Theodore Taylor (February 16, 1934 – October 23, 1987) was an American blues singer.

Biography

Taylor was born in

Okmulgee, Oklahoma Okmulgee is a city in, and the county seat of, Okmulgee County, Oklahoma. The name is from the Mvskoke word ''okimulgee,'' which means "boiling waters".Bamburg, Maxine"Okmulgee,"''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''. Accessed June 16 ...

, and moved to

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in 1952. He became a member of the

Mighty Clouds of Joy The Mighty Clouds of Joy are an American traditional gospel music quartet. Joe Ligon Bio: Willie Joe Ligon was born on October 11, 1936, and died on December 11, 2016 (80 years, 2 months). He dedicated his life to Jesus making many hit songs ...

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

group, before joining the Santa Monica Soul Seekers as a

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

singer. In 1955, the Soul Seekers approached

Maxwell Davis Thomas Maxwell Davis, Jr. (January 14, 1916 – September 18, 1970), was an American rhythm and blues saxophonist, arranger, bandleader and record producer. Biography Davis was born in Independence, Kansas in 1916. In 1937, he moved to L ...

at Modern Records for a recording deal, and he persuaded them to concentrate on secular R&B music. The same group recorded as both The Cadets on Modern and The Jacks on the subsidiary RPM label. Taylor sang lead vocals on The Cadets' "Do You Wanna Rock (Hey Little Girl)" and "I Cry" and also on The Jacks' "Away" and "My Darling." He did not appear on The Cadets' biggest hit, "Stranded In The Jungle" in 1955; for that session, he was replaced by Prentice Moreland. Marv Goldberg, "The Jacks/Cadets", ''Marv Goldberg's R&B Notebooks''
Retrieved 21 November 2016 Taylor left the group, and recorded two singles on Melatone Records in 1957 with the Bob Reed orchestra on which he was credited for contractual reasons as "Ivory Lucky". Over the next seven years, he recorded

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

s for a succession of labels including Ebb,

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

, Top Rank International, Laurie (where several of his records were credited to Austin Taylor),

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...

, Gold Eagle, Soncraft, and Apt. Discography, ''SoulfulKindaMusic.com''
Retrieved 21 November 2016 He was influenced by such singers as Little Willie John, Clyde McPhatter and Jackie Wilson. At Duke, he made the first recording of the ballad "Be Ever Wonderful" in 1959. "Ted Taylor", ''SoulWalking.co.uk''
Retrieved 21 November 2016 Although he had several regional hits, and released an album, ''Ted Taylor Sings'', on Warwick in 1963, he did not achieve national commercial success until his 1965 recording on Okeh Records of "Stay Away From My Baby" reached number 14 on the '' Billboard''

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

and number 99 on the

pop chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

, his only national pop chart entry. He also released three albums on Okeh, ''Be Ever Wonderful'' (1963), ''Blues & Soul'' (1965) and ''Ted Taylor's Greatest Hits'' (1966). Ted Taylor Discography, ''Discogs.com''
Retrieved 21 November 2016 After further singles on Okeh, Epic,

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and Jewel, Taylor signed for the Ronn label in 1967. He remained on the label for seven years, and had several further R&B chart hits including " It's Too Late" (1969), "Something Strange is Going On in My House" (1970), and "How's Your Love Life Baby" (1971). He also issued several albums, including ''You Can Dig It!'' and ''Taylor Made'' on Ronn. His final chart hit: "

Steal Away "Steal Away" ("Steal Away to Jesus") is an American Negro spiritual. The song is well known by variations of the chorus: Songs such as "Steal Away to Jesus", "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot", "Wade in the Water" and the " Gospel Train" are songs with ...

", was issued on the

Alarm An alarm device is a mechanism that gives an audible, visual or other kind of alarm signal to alert someone to a problem or condition that requires urgent attention. Alphabetical musical instruments Etymology The word ''alarm'' comes from t ...

label of Shreveport, Louisiana in 1976. He continued to record on his own Solpugids and SPG labels until his death. Colin Larkin, "Ted Taylor", ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music '', ''Oldies.com''
Retrieved 21 November 2016 Taylor died in a car crash in

Lake Charles, Louisiana Lake Charles (French: ''Lac Charles'') is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the parish seat of Calcasieu Parish, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Founded in 1861 in Calcas ...

in 1987, aged 53. Ted Taylorat

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

Discography

Chart singles

Albums

* ''Ted Taylor Sings'' (Warwick #2049) (1961) * ''Be Ever So Wonderful'' (Okeh #12104/14104) (1963) * ''Blues and Soul'' (Okeh #12109/14109) (1965) * ''Greatest Hits'' (Okeh #12113/14113) (1966) * ''Shades of Blue'' (Ronn #LPS-7528) (1969) * ''You Can Dig It!'' (Ronn #LPS-7529) (1970) * ''Taylor Made'' (Ronn #LPS-7531) (1973) * ''The Super Taylors'' (Ronn #LPS-7533) (1973) (with

Little Johnny Taylor Little Johnny Taylor (born Johnny Lamont Merrett; February 11, 1943 – May 17, 2002) was an American blues and soul singer. He made recordings throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and continued public performances through the 1980s and 1990s. ...

) * ''Ted Taylor'' (Alarm #1000) (1976) * ''Keeping My Head Above Water'' (MCA #305) (1978) * ''Keep Walking On'' (Charly #CRB-1011) (France) (1980) ( compilation album) * ''Be Ever So Wonderful'' (Solpugdits #1001) (1985) * ''Taylor Made For You'' (Solpugdits #1002) (1987) * ''Somebody’s Always Trying'' (Mr. R&B #1005) (Sweden) (1987)

Sampling

Taylor's music has been sampled throughout hip-hop. Most notably, Taylor's song "Be Ever Wonderful" was sampled by Ludacris in " Splash Waterfalls" from his 2003, fourth studio album, Chicken-n-Beer. Following that, Taylor's "Be Ever Wonderful" was sampled by Kendrick Lamar in "

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", from his Pulitzer Prize winning 2017, fourth studio album, DAMN. Taylor's song "I Can't Fake It Anymore" from his 1978 album, Keeping My Head Above Water, was sampled by the hip-hop duo

Dead Prez Dead Prez, often stylized as dead prez, is an American hip hop duo composed of stic.man and M-1, formed in 1996 in New York City. They are known for their confrontational style, combined with lyrics focused on both militant social justice, self ...

in their song "The Hood" (sometimes referred to as "For the Hood") from an advance version of their 2004, second studio album, RBG: Revolutionary but Gangsta.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Ted 1934 births 1987 deaths People from Okmulgee, Oklahoma American soul singers Singers from Oklahoma Okeh Records artists Road incident deaths in Louisiana 20th-century American singers The Cadets (group) members 20th-century American male singers