James Taylor is an American singer-songwriter who can boast of having sold no less than 100 million records worldwide and having won no less than 6 Grammy Awards, just that !
Artist who really started his artistic career at the age of 18 when he formed the group Flying Machine in 1966, a group that will allow him to get noticed on the side of New York's Greenwich Village. An adventure that will unfortunately quickly come to an end and which sees above all the young Taylor switch to hard drugs to lose total control of his life...
After hitting rock bottom, he resumed his life the following year and moved to England where he met the producer of the Beatles. Meeting which allows him to sign with Apple Records, a first for an American artist. Label with which he will release a first eponymous album in 1968, an album which will not go unnoticed and which especially offers him his first classified title with "Carolina in my mind" a year later in 1969.
Unfortunately his demons, especially narcotics, catch up with him and he plunges violently back into his addictions, which will result in a forced return to the United States for treatment.
Back on his feet, he signed with the Warner Bros. label. Records still in 1969, label with which he released a new album called "Sweet baby James", album which will offer him a first major global success thanks to the single "Fire and rain". Title which will be released during the year 1970. But also with the title "Country road" which will be released in 1971.
Success confirmed the same year with the release of the enormous album "Mud slide slim and the blue horizon", album which will produce the biggest success of all his discography on the Singles side with the title "You've got a friend".
New album "One man dog" in 1972, album with certain success but of which no Single paradoxically will know the success except in North America. Temporary disappointment which will be quickly counterbalanced by his marriage the same year with the singer Carly Simon.
We find him two years later in 1974 with the album "Walking man", an album that will prove to be a disaster both commercially and critically.
Conversely, the album "Gorilla" which was released a year later in 1975 will allow him to recover his health thanks to the enormous single "How sweet it is (To be loved by you)", single which will remain unquestionably as one of his biggest hits on the Singles side.
At the rate of almost one album per year, it was the turn of "In the pocket" to be released in 1976. The album would have a planetary destiny superior to its predecessor but would produce only one high-caliber title with " Shower the people”.
Change of label from the year 1977 and passage to Columbia Records. A particularly profitable change since the album "JT", which is his first album to be released for this new label, will meet with notorious success. Album worn at arm's length by what will remain as his biggest success on the Singles side with the title "Handy man".
The great adventure continued at the end of the 1970s with the release in 1979 of the album "Flag", an album which mainly produced the single "Up on the roof".
The 80's will begin in a way he would never have imagined since fate will make him cross the path of a certain... Mark David Chapman on December 7, 1980. The same Chapman who the next day will assassinate John Lennon ! And as Taylor lived just in the building next to Lennon's, he will witness the murder almost live on that famous December 8, 1980...
Return to music from the year 1981 with the release of the album "Dad loves his work", album which will remain as one of his biggest planetary successes in particular thanks to the single "Het town too".
A year 1981 which on the personal side will prove to be much less joyful since he will divorce Carly Simon and will also have to follow a detoxification treatment in connection with his addiction to heroin.
While he intended to more or less stop the music following his many setbacks, he still manages to find the energy necessary to return to 1985 with the album "That's why I'm here". The album will not remain as his best opus but it still produces several high-caliber titles, the highest ranked of which will remain "Everyday".
New album "Never die young" three years later in 1988, an album that will only survive thanks to the single of the same name.
He will have several notorious successes later on the album side with "Hourglass" in 1997, "October road" in 2002 and "Before this world" in 2015. Three albums which will only produce minor hits unfortunately...
To discover or rediscover.
Discography (among others…) :
Carolina in my mind 1969
Fire and rain 1970
Country road 1971
You’ve got a friend 1971
Long ago and far away 1971
Don’t let me be lonely tonight 1972
One man parade 1973
Walking man 1974
How sweet it is (To be loved by you) 1975
Mexico 1975
Shower the people 1976
Women’s gotta have it 1977
Handy man 1977
Your smiling face 1977
Honey don’t leave L.A. 1978
Up on the roof 1979
Her town too 1981
Hard times 1981
Summer’s here 1981
Everyday 1985
Only one 1986
That’s why I’m here 1986
Never die young 1988
Baby boom baby 1988
Copperline 1991
(I’ve got to) Stop thinkin’ bout that 1992
Everybody loves to Cha Cha Cha 1992
Like everyone she knows 1992
Little more time with you 1997
On the 4th of July 2002
Whenever you’re ready 2002
September grass 2003
It’s growing 2008
Today today today 2015
Clips :
1969...the very first steps of a young beginner who will quickly assert himself as one of the future Greats of the American music scene. But at this stage no one imagines the career that awaits him behind...
1970...the following year is already the big take-off. He will go from shadow to light in a sensational way to say the least with this title and this will make a name, a real one, all around the planet...
1971...from now on the top hits, even the mega hits, will follow one another in a way that is impressive to say the least. And it's going to last like that for a bunch of years...
1971...a year that will prove to be exceptional for the artist since he will quite simply achieve the biggest success of his entire career here. All on this revisited and above all perfectly successful version of Carol King's title dating from the same year. MAS-TER-FUL !
