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BIOGRAPHY
James Taylor
Born: Boston, March 12, 1948
James Taylor established himself in the forefront of the 1970s singer-songwriter movement with the desperately personal "Fire and Rain" single and SWEET BABY JAMES album. Finding an audience with both pop and easy-listening fans, Taylor continued to be a best-selling album artist through the 1970s, as his songs came to reflect less personal anguish and more gentle compassion. Married to Carly Simon from 1972 to 1983, Taylor continued to record albums of substantial popularity into the 1990s.
James Taylor and his siblings Alex, Kate, and Livingston were raised in affluence and moved with their parents to Chapel Hill, N.C., after Livingston's birth in 1950. They spent summers on exclusive Martha's Vineyard beginning in 1953. From an early age, Alex studied violin, Livingston and Kate learned piano, and James took cello lessons. After meeting guitarist Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar on Martha's Vineyard in 1963, James formed the Fabulous Corsairs with brother Alex and three friends in N.C. in 1964. While later attending boarding school near Boston, James began to suffer bouts of depression, which led him to commit himself voluntarily to a psychiatric hospital in 1965, where he began writing songs. After discharging himself nine months later, he went to N.Y. in summer 1966 and formed the Flying Machine with Kortchmar, bassist Zach Weisner, and drummer Joel O'Brien. The group debuted at the Cafe Bizarre that fall and later moved up to the Night Owl, where they played regularly for seven months. Before disintegrating in spring 1967, they made some recordings that were later issued after the success of SWEET BABY JAMES.
James Taylor next moved to London, where he made a demonstration tape that so impressed Paul McCartney and Apple A&R chief Peter Asher that he was signed to the Beatles' record label. His [self-titled] debut solo album, which contained odd orchestral segues between songs, included the ominous "The Blues Is Just a Bad Dream," "Knocking 'Round the Zoo," "Something in the Way She Moves" (which provided an opening line for George Harrison's "Something"), and the excellent "Carolina in My Mind" and "Rainy Day Man." However, the album went generally unnoticed, and with affairs in disarray at Apple, Peter Asher negotiated a contract for Taylor with Warner Bros. Records.
After debuting at Los Angeles's Troubadour Club in summer 1969, James Taylor recorded his next album in California with Peter Asher, now his manager, producing. SWEET BABY JAMES established him in the vanguard of the emerging singer-songwriter movement with its anguished smash hit single "Fire and Rain." Recorded with Danny Kortchmar, Carole King, and drummer Russ Kunkel, among others, the album also featured the moderate hit "Country Road" and the gentle "Sunny Skies" and "Blossom." Taylor next recorded MUD SLIDE SLIM AND THE BLUE HORIZON with Kortchmar, King, Kunkel, and bassist Leland Sklar under producer Asher. The album yielded a top pop and easy-listening hit with King's "You've Got a Friend" and a moderate hit with "Long Ago and Far Away," while including "Love Has Brought Me Around," "You Can Close Your Eyes," and the classic "Hey Mister, That's Me Up on the Jukebox." Taylor's then-girlfriend, Joni Mitchell, provided backing vocals on the record.
Source: Excerpted from BAKER'S BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF MUSICIANS®. Schirmer, 2001.
Top banner photos: India.Arie, Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor (photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage), and Keith Urban. |
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Sting performs one of Taylor's songs on a lute. |
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Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks. |
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The DVD is available. |
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