His mother was an accomplished violinist and concertmaster of the Portland Symphony Orchestra and his father played bass in jazz bands in the Army and in college.

[6] He was eventually dropped for poor attendance[7] and began to focus on his music, performing around Greenwich Village playing folk songs and blues.

He signed with Verve Forecast and released his first album, Tim Hardin 1, in 1966, which included "How Can We Hang On to a Dream", "Reason to Believe" and the ballad "Misty Roses" to critical acclaim and mainstream radio play.

Bobby Darin, Ronnie Hawkins, Bill Staines, Joel Grey and Don McLean recorded cover versions of the song.

That same year, Atco, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records, released an album of earlier material called This Is Tim Hardin, featuring covers of "The House of the Rising Sun", Fred Neil's "Blues on the Ceiling" and Willie Dixon's "Hoochie Coochie Man" as well as the original songs "Fast Freight" and "Can't Slow Down".

However, the quality of his work was in decline partly because of "his own combativeness in the studio, his addiction to heroin, his drinking problems and his frustration with his lack of commercial success".

[5][12] At the time, he was viewed as enigmatic, with one journalist stating that while "his position as one of the best songwriters of his generation is unquestioned ... [he] ... courted the scene in the most fumbling manner imaginable".

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

According to author Rob Young in the book All Gates Open: The Story of Can, during an argument with Can after the London concert, Hardin threw a television set through a car's windshield.

[22] Among his successes, Tim Hardin wrote the top 40 hit "If I Were a Carpenter", covered by 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, Joe Nichols, The Free Design, Ernest Wilson, John Holt and others.

"How Can We Hang On to a Dream" has been covered by Cliff Richard, Françoise Hardy, Marianne Faithfull, Fleetwood Mac, Peter Frampton, The Nice and Echo and the Bunnymen.

In 2005, the indie rock band Okkervil River released a tribute album called Black Sheep Boy said to be based on Hardin's life.

[24] In January of 2013, a tribute album, Reason to Believe: The Songs of Tim Hardin featuring indie and alternative rock bands from the U.K. and U.S. was released.

Mark Lanegan, who sang Hardin's "Red Balloon" on the album, told Rolling Stone: "I've always been haunted by his devastating voice and beautiful songs ...

[26] One music website initially described the album as appearing "surprisingly mainstream" but later acknowledged it in the article as a "comprehensive package ... [that] ... transcends its limitations ... [with the folkier songs] ... capturing the fragility of Hardin's original work without disrupting the moody, maudlin flow".

Sando acknowledged that he was greatly influenced by Hardin, noting "his lyrical economy and musical balance ... just the sheer simplicity and beauty of his songs was so appealing".

Writers said that, along with Leonard Cohen, he was the only musician who could rival Bob Dylan in composing "deeply moving love songs" however critics also noted that he never gained the attention he deserved and by the time he died, not one of his albums was still in print.

[39] Though his excesses came under scrutiny, one reviewer noted that "few people who have ever heard the poignant, often lonely, tone of [his] body of work would dispute the suggestion that he was one of the most affecting singer-songwriters of the modern pop era".