1971...three titles just for this year 1971 with 2 top hits and 1 mega hit, who says better ? In just 2 years the young singer will have established himself as one of the phenomena of the moment, just that...
1972...the year 1971 will have been particularly provided in titles, which will not really be the case of the year 1972. Only one title on the clock this year there and with altogether limited success. Aouch aouch...
1973...and the year 1973 would do even worse with a plummeting level of chart success. While we thought the artist left to smash everything, it is rather him who is smashing himself in a way that is incomprehensible to say the least...
1974... the fall accelerates in this year 1974 and seems impossible to stop. But how could he have fallen so quickly and above all so hard...?
1975...it's a new revisited version of another singer that will bring him to the surface in a spectacular way. Here he covers the title of Marvin Gaye dating from 1964 and will succeed in making a comeback, to say the least, on the front of the stage. The worst is avoided...
1975... the artist finally manages to stabilize his position on the front of the stage and proves by the same that the big air hole of the previous years was only a simple accident. Let's hope so !
1976...a year 1976 which starts rather well and which confirms above all that the singer is indeed back. We therefore have every reason to hope for great achievements in the years to come...
1977 ... back in luxury cover mode this time on the title of Bobby Womack dating from 1972. A nice cover, certainly, but which unfortunately will not succeed more than that ...
1977... conversely, this one will really succeed for him on the other hand. He revisits here the title of Jimmy Jones dating from 1959 and will at the same time offer himself one of the biggest successes of his entire discography. HU-GE !
1977 ... it still happens to him to do something new from time to time and fortunately elsewhere. This title will not really have the same level of impact as its predecessor but will do quite well...
1978...a novelty mode that didn't last very long since here he is again in cover mode. He revisits here the title of the group Attitudes dating from 1976 with in the end a mixed result on the Charts side...
1979...rarely has an artist covered the others so much. It comes from a good feeling to endorse titles produced by others of certain quality, including this title from the Drifters dating from 1962. But it would still be necessary that at some point he really manages to exist by himself...
1981...especially when he wants he can, the proof ! A passage to the 80s which is done in the best conditions with this original title which proves that he is able to trace his path with his own compositions...
1981...even if the style and the sound do not really correspond to the latest trends of the moment, that does not prevent him from staying in contact with the best. For how long, the future will tell us...
1981...for the moment he manages to unroll without too much difficulty even if we still feel that his style will have to evolve somewhat if he wants to stay in the race. He will have to ask himself the right questions and quickly...
1985... he will disappear from the radar for almost 4 years and here he is back in this year 1985 in mode...luxury cover, once again ! It's Buddy Holly from 1957 that he brings back to us here and this version will not go unnoticed, far from it...
1986 ... still as offbeat in terms of style compared to its time, it is clear. This does not prevent him from continuing his adventure in his own way and without really taking into account the warning signals that light up one after the other...
1986...it may well be that the second part of the 80s is a little more complicated to manage than expected. We are not talking about an irreversible stall for the moment but to start with a slow and above all certain deceleration...
1988... nothing in 1987 and return in this year 1988 in a certain form, certain form which allows him to get a new big hit. That's for the good news. For the bad, this big hit will indeed be the last concerning him...
1988 ... he will still not disappear overnight from the Charts but it is clear that the competition is seriously starting to have a few lengths ahead. Frankly a pity that he did not know - or wanted - to question himself more than that...
1991 ... here he is, all the same, beginning his 4th decade of career, a significant feat as they say. Afterwards, it is clear that the best years are now behind...
1992... can we hope for a possible rebound in the years to come, good question. Without a total questioning of its fundamentals, it is not likely to happen much positive in this direction...
1992...the more the years advance and the more its position in the Charts becomes more and more unstable. He doesn't really pay attention to it but the risk is more real of going off the road faster than expected...
1992...we won't remake him again as they say and he doesn't intend to change much at this stage either. Afterwards, he is the one who conducts his career as he sees fit, that's for sure...
1997...a risky bet not to take into account the changes needed to be undertaken to remain at the top level. With as sanction, a pure and simple disappearance of the radars for almost 5 years...
2002...he will attempt the transition to the 2000s but as he still hasn't changed anything in his way of seeing things, inevitably the result in the Charts will be the same. A decade 2000 which risks being that of too unfortunately...
2002...on the other hand, we can't blame him for much given the good will he puts into what he does. It is simply this lack of desire to evolve that will have irremediably marginalized him...
2003... he continues to believe in it in any case and this against winds and tides. Afterwards, rightly or wrongly, only he can answer this question, that's for sure...
2008...the air holes of 5 years are becoming a habit now. But he always comes back again and again and doesn't intend to let go for the moment...
2015... there it will be downright 7 years that will separate this title from the previous one. And this time he won't even appear in the Charts anymore. Afterwards, with him, everything is always possible, which makes a hypothetical umpteenth return realistic, who knows...
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