James Taylor

Not to be confused with James Willis "J. Will" Taylor, a former Republican U.S. representative from Tennessee.

James Vernon Taylor was born on March 12, 1948 in Belmont, Massachusetts and grew up in Carrboro, North Carolina, where as a child he first became interested in music.

After first moving to England and contracted to the Beatles Apple Records, it wasn’t until he returned to live in California and signed with Warner Brothers Records that he found success in 1970 with the album “Sweet Baby James” and the single “Fire and Rain.”

The following year the album “Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon” gave him his first #1 hit single, “You’ve Got A Friend” that also earned him a Grammy Award. In 1974 “Mockingbird” entered the top five of the Hit Parade as did “How Sweet It Is to Be Loved By You” in 1975.

Moving to Columbia Records in 1977, his album “JT” gave James another Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for his version of a song previously a hit for Jimmy Jones in 1960, “Handy Man.”

The album, “New Moon Shine” went platinum in 1991 and James Taylor won another Grammy for Best Pop Album in 1998 for “Hourglass.”

Among his other hits are “Country Road,” “Long Ago and Far Away,” “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight,” “Mexico,” “Shower The People,” Your Smiling Face,” “What A Wonderful World,” “Up On The Roof” and “Her Town Too.”

With forty gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards and five Grammy’s, James Taylor was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2000.

James Taylor is a 2008 nominee at the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

James Taylor currently lives in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts with his wife and two sons.