20 Facts About Grayson Hugh

Grayson Hugh began playing the piano at the age of three years.

Grayson Hugh played for a year as the pianist in a black gospel church and studied African drumming.

Grayson Hugh studied piano with jazz pianist Jaki Byard and avant garde pianist Ran Blake.

Grayson Hugh dropped out of high school during his junior year to focus on his music.

Grayson Hugh briefly attended film school at the University of Bridgeport.

Grayson Hugh struggled with alcoholism in the 1970s, achieving sobriety in 1980.

In 1980, Grayson Hugh released a self-titled album.

Grayson Hugh moved to New York City in 1986 where he happened to meet producer Michael Baker in an elevator.

Grayson Hugh was hired to sing backup vocals on that album and subsequently signed to RCA Records as singer-songwriter in 1987.

Grayson Hugh broke into the Billboard Hot 100 in 1989 with three singles from his debut RCA album Blind to Reason.

In 1988 "Talk It Over", a song written by Sandy Linzer and Irwin Levine that Grayson Hugh arranged, reached the Top 20.

Grayson Hugh toured extensively in 1988 in the US and overseas, at first opening for Dickey Betts, Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson, Sheena Easton and Phoebe Snow, before beginning several years of headlining his own tours.

Grayson Hugh's gospel-tinged arrangement of Bob Dylan's "I'll Remember You" was the featured end-title song for the film Fried Green Tomatoes.

In 1999, Grayson Hugh was forced to declare bankruptcy as a result of financial mismanagement by his business team.

In 2004, now broke, estranged from his family and friends, and living in a back room in a Cape Cod restaurant, Grayson Hugh suffered a near-fatal alcohol-induced seizure that left him hospitalized.

Grayson Hugh began writing and recording his comeback record, and returned to music full-time in 2007.

Grayson Hugh's recording An American Record was released on May 1,2010.

Since the release of An American Record, Grayson Hugh has been touring the US and Europe.

Grayson Hugh released his new album Back to the Soul, a return to his southern soul roots, on August 12,2015.

Grayson Hugh is currently working on a new roots country album called "Save Your Love For Me", scheduled for a release to be announced.