Taylor Hicks Early life

Taylor Hicks as a child
Taylor Hicks was born in the Saint Vincent's Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. As an infant, he had blond hair. His hair color turned dark brown/black as an adolescent, and started turning gray by the time he was 15. He and his family moved to suburban Hoover when he was 8 years old. His parents divorced when he was 8, and his father Brad, a dentist, and stepmother Linda shared custody until he became of age. His half-brother, Sean, is a student at Georgia Tech and plays trumpet in the school's jazz band.

Growing up in Hoover, Hicks played Little League baseball, golf, and varsity basketball. According to his grandmother Jonie, Hicks never had formal music lessons. He came running up to her when he was about twelve years old saying, "Grandma, you've got to hear this!" Then he sang Otis Redding's "Try A Little Tenderness" for her. According to his father, when he was 5 years old he sang to random strangers the music of Kenny Rogers or Michael Jackson, to name a few. He plays guitar as well as blues harp and writes most of his own songs. Hicks bought his first harmonica when he was 16.

Hicks was a former student of Berry High School and graduated from Hoover High School in 1995. He attended Auburn University, majoring in business, communications and marketing for a year, but lost interest and dropped out. He moved to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue a music career and has worked with Nashville veterans Billy Earle McClelland and Percy Sledge. Later, he graduated from University of Alabama at Birmingham.