James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitaist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock an' Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Taylor achieved his major breakthrough in 1970 with the #3 single "Fire and Rain" and had his first #1 hit the following year with "You've Got a Friend", a recording of Carole King's classic song. His 1976 Greatest Hits album was certified Diamond and has sold 12 million US copies.
(Video: James Taylor, Live at the Beacon Theater, New York. Copyright Control)
Following his 1977 album, JT, he has retained a large audience over the decades. His commercial achievements declined slightly until a big resurgence during the late 1990s and 2000s, when some of his best-selling and most-awarded albums (including Hourglass, October Road and Covers) were released. Taylor became the first non-British act signed to the Beatles Apple label. Taylor recorded what would become his first album from July to October 1968 at Trident Studios, at the same time The Beatles were recording The White Album. McCartney and an uncredited George Harrison guested on "Carolina In My Mind" whose lyric "holy host of others standing around me" referred to the Beatles, while the title phrase of Taylor's "Something in the Way She Moves" provided the lyrical starting point for Harrison's classic "Something." The feature track "Handyman" was written by Otis Blackwell(Wikipedia).
