Johnnie Taylor In-depth Biography
Young gospel} phenom, gritty Stax}/Volt} soulster, lady-killing balladeer, chart-topping disco} king, Southern soul-blues} stalwart -- Johnnie Taylor} somehow always managed to adapt to the times, and he parlayed that versatility into a recording career that lasted nearly four decades. Nicknamed the "Philosopher of Soul" during his Stax} days, that version of Taylor} is best remembered for his 1968 R&B} chart-topping smash "Who's Making Love,"} but far and away his biggest success was 1976's across-the-board number one "Disco Lady,"} the first single ever certified platinum (which at the time meant sales of over two million copies). When the national hits dried up, Taylor} wound up as one of the most prolific artists on the Malaco} label, a refuge for many Southern soul} and blues} veterans whose styles had fallen out of popular favor by the '80s. Taylor} called Malaco} home for over 15 years and kept on recording and performing right up to his passing in 2000.
{%Johnnie Harrison Taylor} was born in Crawfordsville, AR, on May 5, 1934 (though he usually gave his birth year as 1938); he grew up mostly in nearby West Memphis. He began singing in church as a young child and later moved to Kansas City, where he performed with a gospel} group called the Melody Kings}; it was through this outfit that he initially met and befriended Soul Stirrers} frontman Sam Cooke}. In 1953, Taylor} left home and moved to Chicago, where he joined the doo wop} group the Five Echoes}; shortly thereafter, he began performing concurrently with the gospel} group the Highway Q.C.'s}, which had once been home to Sam Cooke}. In 1957, Taylor} would replace Cooke} in the hugely influential Soul Stirrers}, after Cooke} departed for a career in secular music.
After four years with the Soul Stirrers}, Taylor} escaped gospel} music's waning popularity and followed Cooke} into the world of secular soul}, becoming the first artist to sign with Cooke}'s label, Sar}, in 1961. Taylor} released a few singles on Sar} and another Cooke} label, Derby}, over the next few years, including the minor R&B} hit "Rome (Wasn't Built in a Day)."} Unfortunately, Cooke} was murdered in late 1964, and his labels folded, leaving Taylor} without a record deal. He returned to the Memphis area and signed with the enormously popular Stax} label in 1965, debuting early the following year with "I Had a Dream."} Taylor} scored a few minor R&B} hits over the next few years, including "I Got to Love Somebody's Baby,"} "Somebody's Sleeping in My Bed,"} and "Next Time."} He hit it big in late 1968 with the gritty, funky "Who's Making Love,"} his first number one R&B} hit, which also made the pop} Top Five. Taylor} was able to land some decent-sized follow-up hits in the years to come, among them "Take Care of Your Homework,"} "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone,"} "Steal Away,"} and "I Am Somebody."} By the early '70s, Taylor}'s bread and butter had become smooth, elegant crooning, as typified by his 1973 album Taylored in Silk} and his two attendant ballad} smashes, "I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)"} and "Cheaper to Keep Her."}
When Stax} went bankrupt in 1975, Taylor} moved over to CBS}/Columbia}, debuting in 1976 with the album Eargasm}. Its first single, "Disco Lady,"} was an instant smash, capturing the spirit of the era and selling over two million copies (although some soul} fans still debate whether it was a true disco} song). "Disco Lady"} was Taylor}'s first number one pop} hit, despite losing airplay over its supposedly suggestive lyrics, and it proved such a phenomenon that CBS} eagerly pushed him to record more disco}-oriented material, something Taylor} wasn't extraordinarily comfortable with. He recorded several more albums for the label through 1980, but never came close to duplicating the success of "Disco Lady"} and left to sign with the smaller Beverly Glen} imprint in 1982.
Taylor} recorded one album for Beverly Glen}, 1982's Just Ain't Good Enough}, which produced a minor R&B} hit in "What About My Love."} Still searching for a home more in line with the environment at Stax}, Taylor} soon jumped to Malaco Records}, a Southern label dedicated to preserving the region's classic soul} and blues} sounds (albeit sometimes with a bit less grit than in days of old). Debuting with 1984's This Is Your Night}, Taylor} and Malaco} clicked right away, and he wound up recording a total of 12 albums for the label over the next 15 years, ranking as one of their best-selling artists. Taylor}'s style during this era had evolved into a hybrid of soul} and blues}, with more emphasis on the latter than at any other point in his career; he continued to tour steadily through the '80s and '90s, and landed a few more singles on the lower reaches of the R&B} chart up until 1990. In 1996, his album Good Love!} topped the Billboard} blues} chart. Taylor}'s final album was 1999's Gotta Get the Groove Back}; on May 31, 2000, he suffered a heart attack at his home in Duncanville, TX (a suburb of Dallas), and died at the hospital. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide