brett barton was the youngest of two boys that were orphaned at a young age when harry and meredith barton were killed in a fatal car accident. pretty serious, right? that was pretty much the worst moment of brett's life, so it could've only gone up from there. as a child, brett was moved from house to house in the foster care system, hoping that each one would be his new home. unfortunately, the foster parents at each place felt that he had an attitude problem -- many times, they felt he was ignoring them. little did they know, due to a condition called otosclerosis, he was quickly losing his hearing and simply could not hear them. without giving him the opportunity to look into the issue, brett eventually aged out of the system, finding his way through life on his own. he had noticed his hearing problem, and started to learn sign language, feeling hopeless that he would eventually be deaf.

he got his first job though a temp agency, working for a cleaning company. a lot of nights, brett was found cleaning the offices of businesses. it wasn't challenging, but it was honest work, and it made brett appreciate every new opportunity that was given. one client, a local radio station, was added to brett's list of overnight jobs -- except, unlike the other jobs, there were people still in the studio by the time he got there. though he kept his eye on the task at hand, he was amazed at the process that went into radio broadcasting. one of the employees took notice, and asked brett if he had any questions about it. soon, the employee was filling him in on every little thing, and brett was taking it all in.

that employee turned out to be the station manager. seeing brett's enthusiasm, she immediately offered him a job with the radio station. it wouldn't be much -- he would be a paid intern -- but he immediately took the opportunity. with the job came health insurance, and brett was finally able to get his hearing checked out -- he was operating with 80% hearing loss by the time he was 19, and required surgery to regain his hearing. he felt it was worth it -- if he wanted a career in radio, he had to be able to hear.

thankful with the chance life gave him at being a success, he worked his way up through the radio station -- he started as an intern, being the right-hand guy to anyone that needed it. occasionally he was brought on air, mostly for fun during the morning show. soon he was assigned to be the morning show intern, helping to screen calls and do pretty much anything they needed. the station manager (the same one that had hired him) decided to bring him on as on-air talent, showing him the ropes before starting him out on the late night broadcasts. but, the morning crowd kept calling and asking what happened to brett, so he was brought on as an additional on-air personality for the morning show. a few years later, he was promoted to co-host.

for the last eleven years, brett has been co-hosting the morning radio show. it's pretty much all he's known, since he didn't have much family. relationships haven't been his thing, either. he just minds his own business, providing entertainment for people working on waking up in the morning, driving to work, keeping the road rage (hopefully) to a minimum. additionally, brett owns a property management company, barton properties llc, that manages a handful of residential and commercial properties.