Chip Taylor

Chip Taylor
Taylor in New York City, 2012
Background information
Birth name	James Wesley Voight
Born	(1940-03-21) March 21, 1940 (age 76)
Origin	Yonkers, New York, U.S.
Genres	Country, pop music
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, songwriter, record producer
Years active	1960s–present
Labels	Buddah, Warner Bros., CBS, Capitol, Train Wreck
Associated acts	Carrie Rodriguez, Kendel Carson, John Platania

Chip Taylor (born James Wesley Voight; March 21, 1940) is an American songwriter, noted for writing "Angel of the Morning" and "Wild Thing."

He is the brother of actor Jon Voight and geologist Barry Voight and the uncle of actress Angelina Jolie and actor James Haven. Taylor attended Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, New York. In 1961, Taylor attended the University of Hartford in Hartford, Connecticut for one year.

After an unsuccessful attempt to become a professional golfer, Taylor entered the music business, writing pop and rock songs, both alone and with other songwriters, including Al Gorgoni (as the duo Just Us), Billy Vera, Ted Daryll and Jerry Ragovoy.

Taylor's best-known songs are "Wild Thing," which, though originally recorded in 1965 by Jordan Christopher & The Wild Ones, became famous as both a 1966 hit single for The Troggs and a 1967 live performance by Jimi Hendrix, and "Angel of the Morning," likewise originally recorded by Evie Sands in 1967, but becoming a hit for Merrilee Rush in 1968, and then a million-selling single in 1981 for country-pop singer Juice Newton. Other notable pop and country songs written by Taylor include "He Sits at Your Table" (Willie Nelson), "I Can't Let Go" (Evie Sands, The Hollies, Linda Ronstadt), "The Baby" (The Hollies), "Worry" (Johnny Tillotson), "Make Me Belong to You"(Barbara Lewis), "I Can Make It With You" (The Pozo Seco Singers, Jackie DeShannon), "Any Way That You Want Me" (The Troggs, Evie Sands, Juice Newton, Lita Ford), "Step Out of Your Mind" (American Breed), "Country Girl City Man" (Billy Vera and Judy Clay), "I'll Hold Out My Hand", "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)" (Lorraine Ellison, Janis Joplin), "Julie" (Bobby Fuller Four, Marshall Crenshaw), "Lonely Is As Lonely Does" (The Fleetwoods), "Sweet Dream Woman" (Waylon Jennings), "A Little Bit Later On Down the Line" (Bobby Bare), "Rock Soldiers" (Ace Frehley), and "Son of a Rotten Gambler" (Emmylou Harris, the Hollies, Anne Murray).