Taylor, James

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JAMES TAYLOR

Born: James Vernon Taylor; Boston, Massachusetts, 12 March 1948

Genre: Rock

Best-selling album since 1990: Hourglass (1997)

Hit songs since 1990: "Shed a Little Light," "Copperline"

James Taylor's career is as vibrant today as in the late 1960s, when a generation of young people identified with his image as a guitar-playing troubadour whose music mirrored their feelings. Taylor's brand of tuneful, personal songs and his honey-smooth singing style were major influences in the introduction of folk music to a mainstream audience. Widely esteemed for his affecting and often memorable melodies and lyrics, Taylor was called "a national treasure" by President Bill Clinton for his contributions to American culture.

Battling Drugs and Mental Illness with Music

Taylor's interest in music began at an early age while growing up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He was born the second of five children into a prominent Boston family that moved south after Taylor's father, Dr. Isaac Taylor, was offered the deanship at the University of North Carolina medical school. In 1963 Taylor's parents sent him to Milton Academy, a prep school outside of Boston where he began writing songs and meeting other musicians, most notably Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar, who later became a major contributor to and sideman on Taylor's recordings.

In 1964, his junior year, Taylor dropped out of high school to pursue music professionally. He moved to New York City and produced his first recordings with a short-lived band that he and Kortchmar formed called the Flying Machine. Although he recorded James Taylor and the Original Flying Machine in 1966, the album was not released until 1971, after he had achieved star status. This period of his life was also marked with hospital stays for serious depression. He eventually earned his high school diploma while seeking treatment during a ten-month stay at the McLean Psychiatric Hospital in Massachusetts in 1965.

Taylor fled the country for England in 1968 and shortly thereafter met Paul McCartney. He auditioned for the Beatles' record company, Apple Records, and, at McCartney's urging, Apple offered a recording contract. The resulting self-titled album, James Taylor (1968), was a success with critics, who lauded the agreeable melodies of songs like "Carolina in My Mind" and "Something in the Way She Moves." The album also features the eerily autobiographical songs "Something's Wrong," which deals with his heroin addiction, and "Knockin' Around the Zoo," a song about his stay in a mental institution. However, sales were slow, mostly because of the poorly managed record company's impending bankruptcy.

Taylor moved back to the United States, signed a record contract with Warner Bros. Records, and commenced a long string of musical triumphs with songs now firmly ensconced in American pop culture such as "Fire and Rain," "Sweet Baby James," "Walking Man," and "Shower the People." In 1971 Time magazine featured Taylor on its cover and touted him as the architect of the singer/songwriter era. That same year Taylor won his first Grammy for Best Male Vocal performer with his cover of Carole King's "You've Got a Friend."

Taylor has had tremendous success performing not only his own songs but also those of other major pop composers—for example, his enormously popular rendition of Holland, Dozier, and Holland's "How Sweet It Is (to Be Loved by You)," "Handyman" by Otis Blackwell and Jimmy Jones, and the Drifters' hit "Up on the Roof."

Throughout Taylor's rise to stardom, the singer was burdened by an addiction to heroin. His marriage in 1972 to singer Carly Simon, herself a major pop star, caught the imagination of the public. They scored a hit by combining talents on an Inez and Charlie Foxx pop standard "Mockingbird." Their stormy union ended in divorce ten years later, but they remained friends and occasionally perform benefits together. They have two children, both of whom are singer/songwriters.

Despite his longevity in the music business, Taylor has not suffered a noticeable creative lull throughout his career. He continued to tour and recorded well-received albums throughout the 1970s and 1980s, such as One Man Dog (1972), Flag (1979), Dad Loves His Work (1985), and many others. He carried that success into the 1990s with his album New Moon Shine (1991). This album features a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. titled "Shed a Little Light," and an anti-Gulf War song, "Slap Leather." His remake of the traditional "The Water Is Wide" expresses the intimacies of love and mutual respect. Taylor also turned once again to Sam Cooke's material and added some fun with "Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha."

Taylor resists writing his own story or assisting with biographies, claiming that the songs cover it adequately. (Two unauthorized biographies were published after 2000.) Hence he remains somewhat of a mystery to his fans, especially given his history of emotional trials and drug addiction. In the 1990s, however, he seemed to shake free of those demons.

Settling with Success

Three releases in the 1990s attempted to capture Taylor's much-revered live concert presence: Live (1993), the scaled-down Best Live (1994), and the video Live at the Beacon Theater (1998). Taylor's live shows attract a multi-generational fan base that delights in watching him perform. Tall and thin, Lincoln-like in aura, Taylor charms his audience with a self-effacing humor that is evident in his stories and patter between songs. His adroit folk styling on the guitar brings him tremendous praise among musicians.

The album Hourglass (1997) earned Taylor two Grammy Awards. It sold 70,000 copies in its first week and later went platinum. Hourglass features guest work from Stevie Wonder, who plays harmonica on "Little More Time with You;" Shawn Colvin, who sings on "Yellow and Rose;" and Sting, who sings backup on "Jump Up Behind Me." The album, which is a collection of songs on themes of hope and rebirth, features the talents of Yo-Yo Ma and Branford Marsalis as well.

Taylor has earned forty gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards for his immense body of recorded work. His original Greatest Hits (1976) album has sold more than 10 million copies. In 1998 Billboard magazine awarded Taylor with the prestigious Century Award. He was inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 2000 and was awarded a Grammy in 2002 for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight," from Michael Brecker's Nearness of You collection; it was a song Taylor wrote in the 1970s.

In the early 2000s,Taylor rekindled an old relationship with Russ Titelman, who had produced his albums Gorilla (1975) and In the Pocket (1976), to create October Road (2002). Just as in his earlier trademark material, the songs on October Road are autobiographical and, according to Titelman, give wider play to the many textures of Taylor's guitar talents. Taylor's daughter Sally sings backup on "My Traveling Star" and "Buffalo Baby." October Road features accompaniment by legendary guitarist Ry Cooder and saxophonist Michael Brecker. Characteristically, Taylor adds a classic song into the mix, this time choosing to remake "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" from the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis. By November 2002 October Road had sold more than 1 million copies. In November 2002 Taylor released a live DVD, Pull Over, which gives viewers a glimpse into the making of October Road, a complete concert of twenty-five songs, and a biography of the singer.

Having surmounted the burdens of depression and drug addiction, Taylor has endured as an artist, producing touching and graceful songs that have won the admiration of several generations of listeners.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

James Taylor (EMI, 1968); Sweet Baby James (Warner Bros., 1970); James Taylor and the Original Flying Machine (Gadfly, 1971); Sweet Baby James/Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon (Warner Bros., 1971); One Man Dog (Warner Bros., 1972); Walking Man (Warner Bros., 1974); Gorilla (Warner Bros., 1975); In The Pocket (Warner Bros., 1976); Greatest Hits (Warner Bros., 1976); JT (Columbia, 1977); Flag (Columbia, 1979); Dad Loves His Work (Columbia, 1981); That's Why I'm Here (Columbia, 1988); New Moon Shine (Columbia, 1991); Live (Columbia, 1993); Best Live (Columbia, 1994); Hourglass (Columbia, 1997); Greatest Hits Volume 2 (Columbia, 2000); October Road (Columbia, 2002).