Chip Taylor
Encyclopedia
James Wesley Voight better known by his stage name
as Chip Taylor, is an American songwriter
, who is noted for writing the songs "Angel of the Morning
" and "Wild Thing." He is the brother of actor Jon Voight
and geologist Barry Voight. He is the uncle of actress Angelina Jolie
and actor James Haven.
.
in White Plains, New York
. After an unsuccessful attempt to become a professional golfer
, Taylor entered the music business, writing pop and rock songs, both alone and with other songwriters, including Al Gorgoni (as the duo Just Us
), Billy Vera
, Ted Daryll, and Jerry Ragovoy
.
for The Troggs
and a 1967 live performance
by Jimi Hendrix
, and "Angel of the Morning
," a hit for Merrilee Rush
in 1968, and then a million-selling single in 1981 for country-pop singer Juice Newton
. Other notable pop and country songs written by Talor include "He Sits at Your Table" (Willie Nelson
), "I Can't Let Go
" (Evie Sands
), "The Baby" (The Hollies
), "Worry" (Johnny Tillotson
), "Make Me Belong to You"(Barbara Lewis
), "I Can Make It With You" (The Pozo Seco Singers, Jackie DeShannon
), "Any Way That You Want Me" (The Troggs, Evie Sands
, Juice Newton), "Step Out of Your Mind", "Country Girl City Man" (Billy Vera
and Judy Clay
), "I'll Hold Out My Hand", "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)" (Janis Joplin
), "Julie" (Bobby Fuller Four
), "Lonely Is As Lonely Does" (The Fleetwoods
), "Sweet Dream Woman" (Waylon Jennings
), "A Little Bit Later On Down the Line" (Bobby Bare) and "Son of a Rotten Gambler" (Emmylou Harris
, the Hollies
, Anne Murray
).
In 2009, Ace Records
released a compilation CD of some of Taylor's compositions as recorded by other artists (Wild Thing: The Songs of Chip Taylor)
, Columbia
, and Capitol
. His most popular recording is Last Chance, on Warner Bros. In the mid-1970s, Taylor gave up the music business for a career as a professional gambler specializing in blackjack
and horse-racing handicapping. But the year 1980 saw Taylor make an appearance in the film Melvin and Howard
.
in 2001, Chip met singer and violinist Carrie Rodriguez
, with whom he performed and recorded Americana
music for several years. The duo recorded Let's Leave This Town in 2002. They released The Trouble With Humans the following year and the critically acclaimed Red Dog Tracks in 2005. Each has since released successful solo albums. Taylor's double-CD Unglorious Hallelujah/Red Red Rose, his first solo album in five years, was quickly hailed as "a future classic" by Sonic Magazine, whose reviewer declared: "This is the best we've heard from Chip Taylor so far." Rodriguez's solo album, Seven Angels on a Bicycle, was released in August 2006. In late 2006 and early 2007, Rodriguez toured on her own but continued to perform with Taylor from time to time.
Taylor has also performed with alt-country singer-songwriter Robbie Fulks
, playing bass for Fulks's January 2004 date at Double Door
in Chicago. Taylor has done a series of shows with guitarist John Platania and the young singer/fiddler Kendel Carson
, and he produced both their 2007 albums. In addition, the reggae rap star Shaggy
utilized "Angel of the Morning
" as the basis for his hit "Angel" in 2001. The song also used the bass line of the Steve Miller
song "The Joker
". Both Taylor and Miller received co-writing credit for the song, which became Taylor's second No. 1 hit on the Billboard pop charts, some 35 years after "Wild Thing". "Angel of the Morning
" has sold over 13 million copies worldwide.
Chip Taylor´s album "Yonkers, NY" was in 2011 nominee for Grammy Award
, for best recording package but lost to "Brothers" by The Black Keys.
, Train Wreck Records.
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
as Chip Taylor, is an American songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, who is noted for writing the songs "Angel of the Morning
Angel of the Morning
"Angel of the Morning" is a popular song that has been recorded numerous times, and has been a charting hit single for several artists including Juice Newton, Merrilee Rush, Nina Simone, P.P...
" and "Wild Thing." He is the brother of actor Jon Voight
Jon Voight
Jonathan Vincent "Jon" Voight is an American actor. He has received an Academy Award, out of four nominations, and three Golden Globe Awards, out of nine nominations. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie....
and geologist Barry Voight. He is the uncle of actress Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...
and actor James Haven.
