Died On This Date (December 29, 1980) Tim Hardin / Popular American Folk Singer
themusicsover Tim Hardin
December 23, 1941 – December 29, 1980
Tim Hardin was an American folk singer and songwriter who is best remembered for his “If I Were a Carpenter” and “Reason to Believe.” After serving a tour of duty as a marine in Vietnam, Hardin moved to New York City where he became immersed in the local folk scene. In 1963, he moved to Boston where he was signed to a recording contract with Columbia Records. Unfortunately, Columbia didn’t quite understand what they had in Hardin, so he was dropped from the label before any records were released. He was soon snapped up by Verve who began releasing a series of albums that are considered milestones of the folk movement. His songs have been made into hits by the likes of Johnny Cash, Rod Stewart, Bobby Darin and Robert Plant. Hardin had been struggling with both stage fright and heroin (which he had been introduced to in Vietnam), so he never was able to fully capitalize on the popularity of his songs due to his lack of consistent touring. For financial reasons, he had to sell off his songwriting rights during the late ’70s. On December 29, 1980, Tim Hardin, age 39, died of a heroin and morphine overdose.
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Tim Hart is best remembered as a founding member of British electric folk band, Steeleye Span, who released a handful of moderately successful albums while Hart was in the group between 1970 and 1982. He played guitar and sang for the band while writing some of their more traditional sounding songs. In later years, Hart released a handful of solo releases included two children’s albums. In late 2008, he was diagnosed with lung cancer which caused his death on December 24, 2009. Tim Hart was 61 years old when he died.
Bobby Darin was a pop singer and actor who scored numerous charting hits during a career that spanned from the mid ’50s until his death in 1973. He was of the 
Davy Graham was an influential British acoustic guitarist who came to prominence during the British folk revival of the 1960s. He has been cited as a direct influence on the likes of Bert Jansch, Paul Simon, John Renbourn, and Jimmy Page. He has also been noted as the founder of world music in that he was one of the first to incorporate elements from other cultures into his music. By the late ’60s, Graham had all but walked away from his music career, choosing instead to do charity work and teach guitar. He made a brief return to the stage and studio around 2005, but died of lung cancer on December 15, 2008. He was 68.
