  john prine (born october 10, 1946) is an american country/folk singer-songwriter. he has been active as a composer, recording artist, and live performer since the early 1970s. born and raised in maywood, illinois, prine learned to play the guitar at the age of 14. subsequently serving in west germany with the u.s. armed forces, by the late 1960s he had moved to chicago, where he worked as a mailman, writing and singing songs as a hobby. becoming a part of the city's folk revival, he was discovered by kris kristofferson, resulting in the production of prine's self-titled debut album through atlantic records in 1971. after receiving critical acclaim, prine focused on his musical career, recording three more albums for atlantic. he then signed to asylum records, where he recorded an additional three albums. in 1984 he co-founded oh boy records, an independent record label with whom he would release most of his subsequent albums. after struggling with squamous cell cancer in 1998, prine's vocals deepened into a gravel-voice, resulting in the award-winning album fair & square (2005). widely cited as one of the most influential songwriters of his generation, prine is known for humorous lyrics about love, life, and current events, as well as serious songs with social commentary, or which recollect melancholy tales from his life. ==biography== prine is the son of william prine and verna hamm. he started playing guitar at age 14, taught by his brother, david. prine attended proviso east high school in maywood, illinois. he was a mailman for five years and served in the army during the vietnam war era, serving in germany, before beginning his musical career in chicago. in the late 1960s, while prine was delivering mail, he began to sing at open mic evenings at the fifth peg on armitage avenue in chicago. prine was initially a spectator, reluctant to perform, but
1946_births American_country_singers American_folk_singers American_male_singers American_singer-songwriters Cancer_survivors Folk_musicians_from_Chicago,_Illinois Grammy_Award-winning_artists Living_people Mail_carriers Old_Town_School_of_Folk_musicians People_from_Maywood,_Illinois