The Broken RecordExtra

James Taylor

American musician (born 1948)

James Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. After breaking through with the No. 3 hit "Fire and Rain", Taylor had his first No. 1 hit in 1971 with his recording of "You've Got a Friend", written by Carole King.

Taylor's 1976 Greatest Hits album was certified Diamond and has sold 11 million copies in the US alone, making it one of the best-selling albums in US history.

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Admit one

James Taylor

what: one person
from: Boston
born: 1948
on the air here: 1 song

File card: James Taylor

real name: James Vernon Taylor

labels: Warner Bros. Records, Apple Records, Capitol Records, Columbia Records, EMI, Sony Music

genres: pop rock, folk rock, country music, soft rock, jazz-funk, rock music

influenced by: Woody Guthrie

awards: National Medal of Arts, MusiCares Person of the Year, Presidential Medal of Freedom, Kennedy Center Honors, North Carolina Award for Fine Arts, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

plays: guitar, harmonica, set of free reeds, voice, musical keyboard, organ

member of: Taylor-Simon

Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.

rocksoft rockfolk rocksinger-songwritercountryfolk

The Glitch WeeklyExtra

Early years

James Vernon Taylor was born at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on March 12, 1948. His father, Isaac M. Taylor, worked as a resident physician at the hospital and came from a wealthy Southern family. Taylor is of English and Scottish descent from the Taylor family of the Montrose area, with the former being rooted in Massachusetts Bay Colony; his ancestors include Edmund Rice, an English colonist who co-founded Sudbury, Massachusetts. His mother, Gertrude (née Woodard; 1921–2015), studied singing with Marie Sundelius at the New England Conservatory of Music and was an aspiring opera singer before she married Isaac in 1946. Taylor is the younger brother of musician Alex Taylor (1947–1993) and the older brother of musicians Kate...

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Radio Free Elsewhere BulletinExtra

1966–1969: Early career

At Kortchmar's urging, Taylor checked himself out of McLean and attended Elon University for a semester before he moved to New York City to form a band. They recruited Joel O'Brien, formerly of Kortchmar's old band King Bees to play drums, and Taylor's childhood friend Zachary Wiesner (son of academic Jerome Wiesner) to play bass. After Taylor rejected the notion of naming the group after him, they called themselves the Flying Machine. They played songs that Taylor had written at and about McLean, such as "Knocking 'Round the Zoo", "Don't Talk Now", and "The Blues Is Just a Bad Dream". In some other songs, Taylor romanticized his life, but he was plagued by self-doubt. By summer 1966, they were performing regularly at the high-visibility...

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Radio Free Elsewhere BulletinExtra

1970–1972: Warner Bros. and career breakthrough

Once he had recovered, Taylor moved to California, keeping Asher as his manager and record producer. In December 1969, he held the recording sessions for his second album there. Titled Sweet Baby James, and featuring the participation of Carole King, the album was released in February 1970 and was Taylor's critical and popular breakthrough, buoyed by the single "Fire and Rain", a song about both Taylor's experiences attempting to break his drug habit by undergoing treatment in psychiatric institutions and the suicide of his friend Suzanne Schnerr. Both the album and the single reached No. 3 on the Billboard charts, with Sweet Baby James selling more than 1.5 million copies in its first year and eventually more than 3 million in the United...

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The Elsewhere GazetteExtra

1981–1996: Troubled times and new beginnings

Simon announced her separation from Taylor in September 1981 saying, "Our needs are different; it seem[s] impossible to stay together" and their divorce finalized in 1983. Their breakup was highly publicized. At the time, Taylor was living on West End Avenue in Manhattan and on a methadone maintenance program to cure him of his drug addiction. Over the course of four months starting in September 1983, spurred on in part by the deaths of his friends John Belushi and Dennis Wilson and in part by the desire to be a better father to his children Sally and Ben, he discontinued methadone and overcame his heroin habit.

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American singer/songwriter and guitarist (born March 12, 1948 in Boston) inducted into Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2000 (Performer). Brother of singers/songwriters Livingston Taylor, Kate Taylor, Hugh Taylor and rock singer Alex Taylor. Married Carly Simon from 1972 until their divorce in 1983 with whom he has two children who are also musicians; Sally Taylor and Benjamin Taylor. Married to from 1985 until their divorce in 1996. Also known as: C. Taylor, High out of time / I'd like to know you better, J Taylor, J, Taylor, J. Taylor From Discogs (free to use). Their entry