Tim Hardin

James Timothy Hardin (December 23, 1941 – December 29, 1980) was an American folk music and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. In addition to his own success, his songs "If I Were a Carpenter", "Reason to Believe", "Misty Roses" and "The Lady Came from Baltimore" were hits for other artists.

Hardin was raised in Oregon and had no interest in school, withdrawing before graduating from high school, and joining the Marines. After his discharge, he moved to Greenwich Village and Cambridge, where he played and recorded several albums. He also performed at the Newport Folk Festival and at Woodstock. He struggled with drug abuse throughout most of his adult life and his live performances were sometimes erratic. He was planning a comeback when he died in late 1980 from an accidental heroin overdose.

Tim Hardin was born in Eugene, Oregon, to Hal and Molly Hardin, who both had musical backgrounds. His mother was a violinist and concertmaster of the Portland Symphony Orchestra and his father played bass in jazz bands in the Army and in college.

While a student at South Eugene High School, Hardin first learned to play the guitar. When he was 18, he dropped out and joined the Marines, improving his guitar skills and building a repertoire of folk songs. He first tried heroin while stationed with the Marines in Southeast Asia.

After his discharge in 1961, Hardin moved to New York City, where he briefly attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He was eventually dropped for poor attendance and began to focus on his music, performing around Greenwich Village playing folk songs and blues. During this time, he became friends with fellow musicians Cass Elliot, John Sebastian and Fred Neil. He moved to Boston in 1963 and became part of a growing folk music scene there. In Boston, he was discovered by upcoming record producer Erik Jacobsen (later the producer for the Lovin' Spoonful), who arranged a meeting with Columbia Records. The next year, Hardin returned to Greenwich Village to record for Columbia and recorded several demos as an audition that the label did not release. Columbia soon terminated his contract. Verve Forecast would release these tracks six years later as Tim Hardin 4.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.