James Taylor

Chapel Hill and McLean

James Vernon Taylor was born in Boston on 12 March 1948 and grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where his family moved in 1951. Summers were spent on Martha's Vineyard. His father, Isaac, was a physician who became dean of the UNC medical school, his mother, Gertrude, had studied singing, and all four of his siblings became musicians. He had cello lessons as a child and took up the guitar in 1960. By the summer of 1963 he was playing Vineyard coffeehouses with his friend Danny Kortchmar as Jamie & Kootch.

Late in 1965 he committed himself to McLean, a psychiatric hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, and earned his diploma there. In New York he and Kortchmar formed the Flying Machine, which played the Night Owl Cafe in Greenwich Village and released one single, Night Owl, before breaking up in 1967. By then Taylor was addicted to heroin, and his father drove him home to North Carolina.

Apple

Late in 1967 he moved to London. Kortchmar put him in touch with Peter Asher, head of A&R at Apple, and after auditioning for Paul McCartney and George Harrison he became the first act from outside Britain signed to the label. He made his debut, James Taylor, at Trident Studios in 1968 while the Beatles were making the White Album, and McCartney played bass on Carolina in My Mind, a song about missing home. The record sold poorly because Taylor, in treatment at the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, could not promote it.

Sweet Baby James

In July 1969 he played six nights at the Troubadour in Los Angeles and appeared at the Newport Folk Festival, then broke both hands and both feet in a motorcycle accident on Martha's Vineyard. He signed with Warner Bros. that October, and in December, with Asher producing, he cut Sweet Baby James at Sunset Sound for well under its budget. Fire and Rain went to number three, and the title song, a cowboy lullaby for his infant nephew, became a fixture of nearly every concert he has played since. In March 1971 Time put him on its cover, and that year You've Got a Friend, from Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon, became his only number one single and won his first Grammy.

He married Carly Simon in November 1972. After Walking Man (1974) sold poorly, Gorilla (1975) restored his fortunes, with How Sweet It Is and Mexico both reaching the charts. Greatest Hits (1976), for which he re-recorded Carolina in My Mind, went on to be certified Diamond.

Columbia

In 1977 he moved to Columbia. JT reached number four, and Handy Man won him another Grammy. Dad Loves His Work (1981), his first album with no cover versions, included Her Town Too, a duet with JD Souther that reached number 11. Simon announced their separation that September, and they divorced in 1983. In September 1983 he began four months of coming off methadone and heroin. Playing Rock in Rio to 300,000 people in January 1985 was, he said, a turning point in his life.

Later years

Hourglass won the Grammy for Best Pop Album in 1997, and in 2000 Paul McCartney inducted him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He joined the Songwriters Hall of Fame the same year. A 2010 reunion tour with Carole King grossed more than $59 million. Before This World (2015) was his first number one album, and that year he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, followed by the Kennedy Center Honors in 2016. In 2020 he released an audio memoir, Break Shot, which covers his first 21 years, and American Standard, which won a Grammy. He still tours.

AllMusic's William Ruhlmann wrote that when people say singer-songwriter, they are most likely thinking of James Taylor. Taylor Swift was named after him, and Zac Brown has called him his influence.