nine straight studio albums hit the Billboard 200.

In 1989, Hiatt returned to the studio to record Slow Turning, which would be his first album to hit the upper half of the Billboard 200. It also featured his only successful single, the title track, which hit #8 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Also in 1989, Jeff Healey covered Hiatt's song "Angel Eyes", and took it to the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1992, Cooder, Keltner, and Lowe again backed up Hiatt, but this time they gave themselves a band name, Little Village, a reference to a Sonny Boy Williamson II project. Expectations for the Little Village album were high, but the album failed to even chart as high as Hiatt's last solo album, and the group disbanded after an equally unsuccessful tour.

In 1993, Hiatt recorded Perfectly Good Guitar with members of alternative rock groups School of Fish and Wire Train. It was Hiatt's highest peaking album at #47, but again high expectations would not be met. The next year, Hiatt released Hiatt Comes Alive at Budokan?, his first live album and his last album with A&M Records.

Hiatt's next few albums never gained any momentum on the charts, and he saw little change in his fanbase in the late 1990s, indicating a dedicated (but not growing) following. In 2000, Hiatt released his first independent album (on Vanguard Records), Crossing Muddy Waters, which saw a strong mixture of bluegrass music in his music. Later that year, he was named songwriter/artist of the year at the Nashville Music Awards. In 2001, Crossing Muddy Waters was nominated for a Grammy award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

A compilation of Hiatt's songs that have been covered was also released on Vanguard. A CD and DVD of John Hiatt's performance on Austin City Limits was released in 2005.

Hiatt's most recent album, Master of Disaster, was released on June 21, 2005. The album was produced by Jim Dickinson, and Hiatt was backed up by notable studio bassist David Hood and several members of the jam band North Mississippi Allstars. The album achieved modest sales, becoming a top ten independent album, but eluded significant commercial success in the same manner that his previous albums did.

• Performed on "Sessions at West 54th"
• Musical guest on "Saturday Night Live", originally aired January 28, 1989.
• Musical guest on "Late Show with David Letterman", originally aired September 14, 1993.
• Performed on "Austin City Limits", originally taped December 14, 1993.
• Performed on "Hard Rock Live", 1997.
• Performed on "Where Music Meets Film: Live from Sundance", 1999.
• Contributed the singing voice to Ted Bedderhead in the animated Disney film The Country Bears, 2002.
• Song "Cry Love" featured on episode of Arrested Development, originally aired November 23, 2003.
• Appeared as himself on an episode of "Yes Dear", originally aired May 3, 2004.
• Musical guest on "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson", originally aired October 3, 2005.
• Musical guest on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien", originally aired December 26, 2005.
• Musical guest on "Last Call with Carson Daly", originally aired January 4, 2006.
• Musical guest on "Last Call with Carson Daly", originally aired January 12, 2006.
• Interview and Musical Guest on "Breakfast With The Arts", aired July 16, 2006.
• Song "Alone In The Dark" featured in the movie True Lies

• Hangin' Around the Observatory, Epic Records, 1974.
• Overcoats, Epic Records, 1975.
• Slug Line, MCA Records, 1979.
• Two Bit Monsters, MCA Records, 1980.
• All of a Sudden, Geffen Records, 1982.
• Riding with the King, Geffen Records, 1983.
• Warming Up to the Ice Age, Geffen Records, 1985.
• Bring the Family, A&M Records, 1987. #107 US
• Slow Turning, A&M Records, 1988. #98 US
• Stolen Moments, A&M Records, 1990. #61 US
• Little Village, (supergroup with Nick Lowe, Ry Cooder, and Jim Keltner), Reprise Records, 1992. #66 US
• Perfectly Good Guitar, A&M Records, 1993. #47 US
• Hiatt Comes Alive at Budokan? A&M Records, 1994.
• Walk On, Capitol Records, 1995. #48 US
• Little Head, Capitol Records, 1997. #111 US
• Crossing Muddy Waters, Vanguard Records, 2000. #110 US, #2 US Blues
• The Tiki Bar is Open, Vanguard Records, 2001. #89 US, #4 US Indie
• Beneath This Gruff Exterior, New West Records, 2003. #73 US, #3 US Indie
• Master of Disaster, New West Records, 2005. #126 US, #10 US Indie
• Live from Austin, TX, New West Records, 2005.

• Y'all Caught? The Ones That Got Away 1979-1985 (compilation), Geffen Records, 1989.
• Slug Line/Two Bit Monsters (Combo of 2 CDs), Beat Goes On Records, 1993
• Live at the Hiatt (promo CD recorded at the London Forum), A&M Records, 1994
• The Best of John Hiatt 1973-1998, Capitol Records, 1998.
• It'll Come to You: The Songs of John Hiatt (compilation of cover versions of John Hiatt songs), Vanguard Records, 2003.

1. Bonnie Raitt - Thing Called Love
2. Willie Nelson - The Most Unoriginal Sin
3. Rodney Crowell - She Loves The Jerk
4. Rosanne Cash - The Way We Make A Broken Heart
5. Linda Ronstadt - When We Ran
6. B.B. King & Eric Clapton - Riding With The King
7. Emmylou Harris - Icy Blue Heart
8. Nick Lowe & His Cowboy Outfit - She Don't Love Nobody
9. Freddy Fender - Across The Borderline
10. Buddy Guy - Feels Like Rain
11. Patty Griffin - Take It Down
12. Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise - It'll Come To You
13. Buddy & Julie Miller - Paper Thin
14. Joe Cocker - Have a Little Faith in Me

• "Snake Charmer", from White Nights Official Soundtrack, Atlantic Records, 1985.
• "My Girl", from From Hell to Obscurity (w/ Loudon Wainwright III), A&M Records, 1989.
• The Country Bears Official Soundtrack, Disney, 2002.

1. "Let it Ride"
2. "Where Nobody Knows My Name"
3. "Straight to the Heart of Love" (w/ E.G. Daily, Colin Hay, Don Henley, and Bonnie Raitt)
4. "Just the Goin'"

• "Take Time to Know Her", from Attack of the Killer B's, Geffen, 1983.
• "Across The Borderline", from Flaco Jimenez: Partners, Reprise Records, 1992.

Year	Title	Chart positions				Album
		US Hot 100	US Modern Rock	US Mainstream Rock	UK
1987	"Thank You Girl"	-	-	#27	-	Bring The Family
1988	"Slow Turning"	-	#22	#8	-	Slow Turning
1988	"Paper Thin"	-	-	#18	-	Slow Turning
1990	"Child of the Wild Blue Yonder"	-	#24	#17	-	Stolen Moments
1992	"She Runs Hot" (w/ Little Village)	-	-	#17	-	Little Village
1992	"Solar Sex Panel" (w/ Little Village)	-	-	#35	-	Little Village
1993	"Perfectly Good Guitar"	-	-	#16	-	Perfectly Good Guitar
1993	"Something Wild"	-	-	#31	-	Perfectly Good Guitar

• Jef Mallett, who writes the comic strip Frazz is a fan of Hiatt, and has referenced the musician in several comic strips.
• A few John Hiatt songs were found on George W. Bush's iPod in 2005 ^[1].

• John Hiatt official website
• John Hiatt on A&M Records