| James
Taylor, in the early '70s, when he
appeared with his introspective songs,
acoustic guitar, and calm, understated
singing style, he mirrored a
generation's emotional exhaustion after
tumultuous times. Just as Bing Crosby's
reassuring voice brought the country out
of the Depression and through World War
II, Taylor's eased the transition from
'60s activism and its attendant
frustrations into the less political,
more inward-looking '70s. He was
rewarded with a series of hit albums and
singles (surprisingly, many of the
latter were covers of old songs rather
than his own compositions), and he
managed to survive his initial fame to
achieve lasting popularity. He continued
to tour successfully for decades, and,
starting with his 1970 breakthrough
Sweet Baby James, all but one of his
regular album releases for the rest of
the century went gold or platinum, while
his 1976 Greatest Hits album achieved a
diamond certification reflecting sales
of more than ten million copies.
Taylor was the son of Dr. Isaac and
Gertrude Taylor. His three brothers Alex
(1947-1993), Livingston, and Hugh - and
his sister Kate - all became musicians
and recorded albums of their own. In
1951, Dr. Taylor was appointed dean of
the medical school at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the
family moved from New England to the
South. Taylor studied cello as a child,
but first took up the guitar in 1960. In
1963, he began attending Milton Academy,
a prep school in Massachusetts. That
summer, he met fellow guitarist Danny "Kootch"
Kortchmar while staying on Martha' s
Vineyard, and the two formed a folk duo.
Taylor dropped out of school at 16 and
formed a band with his brother Alex.
Having moved to New York, he suffered
from depression and checked himself into
McLean Psychiatric Hospital in
Massachusetts, a stay that would inspire
some of his early songs. While there, he
earned a high school diploma. Upon
release, he returned to New York in 1966
and formed a new group, the Flying
Machine, with Kortchmar and Joel
O'Brien. The band played in Greenwich
Village and was signed to a fledgling
record label, Rainy Day Records (the
name taken from Taylor' s song "Rainy
Day Man"). It released one single,
"Brighten Your Night with My Day" /
"Night Owl," both songs written by
Taylor. The record was unsuccessful, and
the band broke up in the spring of 1967.
By 1968, Taylor moved to London,
where he submitted a demo tape to Peter
Asher, former member of Peter and
Gordon, then working for the Beatles'
Apple Records label. As a result, Taylor
was signed to Apple and recorded his
debut solo album, James Taylor, released
in the U.K. in December 1968 and in the
U.S. in February 1969. By July 1969, he
was in a motorcycle accident and broke
both of his hands, which put him out of
commission for several months.
Freed of his Apple Records contract,
Taylor signed to Warner Bros. Records,
moved to California, and, retaining
Asher as his manager and producer,
recorded his second album, Sweet Baby
James. It was released in February 1970
and became a major success during the
course of the year, spurred by the
single "Fire and Rain," a song that
reflected on his experiences in mental
institutions, which peaked in the top
five in October, the same month that
Sweet Baby James achieved the same
status on the LP charts. With that,
interest in Taylor's first album was
re-stimulated, and it belatedly reached
the charts along with the single
"Carolina on My Mind," as did James
Taylor and the Original Flying Machine -
1967, a short collection of unfinished
recordings made by his '60s band. Sweet
Baby James then spawned a second hit
single, "Country Road," which peaked in
the Top 40 in March 1971. The same
month, Taylor appeared on the cover of
Time magazine, touted as the founder and
leading proponent of the
"singer/songwriter" trend in popular
music.
Meanwhile, Taylor had acted in a
feature film, Two-Lane Blacktop,
co-starring with the Beach Boys' Dennis
Wilson. It was not successful, and
Taylor never pursued an acting career,
though it has been well-reviewed
subsequently. Taylor also worked on a
new album, returning to record stores in
April 1971 with Mud Slide Slim and the
Blue Horizon. As he toured the U.S., the
LP spent the summer in the Top Ten,
eventually peaking just below the top of
the charts, paced by its first single,
"You've Got a Friend," written by Carole
King, which hit number one in July and
went gold. A second single, "Long Ago
and Far Away," reached the Top 40, and
the album eventually sold more than two
million copies. On March 14, 1972,
Taylor won the 1971 Grammy for Best Pop
Vocal Performance, Male, for "You've Got
a Friend."
Taylor took what was then considered
a long time - more than a year and a
half - to come up with his next album,
One Man Dog, released in November 1972.
On November 3, 1972, during an
appearance at Radio City Music Hall in
New York, he announced to the crowd that
he had married singer/songwriter Carly
Simon earlier in the day. Simon was
already well known for the hits "That's
the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be"
and "Anticipation," and would soon top
the charts with "You're So Vain." One
Man Dog marked a fall-off in Taylor's
record sales, though it went gold,
reached the top five, and spawned a top
20 single in "Don't Let Me Be Lonely
Tonight."
