Bobby Taylor (February 18, 1934 - July 22, 2017) was an American soul singer, songwriter, and producer active primarily in the 1960s and 1970s. He played a key role in the development of soul music over the past half century.
 |
| Morris Wade & The Four Pharaohs |
He was born Robert Edward Taylor in Washington, D.C. As a young man, he moved to New York City and sang in doo-wop groups with singers who later joined successful acts such as Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers and Little Anthony and the Imperials. In 1958 he began his music career as a member of The Four Pharaohs, who released a few locally-selling recordings in the Columbus, Ohio, area.
In the early 1960s, while they were in San Francisco, Taylor joined Little Daddy and the Bachelors, made up of vocalist Tommie Melton, guitarist Tommy Chong, bassist Wes Henderson, pianist Bernie Sneed, and drummer Floyd Sneed. While in Calgary they were known as the Calgary Shades. The word Shades in the group's name referenced the fact that the band was interracial. Chong is half Chinese. The other members were black, white, and Aboriginal. Taylor was of American Negro, Puerto Rican, and Native American heritage.
"Little Daddy & The Bachelors" recorded a single, "Too Much Monkey Business" / "Junior's Jerk". Melton and Chong opened a Vancouver dance hall in 1962 called the Blues Palace, which was formerly a movie theatre. They brought in the Ike & Tina Turner Revue who had never been to Vancouver before. They drew a small crowd and Melton and Chong broke even on that one. Although Little Daddy & The Bachelors built up a small following, things soured when they went with Chong's suggestion and had themselves billed as ""Four N's and a C", before taking on the moniker Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers.
In 1965, Supremes members Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard heard the band at the Elegant Parlour in Vancouver, and alerted Motown CEO Berry Gordy, Jr.. Gordy brought the Vancouvers to Motown Records in Detroit, Michigan, and signed them to his Gordy Records imprint. By this time the evolving line-up consisted of Taylor, Henderson, and Chong along with guitarist Eddie Patterson, organist Robbie King, and drummer Duris Maxwell (aka Ted Lewis), the latter three having come as a package when the original Vancouvers merged with another local group, the Good Shepherds. Some say that Jimi Hendrix played with them in those early days, but there is no proof except Hendrix later jammed onstage with the Vancouvers in Europe.
The group recorded its debut album, an eponymous release, and their debut single, the Tommy Chong co-composition "Does Your Mama Know About Me," peaked at number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #44 in Canada. For a July, 1968, engagement at the Regal Theater in Chicago, Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers had a local-area family band, The Jackson 5, as their opening act. Impressed with the group, Taylor personally brought them to Detroit and the Motown offices, arranging an audition for them with Motown executive Suzanne de Passe. De Passe and Berry Gordy were impressed with the Jacksons, and the group was signed to the label within a year.
After releasing two further singles, The Vancouvers ended up performing in support of Motown artist Chris Clark. Tommy Chong and Wes Henderson were fired by Clark and Motown producer Johnny Bristol for missing a gig to apply for Green cards. The group broke up shortly afterwards. Taylor auditioned for the then-vacant lead singer position in The Temptations, but was turned down. After the Jackson 5 signed to Motown in March 1969, Taylor became the group's first producer. He supervised the bulk of their first album, Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5, recording the Jacksons on a number of soul covers. Berry Gordy would later move the group to California and take personal control of their sound. Although Taylor would briefly join the Jacksons in California, he did not receive credit for working on the group's early singles such as "I Want You Back" and "ABC" . In addition to those, he produced most of their covers of older rhythm and blues songs.
As a solo artist, Taylor was shifted to Motown's V.I.P. label and continued as a solo artist. Although his "Oh, I've Been Blessed" later attained a cult status, Taylor's solo singles failed to sell well. By 1971, Taylor had departed Motown because of a financial dispute, recording sporadically into the mid-1970s.Taylor later successfully sued Motown for a substantial amount of money. Moving to the United Kingdom, Taylor started an offshoot group, Bobby Taylor & the New Vancouvers, and recorded an album for Ian Levine's Motorcity Records.
In the eighties, he was diagnosed with throat cancer and relocated to Columbus, OH. There, he lived with his mother before returning to the west coast and making his home in San Jose. He would later be diagnosed with leukemia and the metastatic cancer that would ultimately take his life. He was performing a Motown-themed show in Hong Kong under the name “The Bobby Taylor Band.” His later musical efforts were tempered by bouts with throat cancer, which he had treated by various holistic doctors.
As of 2014, Taylor resided in Hong Kong where he died on 22 July 2017,age 83. (Edited mainly from Wikipedia)