Jett Williams,
daughter of the legendary Hank Williams, was
born in Montgomery, Alabama, five days after her father died on his way to
Canton, Ohio, where he was to perform on New Year's Day, 1953. Relinquished
by her natural mother, Bobbie Jett of Nashville, the infant was taken from
the hospital where she was born into the home of Hank's mother, Lillian, who
adopted her. Lillian, who started her lengthy adoption process within days
of Hank's funeral, completed the adoption in December of 1954.
Unfortunately, she was dead within two months and the Williams family no
longer wanted the infant, whom Lillian had named Cathy Yvonne (for the
"Yvonne" in "Jambalaya"). The Williams family made Jett a ward of the State
of Alabama and she was relocated to a foster home in Pine Level, Alabama, at
the age of three. Subsequently adopted again by a family in Mobile, Alabama,
Jett was raised there and attended the University of Alabama.
During her
youth, Jett had no idea who her natural parents were -- let alone that her
daddy was Hank Williams, but from a very young age she demonstrated an
unusual and natural talent for music, singing, and her guitar. In the early
1980's, at the urging of her adoptive father and armed with a few facts and
a little rumor, Jett set out to learn what she could about who she was and
what had happened to her. After years of futile effort, fortune smiled and
Jett got proof-positive that Hank Williams was her father. Not only was he
her father, he had made all provisions for her and her well being. In fact,
three months before Jett was born, Hank had prepared and executed a
notarized pre-birth custody agreement giving him full custody of his as yet
unborn daughter. The rest is history, and is documented in the files of the
Alabama State Court and in the scores of newspaper and feature magazine
articles written about Jett and her saga.
Jett Williams was declared by
court order dated October 26, 1987, to be the biological daughter of Hank
Williams. On June 5, 1989, the Supreme Court of the State of Alabama,
reversing a lower court ruling, found that Jett, since birth, had been the
victim of fraud and judicial error in that her identity was concealed from
her for financial gain. The Supreme Court declared all prior orders in the
Estate of Hank Williams to be null and void, since procured by fraud on the
court, and reopened Hank's estate, making Jett Williams a legal heir,
entitled to one-half the estate proceeds. Her autobiography, entitled "Ain't
Nothin' as Sweet as My Baby," chronicles the saga of her struggle (Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich, 1990).
Subsequent to the publication of her autobiography,
the federal courts awarded Jett her proportionate share of her father's
copyright renewal royalties. Since the story of Jett's existence first
surfaced in 1985, she has been featured on the Today Show, Good Morning
America, Inside Report, Inside Edition, Current Affair, Entertainment
Tonight, Crook and Chase, Country Notes, Sonya Live, PM Magazine, and scores
of other national and regional broadcasts. In most instances, such as
Current Affair, Entertainment Tonight, and Sonya Live, to name but a few,
Jett has been the subject of a major, and regulary repeated feature. Additionally, she has
been the subject of feature articles in scores of publications, including
People Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, USA Today, Atlanta
Constitution, New York Times, Southern Magazine, Dallas Times Herald, NY
Daily News, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, AP Feature, Baltimore Sun,
LA Daily News, Los Angeles Times, Providence Journal Bulletin, Birmingham
Post Herald, South Bend Tribune, Ottawa Citizen, and Boston Herald.
Jett had
a number of names and a number of homes in her early youth. In fact, every
time she changed homes, someone changed her name. Somethings, however, were
constant in Jett's first years, and all things were recorded by the various
social workers charged with accounting for the activities of their most
famous "ward." One "constant," according to the records, was Jett and her
guitar. Starting with her first two years, spent with her grandmother --
Hank's mother -- Jett always had a guitar. And according to her peers in
later years, she was always the hit of the party by singing and playing.
Jett says she liked to sing until she made them cry. And she
still does!