Taylor was next heard from in January
1974, when he sang a duet with his wife
of "Mockingbird," a cover of the 1963
hit by Inez and Charlie Foxx, on her Hot
Cakes album. Released as a single, the
recording reached the Top Five and went
gold. That spring, Taylor launched a
major tour in anticipation of his next
album, Walking Man, released in June.
Though it reached the Top 20, the album
was a commercial disappointment, failing
to go gold or produce a chart single.
But Taylor bounced back the following
year with the May release of Gorilla.
Again, he succeeded by reviving an old
hit, this time Marvin Gaye's 1964 song
"How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You),"
which reached the Top Five, helping the
album become a Top Ten, gold-selling
hit.
In the Pocket, Taylor's seventh
album, was his third annual warm-weather
release, appearing in June 1976. Its
single was the singer's own "Shower the
People," which reached the Top 40, while
the album made the Top 20 and went gold.
Nearing the end of his Warner Bros.
contract, Taylor re-recorded a couple of
his Apple songs for his Greatest Hits
LP, released in November. It became a
perennial seller. With that, in a major
coup, he was signed by Columbia Records.
His debut for the label, JT, was
released in June 1977. Once again, a
revival spurred its sales, as Taylor
covered Jimmy James' 1959 song "Handy
Man" and took it into the top five,
followed by a top 20 showing for his own
"Your Smiling Face." With such
stimulation, JT reached the top five and
sold over two million copies. On
February 23, 1978, Taylor picked up a
second Grammy for Best Pop Vocal
Performance, Male, for "Handy Man."
Along with Paul Simon, Taylor was a
featured singer on Art Garfunkel's cover
of "(What A) Wonderful World,"
previously a hit for Sam Cooke and
Herman's Hermits, which peaked in the
Top 20 in March 1978. Taylor next became
involved with the Broadway musical
Working, based on Studs Terkel's
bestseller, writing three songs for it.
The show ran a scant 25 performances
after opening on May 14, 1978, but
Taylor reclaimed "Millworker" and
"Brother Trucker" for his next album.
Meanwhile, his duet with Carly Simon on
a revival of the Everly Brothers'
"Devoted to You" peaked in the Top 40 in
September.
Flag, marking a nearly two-year break
between albums, appeared in April 1979,
its Top 40 hit single being a revival of
the 1963 Drifters hit "Up on the Roof."
Despite the lack of a really big hit
single, the LP reached the Top Ten and
went platinum. That September, Taylor
performed at Madison Square Garden in
the No Nukes concerts, later being
featured in the No Nukes triple-LP and
in the No Nukes concert film.
Taylor embarked on a national tour in
the summer of 1980, despite not having a
current album to promote. From here on,
recurrent touring became a regular part
of his career and contributed to his
longevity as an artist. That fall, he
appeared on the children's album In
Harmony 2, singing "Jelly Man Kelly."
The album won the 1981 Grammy for Best
Recording for Children. He toured
extensively during 1981, releasing Dad
Loves His Work in February. The album
reached the Top Ten and went gold,
spurred by the Top Ten success of the
single "Her Town Too," written by
Taylor, J.D. Souther, and Waddy Wachtel,
Taylor's most successful original
composition since "Fire and Rain."
Taylor continued to tour frequently
in the early 1980s, a period when his
marriage to Carly Simon came to an end
(they were divorced in 1983). Often, his
performances took place overseas. In
January 1985, he performed at the Rock
in Rio concert in Brazil, a show that
resulted in the Brazil-only release Live
in Rio. His next studio album, following
a gap of more than four years, was
That's Why I'm Here, released in October
1985. As usual, his record label issued
a cover song as the single; in this case
it was Buddy Holly's "Everyday," which
didn't get very far up the charts.
Nevertheless, Taylor's long career and
constant touring had brought him a
permanent audience ready to buy his
records, and the album eventually went
platinum. On December 14, 1985, he
married for the second time, to Kathryn
Walker; a month later, he was on tour in
Australia.
Road work continued to be Taylor's
primary occupation in the mid-'80s, but
he came off tour long enough to finish
another album, Never Die Young, only a
little more than two years after That's
Why I'm Here, released in January 1988.
The title song, issued as a single,
barely reached the charts, but Never Die
Young was another million-seller. The
late '80s and early '90s saw more
extensive, worldwide touring. New Moon
Shine, Taylor's 13th regular album
release, came in October 1991, the same
month that he sold out six consecutive
shows at the Paramount Theater in New
York; the disc stayed in the charts
nearly a year and sold a million copies.
Despite his consistent draw as a
concert attraction, Taylor had never
released a live album in the U.S. until
the August 1993 appearance of (Live), a
two-CD set that went platinum within
months. Columbia Records, which had
never had a Taylor compilation to
promote, trimmed the album down to a
single disc of hits for the 1994 release
Best (Live). His next album, Hourglass,
released in May 1997, demonstrated his
continuing appeal by entering the charts
in the Top Ten. On February 25, 1998, it
won the 1997 Grammy for Best Pop Album. |