Family background
The Voight brothers—Barry, Jonathan, and James Wesley—could trace their roots to Germany and SlovakiaSlovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
.
Early career
Taylor attended Archbishop Stepinac High SchoolArchbishop Stepinac High School
Archbishop Stepinac High School is an all-boys Roman Catholic high school in White Plains, New York, that was operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York until the 2009-2010 school year when it became independent...
in White Plains, New York
White Plains, New York
White Plains is a city and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in south-central Westchester, about east of the Hudson River and northwest of Long Island Sound...
. After an unsuccessful attempt to become a professional golfer
Professional golfer
In golf the distinction between amateurs and professionals is rigorously maintained. An amateur who breaches the rules of amateur status may lose his or her amateur status. A golfer who has lost his or her amateur status may not play in amateur competitions until amateur status has been reinstated;...
, Taylor entered the music business, writing pop and rock songs, both alone and with other songwriters, including Al Gorgoni (as the duo Just Us
Just Us (duo)
Just Us was an American pop duo, consisting of songwriter Chip Taylor and session musician, Al Gorgoni. They released an album for Kapp Records in 1966 entitled I Can't Grow Peaches on a Cherry Tree. The title track was a hit single in the US, peaking at #3 on the Adult Contemporary chart and #34...
), Billy Vera
Billy Vera
Billy Vera is an American singer, actor, writer and music historian.-Life and career:Vera was born in Riverside, California. He began his singing career in 1962 as a member of the Resolutions. He went on to write several songs throughout the early 1960s, writing for the likes of Barbara Lewis,...
, Ted Daryll, and Jerry Ragovoy
Jerry Ragovoy
Jordan "Jerry" Ragovoy was an American songwriter and record producer.His best-known composition "Time Is on My Side" was made famous by The Rolling Stones, although it had been recorded earlier by Kai Winding and Irma Thomas...
.
As "tune tailor"
Taylor's best-known songs are "Wild Thing," which, though originally recorded in 1965 by Jordan Christopher & The Wild Ones, became famous as both a 1966 hit singleHit single
A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
for The Troggs
The Troggs
The Troggs are an English rock band from the 1960s that had a number of hits in UK and the US. Their most famous songs include, "Wild Thing", "With a Girl Like You", and "Love Is All Around"...
and a 1967 live performance
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
by Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, and "Angel of the Morning
Angel of the Morning
"Angel of the Morning" is a popular song that has been recorded numerous times, and has been a charting hit single for several artists including Juice Newton, Merrilee Rush, Nina Simone, P.P...
," a hit for Merrilee Rush
Merrilee Rush
-Career:As a girl, Merrilee studied classical piano for 10 years. In 1960, Rush auditioned for a band, directed by her first husband, that played sock hops. Next, she was part of Merrilee and Her Men, doing covers of male pop hits. Then she joined a Seattle rhythm and blues group called Tiny Tony...
in 1968, and then a million-selling single in 1981 for country-pop singer Juice Newton
Juice Newton
Judith Kay "Juice" Newton is an American Pop music and Country singer, songwriter and guitarist...
. Other notable pop and country songs written by Talor include "He Sits at Your Table" (Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
), "I Can't Let Go
I Can't Let Go
"I Can't Let Go" is The Hollies' first 1966 single, and the final single to feature the band's original bassist Eric Haydock. It went to #2 in the UK but only #42 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. The song was co-written by Chip Taylor, who also wrote "Wild Thing" and is actor Jon Voight's brother...
" (Evie Sands
Evie Sands
Evie Sands is a Brooklyn-born singer, songwriter and guitarist, whose career began as a young teenager in the mid-1960s...
), "The Baby" (The Hollies
The Hollies
The Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s...
), "Worry" (Johnny Tillotson
Johnny Tillotson
Johnny Tillotson is an American singer and songwriter. He enjoyed his greatest success in the early 1960s, when he scored 9 top-ten hits on the pop, country and adult contemporary billboard charts including "Poetry In Motion" and the self-penned "It Keeps Right On A-Hurtin'"...
), "Make Me Belong to You"(Barbara Lewis
Barbara Lewis
Barbara Lewis , is an American singer and songwriter whose smooth style influenced rhythm and blues.-Career:Lewis was born in Salem, near Ann Arbor, Michigan...
), "I Can Make It With You" (The Pozo Seco Singers, Jackie DeShannon
Jackie DeShannon
Jackie DeShannon is an American singer-songwriter with a string of hit song credits from the 1960s onwards. She was one of the first female singer-songwriters of the rock 'n' roll period.- Life and early career :...
