Johnnie Taylor
| Johnnie Taylor | |
|---|---|
Johnnie Taylor in Chicago, 1973
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Johnnie Harrison Taylor |
| Born |
May 5, 1934 Crawfordsville, Arkansas, United States |
| Died | May 31, 2000 (aged 66) Dallas, Texas, United States |
| Genres | R&B, soul, gospel, blues, pop, doo-wop, disco |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Years active | 1953–2000 |
| Labels | Chance Records, SAR Records, Stax Records, Columbia Records, Beverly Glen Records, Malaco Records |
Johnnie Harrison Taylor (May 5, 1934 – May 31, 2000) was an American vocalist in a wide variety of genres, from blues, rhythm and blues, soul, and gospel to pop, doo-wop and disco.
Johnnie Taylor was born in Crawfordsville, Arkansas. He grew up in West Memphis, Arkansas, performing in gospel groups as a youngster. As an adult, he had one release, "Somewhere to Lay My Head", on Chicago's Chance Records label in the 1950s, as part of the gospel group Highway QCs, which had been founded by a young Sam Cooke. His singing then was strikingly close to that of Sam Cooke, and he was hired to take Cooke's place in the latter's gospel group, the Soul Stirrers, in 1957.
A few years later, after Cooke had established his independent SAR Records, Taylor signed on as one of the label's first acts and recorded "Rome Wasn't Built In A Day" in 1962. However, SAR Records quickly became defunct after Cooke's death in 1964.
In 1966, Taylor moved to Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was dubbed "The Philosopher of Soul". He recorded with the label's house band, which included Booker T. & the MGs. His hits included "I Had a Dream", "I've Got to Love Somebody's Baby" (both written by the team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter) and most notably "Who's Making Love", which reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 1 on the R&B chart in 1968. "Who's Making Love" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. In 1970, Taylor married Gerlean Rocket and they remained married until his death in 2000.
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