The Aitken family, originally from Scotland, settled in the Atherton Tableland area of Queensland's Deep North and felt no reason to leave for several generations. 8 Ball Aitken inherited the family's distinctive shock of bright red hair, but not that desire to stay in the one place. At the age of 19 he gave up his life picking fruit and living in a tobacco shed, and hitchhiked south to the city of Brisbane with his guitar to make it as a country musician. At an early gig in a rowdy pub a fight broke out over a pool table and the 8 Ball was knocked onto the stage, leading the ...