Johnnie Taylor in Chicago, 1973 | |
| Background information | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Johnnie Harrison Taylor |
| Born | May 5, 1934 Crawfordsville, Arkansas, United States |
| Died | May 31, 2000 (aged 66) Dallas, Texas, United States |
| Genres | R&B·soul·gospel·blues·pop·doo-wop·disco |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, record producer |
| Years active | 1953–2000 |
| Labels |
|
- Johnnie Taylor Soul Heaven
- Johnnie Taylor Soul Heaven Live
- Johnnie Taylor Soul Heaven Lyrics
- Johnnie Taylor Too Many Memories
Soul Heaven Lyrics: Last night I dreamed I was at a concert / So many people, you had to stand in line / One night only in Soul Heaven / I didn't wanna wake up / I was having such a good time / All of. Soul Heaven Johnnie Taylor From the album Gotta Get The Groove Back. Last night I dreamed I was at a concert. So many people, you had to stand in line. One night only in Soul Heaven. I didn't wanna wake up.
Johnnie Harrison Taylor (May 5, 1934 – May 31, 2000)[1] was an American recording artist and songwriter who performed a wide variety of genres, from blues, rhythm and blues, soul, and gospel to pop, doo-wop, and disco.
Biography[edit]
Early years[edit]
Johnnie Taylor was born in Crawfordsville, Arkansas, United States.[2] He grew up in West Memphis, Arkansas, performing in gospel groups as a youngster. As an adult, he had one release, 'Somewhere to Lay My Head', on Chicago's Vee Jay Recordslabel in the 1950s, as part of the gospel group Highway QCs, which included a young Sam Cooke.[2] Taylor's singing then was strikingly close to that of Cooke, and he was hired to take Cooke's place in the latter's gospel group, the Soul Stirrers, in 1957.[2]
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.[2] 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'. He recorded with the label's house band, which included Booker T. & the M.G.'s. His hits included 'I Had a Dream', 'I've Got to Love Somebody's Baby' (both written by the team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter) and most notably 'Who's Making Love',[2] which reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100chart and No. 1 on the R&B chart in 1968. 'Who's Making Love' sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. In 1970, Taylor married Gerlean Rocket and they remained married until his death in 2000.[3]
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 producerDon 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 copies, and was awarded gold disc status by the R.I.A.A. in October 1973.[3] Taylor, along with Isaac Hayes and The Staple Singers, was one of the label's flagship artists, who were credited for keeping the company afloat in the late 1960s and early 1970s after the death of its biggest star, Otis Redding, in an aviation accident. He appeared in the documentary film, Wattstax, which was released in 1973.[4]
Columbia Records[edit]
— Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981)[5]
After Stax folded in 1975, Taylor switched to Columbia Records, where he recorded his biggest success with Don Davis still in charge of production, 'Disco Lady', in 1976.[2] It spent four weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and six weeks at the top of the R&B chart. It peaked at No. 25 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1976.[6] 'Disco Lady' was the first certified platinum single (two million copies sold) by the RIAA.[2] Taylor recorded several more successful albums and R&B single hits with Davis on Columbia, before Brad Shapiro took over production duties, but sales generally fell away.
Malaco Records[edit]
Johnnie Taylor Soul Heaven
After a short stay at a small independent label in Los Angeles, Beverly Glen Records, Taylor signed with Malaco Records[2] after the company's founder Tommy Couch and producing partner Wolf Stephenson heard him sing at blues singer Z. Z. Hill's funeral in spring 1984.
Backed by members of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, as well as in-house veterans such as former 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 16-year stint.
In 1996, Taylor's eighth album for Malaco, Good Love!, reached number one on the BillboardTop Blues Albums chart (No. 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 African-American music icons from Louis Armstrong to Otis Redding to Z.Z. Hill to The Notorious B.I.G., among others.
