Some of his hit songs include "Fire and Rain," "Mexico" and "Shower the People." Best Known For: Singer-songwriter James Taylor creates music that combines folk, rock and pop sensibilities.Perhaps most important, Taylor continues to be esteemed as a songwriter and performer whose work speaks to people's inner emotional lives. In November 2015, he was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in December 2016 he was celebrated at the 39th Kennedy Center Honors. He received a National Medal of the Arts in 2011 and was designated a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in 2012. In 2000, Taylor was inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Taylor has also appeared at numerous benefit concerts, including one to raise funds for victims of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. He has given concerts for politicians such as George McGovern, Barack Obama and Elizabeth Warren, and was a staunch opponent of Jesse Helms. Throughout his career, Taylor-who is proudly liberal-has offered his support to causes and people he believes in. After two failed marriages - to Carly Simon from 1972 to 1983, and to Kathryn Walker from 1985 to 1996 - he wed Caroline Smedvig in 2001. He followed with interpretations of classics like "My Blue Heaven" and "Moon River" for his next studio release, 2020's American Standard. After a half-century in the music business, it became his first album to top the Billboard 200 chart. In June 2015, Taylor released his first album of original material in 13 years with Before This World. Touring has also enhanced Taylor's popularity, as well as his album sales almost all of his releases have now attained either gold or platinum status. Hourglass (1997) won the Grammy for Best Pop Album (Taylor won Grammys in 20 as well). Over the next few decades, Taylor's musical output included studio albums, live recordings and even work on a Broadway musical. In 1977, Taylor won a second Grammy for his cover of "Handy Man." It was from the first album he recorded for Columbia, the multiplatinum-selling JT. The album was a success from the start and has now received diamond certification, selling more than 10 million copies. 'Greatest Hits,' 'JT'įollowing a few moderately successful releases, James Taylor's Greatest Hits came out in 1976. He also won a Grammy for his performance of that song. 1 hit with his cover of "You've Got a Friend," written by Carole King. On his next album, Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon, Taylor had a No. Taylor's career skyrocketed with the success of his second album, Sweet Baby James (1970), which contains what may be Taylor's best-known song, the gentle "Fire and Rain." Both the album and the song reached No. Albums and Musical Stardom 'Sweet Baby James,' 'Mud Slide Slim' He then moved to California and recorded a new album, this time for Warner Brothers. After those stays, he played the 1969 Newport Folk Festival. Struggling with a heroin addiction, he checked into a hospital in New York, and then went to Austin Riggs, a Massachusetts psychiatric facility. 'James Taylor'įollowing the release of his 1968 debut album, James Taylor, which received a positive reception from critics but didn't sell well, Taylor returned to the United States. When the group broke up, Taylor moved to London, where he was signed by the Beatles' Apple record label. After leaving McLean in 1966, he helped form a band, The Flying Machine. During his stay there, he honed his songwriting skills. In 1965, Taylor committed himself to McLean Psychiatric Hospital in Massachusetts. Initially a cellist, he began to play the guitar when he was around 12 years old. Taylor's mother had studied singing, and Taylor, like all of her children, was also musically inclined. At the age of three, he moved with his family to North Carolina, where he lived for the rest of his childhood (though his well-off family usually spent summers on Martha's Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts). James Vernon Taylor was born on March 12, 1948, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 and received a National Medal of the Arts in 2011. Over the course of a long-running career, Taylor has won five Grammy Awards and seen many of his albums go platinum. Musician James Taylor rose to fame in the 1970s, when he became known for writing and performing sensitive, affecting songs.
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