Corey Hart (singer) - Early Life

Early Life

Hart was born in Montreal, Quebec on May 31, 1962, the youngest of five children. He grew up in Montreal, Spain, Mexico City and Key Biscayne, Florida as a young boy. He became fluent in three languages (English, Spanish and French) due to his upbringing in these locations. Hart's parents separated (and later divorced) when he was 10 years old and he returned to Montreal with his mother, Mina and older brother Robbie. He shared an especially close relationship with his mother, to whom Hart's first album was dedicated. Hart's lack of contact and intimacy with his father pained the artist throughout his life and colored many of his compositions, such as the 1998 song "Reconcile."

Hart's first experience as a performing artist came at age 11, when he sang "Ben" for Tom Jones in Miami. He also recorded songs with Paul Anka in Las Vegas during this time period. In 1980 Hart represented Canada in the World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo (along with singer Dan Hill), marking his first public performance of original material. Hart also met Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Christopher Cross at the competition. Back in Canada, Hart reached out to Billy Joel who was on tour in the Montreal area at the time. Joel's backup band contacted him and Hart ended up recording several demos with them in Long Island, New York. Hart worked with several other notable Canadian studio musicians on demos before finally signing to a major label, Aquarius Records (Canada), in 1982 at the age of 20. Several songs on his first album, such as "The World is Fire," reflect the many rejections and tribulations Hart encountered along the path to getting a recording contract.