Radio[edit]
In the 1980s, Johnnie Taylor was a DJ on KKDA, a radio station in the Dallas area, where he had made his home. The station's format was mostly R&B and Soul oldies and their on-the-air personalities were often local R&B, Soul, blues, and jazz musicians. Taylor was billed as 'The Wailer, Johnnie Taylor'.
Death[edit]
Taylor died of a heart attack at Charlton Methodist Hospital in Dallas, Texas, on May 31, 2000, aged 66.[7] 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, at Forrest Hill Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri.
His highly complex personal life was revealed after his death. Having six accepted children and three others with confirmed paternity born to three different mothers,[8] the difficulties associated with executing his will were presented in an episode of the TV program The Will: Family Secrets Revealed called 'The Estate of Johnnie Taylor'.[9]
Awards and nominations[edit]
Taylor was given a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1999. Taylor was also a three-time Grammy Award nominee.[10]
Grammy Awards[edit]
Taylor has been nominated for three career Grammy Awards without a win.[10]
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | 'Who's Making Love' | Best Male R&B Vocal Performance | Nominated |
| 1977 | 'Disco Lady' | Best Male R&B Vocal Performance | Nominated |
| 2001 | Gotta Get the Groove Back | Best Traditional R&B Vocal Album | Nominated |
Johnnie Taylor was awarded the first-ever Platinum Record Award in history by the RIAA for his two-million-selling smash hit, 'Disco Lady'.
Musical influence[edit]
.png/220px-Johnnie_Taylor_(1967).png "Johnnie Taylor Soul Heaven")
In 2004, the UK's Shapeshifterssampled Taylor's 1982 'What About My Love?', for their No. 1 hit single, 'Lola's Theme'.
Discography[edit]
Albums[edit]
- Wanted: One Soul Singer - Stax 715 (1967)
- Who's Making Love... - Stax 2005 (1968)
- Raw Blues - Stax 2008 (1968)
- Rare Stamps - Stax 2012 (1968)
- The Johnnie Taylor Philosophy Continues - Stax 2023 (1969)
- One Step Beyond - Stax 2030 (1971)
- Taylored in Silk - Stax 3014 (1973)
- Super Taylor - Stax 5509 (1974)
- Eargasm - Columbia 33951 (1976)
- Rated Extraordinaire - Columbia 34401 (1977)
- Reflections - RCA APL1-2527 (1977)
- Disco 9000 - Columbia 35004 (1977)
- Ever Ready - Columbia 35340 (1978)
- She's Killing Me - Columbia 36061 (1979)
- A New Day - Columbia 36548 (1980)
- Just Ain't Good Enough - Beverly Glen 10001 (1982)
- This is Your Night - Malaco 7421 (1984)
- Wall to Wall - Malaco 7431 (1985)
- Lover Boy - Malaco 7440 (1987)
- In Control - Malaco 7446 (1988)
- Crazy 'Bout You - Malaco 7452 (1989)
- I Know It's Wrong But I... Just Can't Do Right - Malaco 7460 (1991)
- Real Love - Malaco 7472 (1993)
- Good Love! - Malaco 7480 (1996)
- Taylored to Please - Malaco 7488 (1998)
- Gotta Get the Groove Back - Malaco 7499 (1999)
- There's No Good in Goodbye - Malaco 7515 (2003)
- Live at the Summit Club - Stax/Fantasy 8628 (recorded 1972; released 2007)[11]
- FunkSoulBrother - Fuel/Universal. Retrospective album[12]
Singles[edit]
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US[13] | US R&B[14] | UK[15] | ||
| 1963 | 'Baby, We've Got Love' | 98 | *[16] | - |
| 1966 | 'I Had A Dream' | - | 19 | - |
| 'I Got To Love Somebody's Baby' | - | 15 | - | |
| 1967 | 'Somebody's Sleeping In My Bed' | 95 | 33 | - |
| 1968 | 'Next Time' | - | 34 | - |
