William Edward "B. E." Taylor (March 18, 1951 – August 7, 2016) was the lead singer of the pop rock band B. E. Taylor Group and a solo artist. The group's 1983 single, "

Vitamin L "Vitamin L" is a song by the American pop rock band B.E. Taylor Group. It is the fifth track on the band's second studio album, ''Love Won the Fight'', and also the third single pulled from that album. In a departure of the norm of B. E. Taylor ...

", reached No. 66 on the ''Billboard'' 100 singles chart.

Life and career

Hailing from

Aliquippa, Pennsylvania Aliquippa is the largest city in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States, located on the Ohio River about northwest of Pittsburgh. The population was 9,238 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is part ...

, he was the eldest of three sons of Bill and Betty Taylor. Born William Edward, he was called 'Billy Eddie' by his mother, which he eventually shortened to B. E.Tri-state area loses music legend B.E. Taylor
WTOV 9. August 8, 2016. Retrieved August 8, 2016. While in high school, he formed B.E. Taylor and The Establishment. In the early 1980s, Taylor joined with three former members of the

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band

Crack the Sky Crack the Sky is an American progressive rock band formed in Weirton, West Virginia, in the early 1970s. In 1975, ''Rolling Stone'' declared their first album the "debut album of the year", and in 1978, ''Rolling Stone Record Guide'' compared t ...

- Rick Witkowski (guitar), Joe Macre (bass), and Joey D'Amico (drums) - along with keyboardist Nat Kerr to form the B.E. Taylor Group. The group generated some noise during the first half of the 1980s, particularly in 1984, when they scored MTV video rotation and a ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' regional No. 1 hit with the song "

." Although the band ceased recording together after their 1986 album ''Our World'', Taylor did continue to collaborate with Witkowski throughout his career. Taylor moved to

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and also contains a tiny portion extending ...

in the mid-1980s. In 1991, Taylor, a dedicated Christian, contributed a reworking of “Silent Night” to a local radio station’s Christmas compilation, launching his second career as a holiday performer. Taylor went on to record five solo albums and developed a following in the

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

market with his annual Christmas tours. He had also performed for many popular television programs in the 1990s, including the award-winning '' LightMusic'', for which he was the music director,

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

, and its night-time programming block, ''

Nick At Nite Nick at Nite (stylized as nick@nite) is an American nighttime basic cable television channel that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon. It typically broadcasts Mondays to Thursday nights from 9 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, ET/Pac ...

''. In 2008, Taylor was awarded the

Duquesne University Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit ( or ; Duquesne University or Duquesne) is a private Catholic research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne first opened as the Pittsbu ...

Lifetime Achievement Award. On September 10, 2021 B.E. Taylor was inducted into the Wheeling Hall of Fame in a ceremony, celebration and dinner at the WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, WV.

Later years and death

In March 2007, Taylor was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. During the years of treatment, he released the album ''B. E. Taylor Christmas 3'' and a concert DVD, completed eight Christmas tours, took part in Valentine and summer concerts. He died on August 7, 2016, aged 65 from complications of the tumor.Pittsburgh musician B.E. Taylor dies
WTAE. August 8, 2016. Retrieved August 8, 2016. He was survived by his wife Veronica (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

DeBlasis) Taylor and two children, B.C. and Tahnee.

Discography

With B. E. Taylor Group

Albums

*''

Innermission ''Innermission'' was the first major label release for the B.E. Taylor Group, released in 1982 on MCA Records (as MCA-5335). Track listing #"Never Hold Back" - 5:03 #"Stand Up for Love" - 3:22 #"I Like the Way I Feel" - 4:32 #"Be ...

'' (

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

) *''

Love Won the Fight ''Love Won the Fight'' was the second album by pop rock band B.E. Taylor Group William Edward "B. E." Taylor (March 18, 1951 – August 7, 2016) was the lead singer of the pop rock band B. E. Taylor Group and a solo artist. The group's 1983 sing ...

'' (

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

) *''

Life Goes On EP {{Unreferenced, date=June 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) Life Goes On EP is the third album by the B.E. Taylor Group William Edward "B. E." Taylor (March 18, 1951 – August 7, 2016) was the lead singer of the pop rock band B. E. Taylor Group and a ...

'' (

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

) *''Our World'' (

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

)

Singles

*"Never Hold Back" (1982) - #54 ''Billboard'' Mainstream Rock Tracks *"Love Won the Fight" (1983) *"Just A Beat Away" (1983) *"

" (1984) - #66 ''Billboard'' Hot 100 *"Dangerous Rhythm" (1986) *"Reggae Rock & Roll" (1986) *"Karen" (1986) - #94 Billboard Hot 100

As a solo artist

Albums

*'' B. E. Taylor Christmas'' (

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

) *'' Try Love'' (

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

) *'' B. E. Taylor Christmas 2'' (

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

) *'' One Nation Under God'' (

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

) *'' Love Never Fails'' (

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

) *''B. E. Taylor Christmas 3'' (

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

)

Singles

* "This Time" (1997) - #29 Gavin Adult Contemporary * "Love You All Over Again" (1997) - #28 Gavin Adult Contemporary * "Let There Be Peace On Earth" (

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

)

References

External links

Official B. E Taylor website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, B. E. 1951 births 2016 deaths American performers of Christian music Deaths from cancer in West Virginia Deaths from brain cancer in the United States People from Aliquippa, Pennsylvania Singers from West Virginia