), "Any Way That You Want Me" (The Troggs, Evie Sands
Evie Sands
Evie Sands is a Brooklyn-born singer, songwriter and guitarist, whose career began as a young teenager in the mid-1960s...
, Juice Newton), "Step Out of Your Mind", "Country Girl City Man" (Billy Vera
Billy Vera
Billy Vera is an American singer, actor, writer and music historian.-Life and career:Vera was born in Riverside, California. He began his singing career in 1962 as a member of the Resolutions. He went on to write several songs throughout the early 1960s, writing for the likes of Barbara Lewis,...
and Judy Clay
Judy Clay
Judy Clay was an American soul and gospel singer, who achieved greatest success as a member of two recording duos in the 1960s.-Life:...
), "I'll Hold Out My Hand", "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)" (Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
), "Julie" (Bobby Fuller Four
Bobby Fuller
Robert Gaston "Bobby" Fuller was an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitar player best known for his singles "I Fought the Law" and "Love's Made a Fool of You," recorded with his mid-1960s group, the Bobby Fuller Four....
), "Lonely Is As Lonely Does" (The Fleetwoods
The Fleetwoods
The Fleetwoods were a singing trio from Olympia, Washington, United States; formed in the late 1950s. They were responsible for eleven hit songs, beginning with "Come Softly to Me"...
), "Sweet Dream Woman" (Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing at eight. He began performing at twelve, on KVOW radio. Jennings formed a band The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J on KVOW, KDAV and KLLL...
), "A Little Bit Later On Down the Line" (Bobby Bare) and "Son of a Rotten Gambler" (Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
, the Hollies
The Hollies
The Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s...
, Anne Murray
Anne Murray
Morna Anne Murray CC, ONS is a Canadian singer in pop, country and adult contemporary styles whose albums have sold over 54 million copies....
).
In 2009, Ace Records
Ace Records (UK)
Ace Records Ltd. was started in 1978. Initially the company only gained permission from the label based in Mississippi to use the name in the UK, but eventually also acquired the rights to publish their recordings. When Chiswick's pop side was licensed to EMI in 1984, Ace switched to more licensing...
released a compilation CD of some of Taylor's compositions as recorded by other artists (Wild Thing: The Songs of Chip Taylor)
On his own
Taylor has released recordings on Warner Bros.Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, Columbia
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, and Capitol
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
. His most popular recording is Last Chance, on Warner Bros. In the mid-1970s, Taylor gave up the music business for a career as a professional gambler specializing in blackjack
Blackjack
Blackjack, also known as Twenty-one or Vingt-et-un , is the most widely played casino banking game in the world...
and horse-racing handicapping. But the year 1980 saw Taylor make an appearance in the film Melvin and Howard
Melvin and Howard
Melvin and Howard is a 1980 American comedy-drama film directed by Jonathan Demme. The screenplay by Bo Goldman was inspired by real-life Utah service station owner Melvin Dummar, who was listed as the beneficiary of USD$156 million in a will allegedly handwritten by Howard Hughes that was...
.
Performing career
Taylor restarted his performing and recording career in 1993. At a South by Southwest Music Conference in Austin, TexasAustin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
in 2001, Chip met singer and violinist Carrie Rodriguez
Carrie Rodriguez
Carrie Luz Rodriguez is a Mexican-American singer-songwriter and the daughter of Texan singer-songwriter David Rodriguez and well-known Texas painter Katy Nail, and is the granddaughter of prolific Texas essayist Frances Nail. She sings and plays the fiddle, mandobird and tenor guitar...
, with whom he performed and recorded Americana
Americana (music)
Americana is an amalgam of roots musics formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the American musical ethos; specifically those sounds that are merged from folk, country, blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll and other external influential styles...
music for several years. The duo recorded Let's Leave This Town in 2002. They released The Trouble With Humans the following year and the critically acclaimed Red Dog Tracks in 2005. Each has since released successful solo albums. Taylor's double-CD Unglorious Hallelujah/Red Red Rose, his first solo album in five years, was quickly hailed as "a future classic" by Sonic Magazine, whose reviewer declared: "This is the best we've heard from Chip Taylor so far." Rodriguez's solo album, Seven Angels on a Bicycle, was released in August 2006. In late 2006 and early 2007, Rodriguez toured on her own but continued to perform with Taylor from time to time.
