Felice Taylor (born Florain Corella Flanagan, January 29, 1944 – June 12, 2017) was an American

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

and pop singer, best known for her

recordings A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

in the late 1960s.

The Sweets

Born in

Richmond, California Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was municipal corporation, incorporated on August 7, 1905, and has a Richmond, California City Council, city council.

, United States, Taylor began singing with her

sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

Norma and Darlene Flanagan in a trio, The Sweets, who recorded two

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

, "The Richest Girl", for the Valiant

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed dir ...

in 1965 and "Satisfy Me Baby" on the Soul Town label.

Solo career

Taylor's first solo recording, "Think About Me" on the Groovy label, was credited to Florain Taylor. Her greatest success came after signing for

Bob Keane Robert Verrill Kuhn (January 5, 1922 – November 28, 2009), professionally known as Bob Keane, and also sometimes known as Bob Keene, was an American musician, producer and the founder and owner of the record label Del-Fi Records. He was the ...

's Mustang label, a subsidiary of Bronco Records. There she was teamed with the songwriters and record producers,

Barry White Barry Eugene Carter (September 12, 1944 – July 4, 2003), better known by his stage name Barry White, was an American singer and songwriter. A two-time Grammy Award winner known for his bass voice and romantic image, his greatest success came ...

and

Paul Politi Paul Leo Politi (born July 31, 1943) is an American songwriter, famous for his collaboration of over 40 songs with singer and songwriter Barry White. Politi and White collaborated in writing songs including the singer Felice Taylor during the mid ...

, who co-wrote " It May Be Winter Outside (But in My Heart It's Spring)", a minor hit reaching No. 42 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 44 on the R&B

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

in early 1967, and its follow-up " I'm Under the Influence of Love". A third single, "

I Feel Love Comin' On "I Feel Love Comin' On" was a 1967 song that became an international success for the African-American singer Felice Taylor. The song was written and produced by Paul Politi and Barry White, and recorded with musical accompaniment by the Bob Keane O ...

", also written and produced by White and Politi was not released in the US, but reached No. 11 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, when leased to

President Records President Records is a British independent record label. It is one of the oldest independent record companies in the UK, originally launched in 1957 by Edward Kassner. During the 1960s and 1970s the label, and its subsidiary Jay Boy, had hits ...

later in 1967. After leaving Bronco, Taylor recorded for

Kent Records Kent Records was a Los Angeles-based record label, launched in 1958 by the Bihari brothers. It was subsidiary of Crown Records Corporation. Kent was a follow-up to Modern Records which ceased operations in 1958. The label reissued Modern's singles, ...

, and later in the UK with members of

The Equals ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

. In 1973, White's protegées

Love Unlimited Love Unlimited was a female vocal trio that provided backing vocals for American singer-songwriter Barry White on his albums and concert tours. They also found success with their own recordings. Career Formed in 1969, the group included Barry ...

recorded new versions of "It May Be Winter Outside" and "Under the Influence of Love" and Barry White recorded "I Feel Love Comin' On" on the Love Unlimited Orchestra's top ten album ''

Rhapsody in White ''Rhapsody in White'' is the first studio album by the American soul group, The Love Unlimited Orchestra, released in 1974. It was a huge success for the group, who backed and was led by Barry White for many singles such as "I'm Gonna Love You J ...

''. Taylor herself seems not to have recorded after the early 1970s.

Personal life

She was married to Johnny B Taylor and had four children. She died in June 2017, aged 73. She was interred at the

Riverside National Cemetery Riverside National Cemetery (RNC) is a cemetery located in Riverside, California, dedicated to the interment of United States military personnel. The cemetery covers , making it the largest cemetery managed by the National Cemetery Administration ...

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...

Discography

Singles

References

External links

Felice Taylor discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Felice 1944 births 2017 deaths American rhythm and blues singers 20th-century African-American women singers Musicians from Richmond, California Northern soul musicians Singers from California 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women