| 'I Ain't Particular' | - | 45 | - | |
| 'Who's Making Love' | 5 | 1 | - | |
| 1969 | 'Take Care of Your Homework' | 20 | 2 | - |
| 'Testify (I Wanna)' | 36 | 4 | - | |
| 'I Could Never Be President' | 48 | 10 | - | |
| 'Love Bones' | 43 | 4 | - | |
| 1970 | 'Steal Away' | 37 | 3 | - |
| 'I Am Somebody Part II' | 39 | 4 | - | |
| 1971 | 'Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone' | 28 | 1 | - |
| 'I Don't Wanna Lose You' | 86 | 13 | - | |
| 'Hijackin' Love' | 64 | 10 | - | |
| 1972 | 'Standing In For Jody' | 74 | 12 | - |
| 'Doing My Own Thing (Part I)' | - | 16 | - | |
| 'Stop Doggin' Me' | - | 13 | - | |
| 1973 | 'I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)' | 11 | 1 | - |
| 'Cheaper To Keep Her' | 15 | 2 | - | |
| 1974 | 'We're Getting Careless With Our Love' | 34 | 5 | - |
| 'I've Been Born Again' | 78 | 13 | - | |
| 'It's September' | - | 26 | - | |
| 1975 | 'Try Me Tonight' | - | 51 | - |
| 1976 | 'Disco Lady' | 1 | 1 | 25 |
| 'Somebody's Gettin' It' | 33 | 5 | - | |
| 1977 | 'Love Is Better In The A.M. (Part 1)' | 77 | 3 | - |
| 'Your Love Is Rated X' | - | 17 | - | |
| 'Disco 9000' | 86 | 24 | - | |
| 1978 | 'Keep On Dancing' | - | 32 | - |
| 'Ever Ready' | - | 84 | - | |
| 1979 | '(Ooh-Wee) She's Killing Me' / 'Play Something Pretty' | - | 37 79 | - |
| 1980 | 'I Got This Thing For Your Love' | - | 77 | - |
| 1982 | 'What About My Love' | - | 24 | - |
| 1983 | 'I'm So Proud' | - | 55 | - |
| 1984 | 'Lady, My Whole World Is You' | - | 74 | - |
| 1987 | 'Don't Make Me Late' | - | 74 | - |
| 1990 | 'Still Crazy For You' | - | 60 | - |
References[edit]
Johnnie Taylor Soul Heaven Live
- ^Montier, Patrick. 'Johnnie Taylor'. Staxrecords.free.fr. Retrieved 2014-04-07.
- ^ abcdefghColin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. pp. 1164/5. ISBN1-85227-745-9.
- ^ abMurrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. pp. 249 and 338. ISBN0-214-20512-6.
- ^Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 241. CN 5585.
- ^Christgau, Robert (1981). 'Consumer Guide '70s: T'. Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN089919026X. Retrieved March 15, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
- ^Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 550. ISBN1-904994-10-5.
- ^'Johnnie Harrison Taylor (1934-2000)'. Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Retrieved 2014-04-07.
- ^'Contact Support'. Estateofdenial.com. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
- ^'The Estate of Johnnie Taylor'. IMDb.com. 16 November 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
- ^ ab'Johnnie Taylor'. Grammy.com. June 4, 2019.
- ^'Johnnie Taylor | Discography'. AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-04-07.
- ^'CD Reviews: The Beta Band, Default, Toploader and many more'. Chart Attack, July 17, 2001
- ^Whitburn, Joel (2003). Top Pop Singles 1955-2002 (1st ed.). Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 700. ISBN0-89820-155-1.
- ^Whitburn, Joel (1996). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-1995. Record Research. p. 435.
- ^Betts, Graham (2004). Complete UK Hit Singles 1952-2004 (1st ed.). London: Collins. p. 772. ISBN0-00-717931-6.
- ^No Billboard R&B chart published in this period
External links[edit]
- Johnnie Taylor at Find a Grave
Johnnie Taylor Soul Heaven Lyrics
Johnnie Taylor Too Many Memories
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