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Biography
About||a similarly named blues and soul singer|Little Johnny Taylor|other people called John Taylor|John Taylor (disambiguation)Refimprove|date=April 2010Infobox musical artist | name = Johnnie Taylor| image = Johnnie_Taylor.gif| caption = Chicago, 1973| image_size =| background = solo_singer| birth_name = Johnnie Harrison Taylor| alias =| birth_date = Birth date|1934|5|5 Crawfordsville, Arkansas , United States| death_date = Death date and age|2000|5|31|1934|5|5 Dallas, Texas , United States| origin =| instrument =| genre = R& B , soul music|soul , Gospel music|gospel , blues , pop music|pop , doo-wop , disco | occupation = Singer| years_active = 1953–2000| label = Chance Records SAR Records Stax Records Columbia Records Beverly Glen Records Malaco Records | associated_acts =| website =| notable_instruments = Johnnie Harrison Taylor (May 5, 1934 & ndash; May 31, 2000) Stax Records , "Johnnie Taylor", http://staxrecords.free.fr/jtaylor.htm Accessed 8 February 2010 was an American singer|vocalist in a wide variety of genres, from rhythm and blues , soul music|soul , blues and Gospel music|gospel to pop music|pop , doo-wop and disco .
Biography
Early years
Johnnie Taylor was born in Crawfordsville, Arkansas . As a child, he grew up in West Memphis, Arkansas and performed in gospel groups as a youngster. As an adult, he had one release, "Somewhere to Lay My Head", on Chicago 's Chance Records record label|label in the 1950s, as part of the gospel group Highway QCs , which had been founded by a young Sam Cooke. His singing was strikingly close to that of Sam Cooke , and he was hired to take Cooke's place in the latter's gospel group, the Soul Stirrers , in 1957.
A few years later, after Cooke had established his independent SAR Records , Taylor signed on as one of the label's first acts and recorded "Rome Wasn't Built In A Day" in 1962. However, SAR Records quickly became defunct after Cooke's death in 1964.
In 1966, Taylor moved to Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee , where he was dubbed "The Philosopher of Soul". Whilst there he recorded with the label's house band , Booker T. & the MGs . His hits included "I Had a Dream", "I've Got to Love Somebody's Baby" (both songwriter|written by the team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter (musician)|David Porter ) and most notably " Who's Making Love ", which reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 record chart|chart and No. 1 on the Rhythm and blues|R& B chart in 1968. "Who's Making Love" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a music recording sales certification|gold disc .cite book | first= Joseph | last= Murrells | year= 1978 | title= The Book of Golden Discs | edition= 2nd | publisher= Barrie and Jenkins Ltd | location= London | page= 249 & 338 | isbn= 0-214-20512-6
During his tenure at Stax, he became an R& B star, with over a dozen chart successes, such as " Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone ", which reached No. 23 on the Hot 100 chart, "Cheaper to Keep Her" ( Mack Rice ) and record producer Don Davis (producer)|Don Davis 's penned "I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)", which reached No. 11 on the Hot 100 chart. "I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)" also sold in excess of one million units, and was awarded gold disc status by the R.I.A.A. in October 1973. Taylor, along with Isaac Hayes and The Staple Singers was one of the label's flagship artists. He appeared in the documentary film, Wattstax , which was released in 1973.cite book | first= John | last= Tobler | year= 1992 | title= NME Rock 'N' Roll Years | edition= 1st | publisher= Reed International Books Ltd | location= London | page= 241 | id= CN 5585
Columbia Records
After Stax folded in the mid 1970s, Taylor switched to Columbia Records , where he made his best known hit, " Disco Lady ", in 1976. It spent four weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and six weeks on the Billboard R& B chart in the U.S. It peaked at #25 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1976.cite book | first= David | last= Roberts | year= 2006 | title= British Hit Singles & Albums | edition= 19th | publisher= Guinness World Records Limited | location= London | isbn= 1-904994-10-5 | page= 550 "Disco Lady" was the first certified music recording sales certification|platinum single (two million copies sold) by the Recording Industry Association of America|RIAA .
Malaco Records
After a brief stint at Beverly Glen Records, Taylor signed with Malaco Records after the label's founder Tommy Couch and producing partner Wolf Stephenson heard him sing at blues singer Z. Z. Hill 's funeral in the spring of 1984.
Backed by members of The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section as well as in-house veterans like former Stax Records|Stax keyboardist Carson Whitsett and guitarist/bandleader Bernard Jenkins , Malaco gave Taylor the type of recording freedom that Stax had given him in the late 1960s and early 1970s, enabling him to record ten albums for the label in his sixteen year stint.
In 1996, Taylor's eighth album for Malaco, Good Love! , made it to Number One on '' Billboard (magazine)|Billboard's '' Top Blues Albums|Blues chart (#15 R& B), and was the biggest record in Malaco's history. With this success, Malaco recorded a live video of Taylor at the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas, Texas in the summer of 1997. The club portion of the "Good Love" video was recorded at 1001 Nightclub in Jackson, Mississippi.
Taylor's final song was "Soul Heaven", in which he dreamed of being at a concert featuring deceased soul music icons Otis Redding , Jackie Wilson , Marvin Gaye , Sam Cooke , and MGs drummer Al Jackson, Jr. , among others. In one verse, Taylor sang, ''"I didn't want to wake up/I was havin' such a good time".
Radio
In the 1980s Johnnie Taylor was a DJ on KKDA, a Dallas/Fort Worth radio station. The station's format is mostly R& B and Soul oldies and their on-the-air personalities are often local R& B, Soul, blues, and jazz musicians. Mr. Taylor was billed as "The Wailer, Johnnie Taylor."
Death
Taylor died of a myocardial infarction|heart attack at Charlton Methodist Hospital in Dallas , Texas on May 31, 2000, aged 66. Encyclopaedia of Arkansas , "Johnnie Harrison Taylor", http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx? entryID=637 Accessed 8 February 2010 Stax billed Johnnie Taylor as The Philosopher of Soul. He was also known as the Blues Wailer. He was buried beside his mother, Ida Mae Taylor, in Arkansas.
Awards
Taylor was given a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1999.
Musical influence
In 2004, the UK's Shapeshifters (band)|Shapeshifters sampling (music)|sampled Taylor's 1982 "What About My Love? ", for their #1 hit single, " Lola's Theme ".
Personal life
Taylor has four children who have been recording artists. Johnnie Taylor Jr., Floyd Taylor, Latasha "Tasha" Taylor and T.J. Hooker-Taylor. The best known is Floyd Taylor, who has recorded three albums for Malaco Records. Other children include Fonda Bryant, Schiffon Taylor-Brown, Sabrina Taylor, Jonathan Taylor, and Anthony Arnold.
Allmusic|class=artist|id=p5604/biography|pure_url=yes Allmusic.com bio
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi? page=gr& GRid=10175 Find A Grave bio
Stax Records Persondata | NAME = Taylor, Johnnie | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = American soul-blues and pop singer | DATE OF BIRTH = May 5, 1937 | PLACE OF BIRTH = Crawfordsville, Arkansas , United States | DATE OF DEATH = May 31, 2000 | PLACE OF DEATH = Dallas , Texas , United States DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Johnnie Category:1934 births Category:2000 deaths Category:American blues musicians Category:American male singers Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:American gospel singers Category:American soul musicians Category:Soul-blues musicians Category:Musicians from Arkansas Category:People from Crittenden County, Arkansas Category:People from West Memphis, Arkansas
