Credited as the central figure of the so-called singer-songwriter "renaissance" of the early '70s, James Taylor (b. March 12, 1948, Boston) has made a fascinating transition in the thirty years of his career. Beginning as an extraordinarily sensitive, inner-directed singer-songwriter, Taylor took his past, built upon it, and later transformed himself into a capable pop interpreter of well-known hits such as "Handy Man," "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)," and "Up On The Roof"--all the while retaining the uniquely melancholic edge that gave his earlier work its fascinating appeal. Initially autobiographical to a fault--earliest criticisms contended the singer's songs were far too solipsistic for their own good--Taylor's original material has matured during his career as well. It may have lost some of its intensity and drive in the process, but its appealing warmth--which arguably was the major attraction for the fans who first made him famous--remains and has grown even stronger during the past decade.

Born in Boston, the second of five musical children, Taylor moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1951, when his father was appointed dean of the medical school at the University of North Carolina. Inspired by his brother Alex , Taylor began playing guitar as a youth; by the summer of 1963, he met guitarist and longtime friend Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar on Martha's Vineyard, and the pair won a local hootenanny contest. At the age of 16, he joined Alex's rock band the Fabulous Corsairs for a year. Troubled by depression, Taylor committed himself to a mental institution during his senior year at Milton Academy, a private school outside Boston. Following his discharge, he moved to New York City in 1965, where by the next year he'd formed the Flying Machine with friend Kortchmar. Though the group failed to get a record deal, their demo tape was later issued in 1971 as James Taylor And The Original Flying Machine. The group disbanded in the spring of 1967, at which time Taylor, then a heroin addict, moved to London's Notting Hill Gate district.

While in England, the singer recorded several demo tapes and auditioned for various record companies. He eventually drew the interest of Peter Asher, formerly of hit-making duo Peter & Gordon, who liked Taylor enough to make him the first outside signing to the Beatles' legendary Apple label. By November 1968, the company issued James Taylor, a superb debut that in many ways remains the singer's all-time peak. Lushly orchestrated in spots, with innovative musical "links" between tracks, the album contains many of Taylor's most darkly autobiographical songs, including "Something's Wrong, "Knockin 'Round The Zoo" (about his earlier days in the mental hospital), "Sunshine Sunshine," and his well-known "Carolina In My Mind." Disappointingly, the album made no impact whatsoever at the time of its release; only later, after Taylor's success with "Fire And Rain," would the album show up on the charts, where it ultimately peaked at No. 62.

Taylor returned to America in late 1968, and again entered a mental institution, this time to treat his ongoing heroin addiction. During the course of his near half-year stay, friend Asher--who had produced Taylor's debut--negotiated a new recording deal for him at Warner Bros. In March of 1970, Sweet Baby James resulted--and in the course of its 102 weeks on the charts, that multi-platinum album would establish Taylor as one of America's premier singer-songwriters. Key to its success was his eventual signature tune "Fire And Rain," a disturbing autobiographical number with veiled references to his hospital commitment and the suicide of a close friend. Not exactly the stuff of hit records, but the record profoundly connected with the pop audience and became a top 5 hit.

Between the release of Sweet Baby James and its 1971 follow-up Mud Slide Slim And The Blue Horizon, Taylormania ensued. Both Taylor's Apple debut and his Flying Machine demos entered the Top 100; albums by three of his siblings--Taylor, Alex, and Kate--were released; Taylor himself starred with Beach Boy Dennis Wilson in the film Two Lane Blacktop; and the singer was the subject of a cover story in Time magazine. Mud Slide became his highest-charting album and spawned his first No. 1 hit with his version of Carole King's "You've Got a Friend." King, who played piano and sang on the album, was actually in Taylor's 1971 touring band immediately prior to the release of her historic bestseller Tapestry.

Taylor became major rock royalty in short order. His songwriting became even more inner-directed, which sometimes resulted in peculiarly self-conscious lyrics--as on "Nobody But You" from his 1972 album One Man Dog, in which he sang, "Everybody knows that I'm just a joe/That likes to hang around/Talking about my problems/Bringing other people down." But a flipside to that was emerging as well: Taylor married singer Carly Simon in late 1972, and together they soon charted with a duet cover of Inez & Charlie Foxx's 1963 hit "Mockingbird." That top 5 single--actually made for Simon's Hotcakes album--signaled a new phase in Taylor's career as a cover artist. More than half of the singer's remaining seven top 40 singles were well-known oldies, including "How Sweet It Is" (1975), "Handy Man" (1977), "(What A) Wonderful World" (1978), and "Up On The Roof" (1979).

At the same time, Taylor's albums were settling into an agreeable consistency that clearly pleased his fans; all but two of those following One Man Dog were certified gold or platinum. Much of the singer's original material remained autobiographical, but never as revealingly as on his earliest albums. The only exception came on the significantly-titled Dad Loves His Work, recorded the year before Taylor and Simon divorced. On the song "Her Town Too"--his last top 20 hit, written and sung with J.D. Souther--Taylor sang, "Well people got used to seeing them both together/ But now he's gone and life goes on/ Nothing lasts forever, oh no/ She gets the house and garden/ He gets the boys in the band."

Since then, Taylor has indeed spent much of his life with the boys in the band. He married Kathryn Walker in 1985, and otherwise spent most of the '80s and '90s recording and performing onstage.

To document his extensive touring, in 1993 Taylor released his first live album, the double-disc (Live), which featured the troubadour mining his catalog of hits for an adoring crowd. In 1996, Taylor was divorced from Walker. A year later, when he issued his first studio set since 1991, Taylor found his creative juices recharged and his loyal following hungry for some new music. Hourglass, which debuted in the top 10 of the album chart, not only was a commercial breakthrough for the veteran tunesmith, it yielded him a Grammy Award for Best Pop Album.

Undoubtedly stoked by his renewed success and his induction to both the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and Songwriter's Hall Of Fame in 2000, Taylor headed back to the studio relatively quickly to record his next album. Released in 2002, October Road continued Taylor's commercial rebirth, entering the charts at No. 4 in a top 10 that feature fellow veteran Bruce Springsteen and the current crop of hit-makers including Eminem, Nelly, and Avril Lavigne.

Unlike many other artists of his era, Taylor has maintained both a solid career and a reputation that has only been enhanced over time: Many of the new wave of country performers and singer-songwriters in fact claim him as a major songwriting inspiration. A distinguished artist whose eventful life has been uniquely documented in his own work, James Taylor deserves every bit of the respect he is accorded.

James Taylor Tickets | James Taylor Biography | James Taylor Schedule

More Concert Tickets and Information