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Hugh Moffatt (born November 3, 1948)[1] is an Americancountry singer and songwriter. In the 1970s and 1980s several artists made hits out of his songs. He has also released critically acclaimed albums of his own.
He was born inFort Worth, Texas, United States.[2]In his youth, Moffatt learned classicalpiano andjazztrumpet and was a member of his high school band. Despite early inclinations towardcountry music, while atRice University Moffatt learnedguitar and turned toward jazz andblues.[2] After graduation, he moved toAustin, Texas and had planned to move toWashington, D.C., but a visit to theGrand Ole Opry inNashville, Tennessee in 1973 renewed his old passion for country music, and he stayed there to seek a career in that genre.[2]
Moffatt first worked as a songwriter, in emulation ofKris Kristofferson.[2] Success first came whenRonnie Milsap's recording of "Just in Case" peaked at No. 5 on theBillboard country chart.[2] In 1977, he signed a record deal withMercury and released two unsuccessful singles, and then refocused on songwriting.[2]
In 1980, Moffatt formed Ratz with Wade McCurdy, John Dietrich, Michael Bonagura and his wife.[2] They released the self-financed debutPuttin' on the Ratz in 1984.[2] Two years later he released a solo album,Loving You,[2] which he followed up in 1989 withTroubador, often considered today as his best work. Together with his sister, the country singerKaty Moffatt, he released 1992'sDance Me Outside.[2] He has continued to record and release albums well into the new millennium.[1]Johnny Cash recorded Moffatt's "Rose of My Heart" shortly before his death. The song was released on Cash's album,American V: A Hundred Highways.
Moffatt andMichael Ching, the Artistic Director ofOpera Memphis, premiered their first full-lengthopera in 2003 with theUniversity of Missouri Show-Me Opera. The opera, entitledCorps of Discovery, follows the journeys ofLewis and Clark fromNew Orleans to thePacific Northwest and back. Moffatt and Ching have collaborated on two one-act operas that have been performed across the country;King of the Clouds, commissioned byDayton Opera, follows the story and dreams of the future of the son of an alcoholic mother.Out of the Rain follows the life of a group of friends and society's relationship and struggle withAIDS.[1] In 2010, they again collaborated on a new English translation of Gluck's "Orfeo ed Eurydice" for Opera Memphis.
In 2024, he released a single with "Till the Morning Comes" together withJonas Fjeld, a song they had written together as early as 1990 when NorwegianSteinar Albrigtsen released it on his albumAlone Too Long.[3]
Moffatt is the brother of singer-songwriterKaty Moffatt.[2] He was married to songwriterPebe Sebert, with whom he wrote "Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You", in 1977,[2] but the couple separated in 1984. They have one son, Lagan Blue Sebert, a video and documentary film producer living in New York City. Sebert is also the mother of pop starKesha and for this reason Moffatt is sometimes assumed to be the father of Kesha, but he is not. Moffatt says, "I have enormous respect for Kesha. I admire her music, her talent, her work ethic, and the fact that she has clearly established herself as a voice of her generation. I would be proud to be her father, but I do not have that honor." Since 1987, Moffatt has been married to Mary Vaughan, formerly an elementary and Montessori pre-school teacher, now retired. They live in Nashville and have two children, Corianna Moffatt, an actor, director, and playwright living inBoston,Massachusetts, and Greyson Moffatt, a math and engineering student living in Nashville.
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