Trevor Taylor (singer)
| Trevor Taylor | |
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Historical photo of Trevor Taylor
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Trevor Oliver Taylor |
| Also known as | Supa T |
| Born |
11 January 1958 Montego Bay, Jamaica |
| Died | 19 January 2008 (aged 50) Cologne, Germany |
| Genres | Euro disco, reggae, Eurodance, Italo disco |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer, songwriter, composer |
| Instruments | Vocal, bass guitar |
| Years active | 1980s—2008 |
| Labels | Coconut Records, Mercury Records, Simple Things Records |
| Associated acts | Bad Boys Blue, Umoya, Temper Temper, The Party Animals, Mondo Club |
Trevor Oliver Taylor (11 January 1958 – 19 January 2008) was a Jamaican-German singer, musician, music producer, and songwriter. His adopted in later years stage name was Supa T. He is, however, best known as the original lead singer of the German band Bad Boys Blue.
Trevor Taylor was born in 1958 in Montego Bay, Jamaica. At the age of 14, Taylor visited England for the first time. Besides music, young Trevor was interested in cooking, power lifting, and football. Trevor was a true rastaman, and his idol was Bob Marley. At the beginning of his career, Trevor played bass guitar in the British reggae band UB40 and also was a singer in little-known groups in Seychelles. In 1978, Trevor worked as a chef in a restaurant "Holiday Inn" in Birmingham, and then in Cologne restaurant "Stummel".
In 1984, Trevor Taylor joined the new group Bad Boys Blue where he was selected as the lead vocalist. He sang the leads on the 1985 hit song "You're A Woman". It was a real success for the band and it instantly reached Top 10 in many European music charts. In Germany, the single peaked at No. 8 and it did not leave the German Top 20 for four months. The same year, Bad Boys Blue released their first studio album, Hot Girls, Bad Boys, on which Trevor Taylor sang on all songs (except "L.O.V.E. In My Car"), just as he did on the band's second album, Heartbeat, which was released in 1986.
In 1987, while recording the single "Come Back And Stay", producers Tony Hendrik and Karin van Haaren decided to change the lead singer, and to subsequently make John McInerney the new front-man. These changes, in turn, created tension within the group which ultimately lead to Trevor Taylor's departure, who understandably did not wish to accept his new sidelined role. A noteworthy fact is that Trevor Taylor did not leave the group right away following the switch, and stayed with the group for a whole year, during which he was incrementally phased out from his position of the front-man. During that transitional period his participation as the lead singer dropped first to 60% and then to 20% of songs sung on the 3rd and the 4th albums, respectively. That move was not incidental, for it was a key strategy implemented by the producers to ensure survivability and continuity of their project, that is to make sure in the public eye that both Taylor and McInerney were still present in the group, only that their respective positions had been switched, where the fans were now expected to become accustomed to seeing Taylor appear in the shadow of McInerney. Only after McInerney appeared on enough of new tracks as lead singer, Taylor could finally leave the group. This move was made possible by contractual obligations established by the Bad Boys Blue producers which legally prevented Trevor Taylor from exiting the band prematurely (that is, not until the transition period was completed), and therefore the producers were guaranteed to have a smooth continuation of their project.
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