Johnnie Taylor

Biography Early years

Johnnie Taylor was born in Crawfordsville, Arkansas, United States. 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 Vee Jay Records label in the 1950s, as part of the gospel group The Highway Q.C.'s, which included a young Sam Cooke. In 1970 Taylor married Gerlean Rocket, with their divorce finalized on May 10, 2000, 21 days before his passing. His children from that marriage are Jon Harrison Taylor, and Tasha Taylor, both musicians.

During his tenure at Stax, he became an R&B star, with over a dozen chart successes, such as "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone", which reached No. 23 on the Hot 100 chart, "Cheaper to Keep Her" (Mack Rice) and record producer Don Davis's penned "I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)", which reached No. 11 on the Hot 100 chart. "I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)" also sold more than one million copies, and was awarded gold disc status by the R.I.A.A. in October 1973. Taylor, along with Isaac Hayes and The Staple Singers, was one of the label's flagship artists, who were credited for keeping the company afloat in the late 1960s and early 1970s after the death of its biggest star, Otis Redding, in an aviation accident. He appeared in the documentary film, Wattstax, which was released in 1973.

Columbia Records

After Stax folded in 1975, Taylor switched to Columbia Records, where he recorded his biggest success with Don Davis still in charge of production, "Disco Lady", in 1976. "Disco Lady" was the first certified platinum single (two million copies sold) by the RIAA. Stax billed Johnnie Taylor as "The Philosopher of Soul". He was also known as "the Blues Wailer". He was buried beside his mother, Ida Mae Taylor, at Forrest Hill Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri. the difficulties associated with executing his will were presented in an episode of the TV program The Will: Family Secrets Revealed called "The Estate of Johnnie Taylor". In a 2021 Rolling Stone article, Fonda Bryant, one of the nine heirs of Taylor's estate, shared some of the complexities that she and her other siblings have had to deal with during the past decade regarding her father's royalty payments from Sony Music. Bryant believed that the alleged lack of transparency concerning those payouts was reason enough for Sony to disclose her father's personal information. Sony's refusal to do so left Bryant and the other heirs in the dark. Music industry attorney Erin M. Jacobson stated in the article that "'a label is not just going to turn over a bunch of financial records to anyone that asks for it.'" An audit is a viable option for "heirs who are distrustful of a label's accounting" practices. The down side to doing one, though, is the exorbitant amount of money that it would cost to do so, something too "unrealistic for most heirs like Bryant."

Awards and nominations Taylor was given a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1999. Taylor was also a three-time Grammy Award nominee. In 2015 Taylor was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. In 2022, Taylor was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Discography Studio albums Year Album Peak chart positions Label US US R&B 5 1 Columbia 1977 Rated Extraordinaire 51 6 Reflections — 45 RCA Disco 9000 183 22 Columbia 1978 Ever Ready 164 35 1979 She's Killing Me — 53 1980 A New Day — 75 1982 Just Ain't Good Enough 172 19 Beverly Glen 1984 This Is Your Night — 55 Malaco 1985 Wall to Wall — 46 1987 Lover Boy — 70 1988 In Control — 43 1989 Crazy 'Bout You — 47 1991 I Know It's Wrong But I... Just Can't Do Right — 59 1993 Real Love — 76 1996 Good Love! 108 15 1998 Taylored to Please — 44 1999 Gotta Get the Groove Back 140 30 2003 There's No Good in Goodbye — 30 "—" denotes releases that did not chart.

Live albums FunkSoulBrother - Fuel/Universal. Retrospective album 1970/2006

Singles Year Single Chart positions US US R&B UK CAN 1963 "Baby, We've Got Love" 98 * — — 1966 "I Had a Dream" — 19 — — "I Got to Love Somebody's Baby" — 15 — — 1967 "Somebody's Sleeping in My Bed" 95 33 — — 1968 "Next Time" — 34 — — "I Ain't Particular" — 45 — — "Who's Making Love" 5 1 — 7 1969 "Take Care of Your Homework" 20 2 — 27 "Testify (I Wanna)" 36 4 — 35 "I Could Never Be President" 48 10 — — "Love Bones" 43 4 — 38 1970 "Steal Away" 37 3 — 36 "I Am Somebody Part II" 39 4 — 45 1971 "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone" 28 1 — — "I Don't Wanna Lose You" 86 13 — — "Hijackin' Love" 64 10 — — 1972 "Standing in for Jody" 74 12 — — "Doing My Own Thing (Part I)" 109 16 — — "Stop Doggin' Me" 101 13 — — 1973 "I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)" 11 1 — 35 "Cheaper to Keep Her" 15 2 — — 1974 "We're Getting Careless with Our Love" 34 5 — 77 "I've Been Born Again" 78 13 — — "It's September" — 26 — — 1975 "Try Me Tonight" — 51 — — 1976 "Disco Lady" 1 1 25 14 "Somebody's Gettin' It" 33 5 — 94 1977 "Love Is Better in the A.M. (Part 1)" 77 3 — 63 "Your Love Is Rated X" — 17 — — "Disco 9000" 86 24 — — 1978 "Keep On Dancing" 101 32 — — "Ever Ready" — 84 — — 1979 "(Ooh-Wee) She's Killing Me" /"Play Something Pretty" — 3779 — — 1980 "I Got This Thing for Your Love" — 77 — — 1982 "What About My Love" — 24 — — 1983 "I'm So Proud" — 55 — — 1984 "Lady, My Whole World Is You" — 74 — — 1987 "Don't Make Me Late" — 74 — — 1990 "Still Crazy for You" — 60 — —"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.