Taylor has also performed with alt-country singer-songwriter Robbie Fulks
Robbie Fulks
Robbie Fulks is an American alternative country artist originally from Pennsylvania but who is a longtime Chicago, Illinois resident...
, playing bass for Fulks's January 2004 date at Double Door
Double Door
Double Door is a concert hall and nightclub located at 1572 N. Milwaukee Avenue, in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. The venue was first opened on June 12, 1994, and is co-owned by Andy Barrett, Sean Mulroney and Joe Shanahan...
in Chicago. Taylor has done a series of shows with guitarist John Platania and the young singer/fiddler Kendel Carson
Kendel Carson
Kendel Carson is a Canadian singer and fiddler. She performs with the folk music band The Paperboys, but is best-known internationally as a roots/country solo artist....
, and he produced both their 2007 albums. In addition, the reggae rap star Shaggy
Shaggy (musician)
Orville Richard Burrell , better known by his stage name Shaggy, is a Jamaican-American reggae singer and rapper. He is perhaps best known for his 1995 single "Boombastic" and 2000 single "It Wasn't Me"...
utilized "Angel of the Morning
Angel of the Morning
"Angel of the Morning" is a popular song that has been recorded numerous times, and has been a charting hit single for several artists including Juice Newton, Merrilee Rush, Nina Simone, P.P...
" as the basis for his hit "Angel" in 2001. The song also used the bass line of the Steve Miller
Steve Miller (musician)
Steven H. "Steve" Miller is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter who began his career in blues and blues rock and evolved to a more popular-oriented sound which, from the mid 1970s through the early 1980s, resulted in a series of successful singles and albums.-Early years:Born in Milwaukee,...
song "The Joker
The Joker (song)
"The Joker" is a song by the Steve Miller Band from their 1973 album The Joker. The song is one of two Steve Miller Band songs that feature the neologism "pompatus". The song topped the US Billboard Hot 100 in early 1974. It draws heavy influence from the Allen Toussaint's song Soul Sister featured...
". Both Taylor and Miller received co-writing credit for the song, which became Taylor's second No. 1 hit on the Billboard pop charts, some 35 years after "Wild Thing". "Angel of the Morning
Angel of the Morning
"Angel of the Morning" is a popular song that has been recorded numerous times, and has been a charting hit single for several artists including Juice Newton, Merrilee Rush, Nina Simone, P.P...
" has sold over 13 million copies worldwide.
Chip Taylor´s album "Yonkers, NY" was in 2011 nominee for Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
, for best recording package but lost to "Brothers" by The Black Keys.
Train Wreck Records
In 2007, Taylor launched his own independent labelIndependent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
, Train Wreck Records.
Albums
| Year | Album | US Country | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Gorgoni, Martin & Taylor | — | Buddha |
| 1971 | Gasoline | — | Buddha |
| 1973 | Chip Taylor's Last Chance | — | Warner Bros. |
| 1974 | Some of Us | — | |
| 1975 | This Side of the Big River | 36 | |
| 1976 | Somebody Shoot Out the Jukebox | — | CBS |
| 1979 | Saint Sebastian | — | Capitol |
| 1996 | Hit Man | — | |
| 1997 | Living Room Tapes | — | |
| 1999 | Seven Days In May... A Love Story | — | |
| 2000 | London Sessions Bootleg | — | |
| 2001 | Black & Blue America | — | |
| 2002 | Let's Leave This Town | — | Lone Star |
| 2003 | The Trouble With Humans | — | Lone Star |
| 2005 | Red Dog Tracks | — | |
| 2006 | Unglorious Hallelujah | — | Back Porch Music |
| 2007 | Live from the Ruhr Triennale | — | MRI |
| 2008 | New Songs of Freedom | — | Megaforce |
| 2008 | Songs From a Dutch Tour | — | Train Wreck |
| 2009 | Yonkers NY | — | Train Wreck |
Compilations
| Year | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Angels & Gamblers: Best of 1971-1979 | Raven Records |
| 2010 | James Wesley Days Best of 99-10 | Rootsy / Train Wreck |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
CAN Country | |||
| 1973 | "101 In Cashbox" | Chip Taylor's Last Chance | ||
| 1975 | "Me As I Am" | 80 | — | Some of Us |
| "Early Sunday Morning" | 28 | 41 | ||
| "Big River" | 61 | — | This Side of the Big River | |
| 1976 | "Circle of Tears" | 92 | — | |
| 1977 | "Hello Atlanta" (with Ghost Train) | 93 | — | Somebody Shoot Out the Jukebox |