18 Facts About Tim Hardin

James Timothy Hardin was an American folk and blues musician and composer.

Tim Hardin started his music career in Greenwich Village which led to recording several albums in the mid- to late 1960s, and a performance at the Woodstock Festival.

Tim Hardin was planning a comeback when he died in late 1980 from a heroin overdose.

Tim Hardin was born in Eugene, Oregon to Hal Tim Hardin and Molly, nee Small, who both had musical training.

Tim Hardin's mother was an accomplished violinist who performed with the Portland Symphony Orchestra and his father, who worked at his wife's family's mill, had played bass in jazz bands.

Tim Hardin attended South Eugene High School but dropped out at age 18 to join the Marine Corps.

Tim Hardin is said to have discovered heroin while posted in Southeast Asia.

Tim Hardin was eventually excluded for poor attendance and began to focus on his musical career by performing around Greenwich Village, playing folk and blues numbers.

Tim Hardin 2 was released in 1967; it contained "If I Were a Carpenter".

In 1969, Tim Hardin again signed with Columbia and had one of his few commercial successes, as a non-LP single of Bobby Darin's "Simple Song of Freedom" reached the US Top 50.

Tim Hardin sold the writers' rights to his songs, but accounts of how this transpired differ.

In late November 1975, Tim Hardin performed as guest lead vocalist with the German experimental rock band Can, for two UK concerts at Hatfield Polytechnic in Hertfordshire and London's Drury Lane Theatre.

In early 1980, Tim Hardin returned to the US after several years in Britain, and wrote ten new songs and started recording new material as a comeback.

Tim Hardin's remains were buried in Twin Oaks Cemetery in Turner, Oregon.

Tim Hardin wrote the top 40 hit "If I Were a Carpenter", covered by, among others, Bobby Darin, Bob Dylan, Bob Seger, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, the Four Tops, Robert Plant, Small Faces, Johnny Rivers, Bert Jansch, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, Dolly Parton and Joe Nichols.

Late in 2012 it was announced that a tribute album, Reason to Believe:The Songs of Tim Hardin featuring indie and alternative rock bands from Britain and America, was to be released in January 2013.

On his third solo album recorded in 2015, Pete Sando, previously of the 1960s band Gandalf, included a song called "Misty Roses on a Stone" that he had co-written as a dedication to Tim Hardin and said to be composed after a visit to the singer's grave.

Tim Hardin acknowledged that he been very influenced by Hardin, noting in particular.