Ray LaMontagne

Ray LaMontagne was born in New Hampshire ("But we were just passing through," he points out), one of six kids from various fathers -- all raised by their resourceful mom. His dad, a musician who now works in Nashville, split soon after his birth ("I've talked to him for a total of about a minute and a half in 20 years," Ray says), and Mom went wherever she could put a roof over her children's heads - from Utah to Maine and points between, where they resided in an assortment of unusual domiciles: the backyards of his mother's friends, in cars and tents, a cinderblock shell on a Tennessee horse ranch, a New Hampshire chicken coop. Ray was always the new kid in school, "and I had this nose when I was like 10," he jokes, laughing softly, "so you can imagine. It was tough.