Happy birthday, James Taylor, born on this in 1948.

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About James Taylor

James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.

Taylor achieved his breakthrough in 1970 with the No. 3 single “Fire and Rain” and had his first No. 1 hit in 1971 with his recording of “You’ve Got a Friend”, written by Carole King, in the same year. His 1976 Greatest Hits album was certified Diamond and has sold 11 million copies in the US alone, making it one of the best-selling albums in US history. Following his 1977 album JT, he has retained a large audience over the decades.

Every album that he released from 1977 to 2007 sold over 1 million copies. He enjoyed a resurgence in chart performance during the late 1990s and 2000s, when he recorded some of his most-awarded work (including Hourglass, October Road, and Covers). He achieved his first number-one album in the US in 2015 with Before This World.

Taylor is also known for his covers, such as “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)” and “Handy Man”, as well as originals such as “Sweet Baby James”. He played the leading role in Monte Hellman’s 1971 film Two-Lane Blacktop.

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In a career marked by artistic triumphs, this past year for JAMES TAYLOR has been notable for both creative virtuosity and recognition of exceptional achievement. In March 2011, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama in a ceremony at the White House. The medal is the nation’s highest honor for artistic excellence, recognizing “outstanding achievements and support of the arts.”

Also, this spring, Taylor was honored with a Carnegie Hall Perspectives series, which consisted of four concert evenings presented by Carnegie Hall and featuring Taylor and personally selected musical guests. The first of these concerts was a gala benefit celebrating the 120th anniversary of Carnegie Hall. Three months after the National Medal of Arts ceremony, Taylor returned to the White House to perform for President Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a state dinner held in the Rose Garden. He has just completed a tour of Europe, culminating with a performance in Venice in St. Mark’s Square. Prior to that, he had four sold-out shows at Tanglewood, with a combined audience approaching 100,000 concertgoers.

James Taylor’s music embodies the art of songwriting in its most personal and universal forms. He is a master at describing specific, even autobiographical, situations in a way that resonates with people everywhere. For more than forty years, Taylor has been a compass for his fans, articulating moments of pain and joy, and letting his listeners know that they are not alone.

As a recording and touring artist, Taylor has set a precedent to which countless young musicians have aspired. His warm baritone is among the most recognized voices in popular music, and his distinctive style of guitar-playing has been enormously influential.

He has sold more than 50 million albums throughout his career, beginning in 1968 when he was signed to The Beatles’ Apple Records. In 1971, Taylor was featured on the cover of Time magazine, heralded as the harbinger of the singer-songwriter era. Forty years later, his voice has been a constant in a changing world for his first generation of fans and their children.

His songs have had a profound influence on songwriters and music lovers from all walks of life: “Fire and Rain,” “Country Road,” “Something in the Way She Moves,” “Mexico,” “Shower the People,” “Your Smiling Face,” “Carolina In My Mind,” “Sweet Baby James,” “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight,” “You Can Close Your Eyes,” “Walking Man,” “Never Die Young,” “Shed a Little Light,” “Copperline,” “Enough to be On Your Way,” “Caroline I See You,” and many more.

He has earned forty gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards and five Grammy Awards for a catalog that runs from James Taylor (1968) and Sweet Baby James (1970) to Hourglass (1997) and October Road (2002). His first Greatest Hits album earned the Recording Industry Association of America’s elite Diamond Award, given for sales in excess of 10 million units in the United States. For his artistic accomplishments, Taylor was honored with the 1998 Century Award, Billboard magazine’s highest accolade, bestowed for distinguished creative achievement.

Taylor released his breakthrough album Sweet Baby James in 1970. It went triple-platinum and spawned his first Top 10 hit, the intensely personal “Fire and Rain.” The following year saw the release of another million-seller, Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon, with the No. 1 single “You’ve Got a Friend,” written by his longtime friend Carole King. The recording won a Grammy Award in 1971 for Best Pop Male Vocal. In 1972, Taylor scored another gold album with One Man Dog, followed up in 1973 with Walking Man.

The album Gorilla (1975) included two more major chart entries: “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” and “Mexico.” Following his final Warner Brothers recording, In the Pocket, Taylor moved on to Columbia Records and released a string of critically praised and commercially successful albums: JT, his 1977 double-platinum Columbia debut; Flag (1979); Dad Loves His Work (1981); That’s Why I’m Here (1985); Never Die Young (1988); New Moon Shine (1991); the double-disc Live album (1993); Hourglass (1998), garnering Taylor his first Grammy Award for Best Pop Album; and October Road (2002)—all certified platinum.

The year 2000 saw Taylor’s induction into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the prestigious Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences selected him as its MusiCares Person of the Year in 2006, and his One-Man Band (2007) was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Special. In 2008, Taylor released Covers and Other Covers which features Taylor’s full band and is his own musical interpretation of tunes from the 50s, 60s and 70s. In May 2010, Taylor released the Live at the Troubadour CD/DVD of his November 2007 live performance with Carole King at the Troubadour nightclub in Los Angeles.

Their subsequent Troubadour Reunion tour was one of the most successful concert tours of the decade. Most recently, Morgan Neville’s acclaimed documentary, Troubadours: The Rise of the Singer-Songwriter, was nominated for the Jury Prize at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and was recently broadcast on PBS as part of its prestigious American Masters series.

James Taylor has received honorary doctorates of music from Williams College and the Berklee School of Music. Raised in North Carolina, he now lives in western Massachusetts with his wife Caroline and their sons Henry and Rufus.

James Taylor discography

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James Taylor – You’ve Got A Friend (Ohne Filter, March 27, 1986)

Ohne Filter was a popular music program run by the German public TV station SWF from 1983 to 2001. The show featured international pop and rock artists, who would typically play a 45-minute set in front of a live audience in a TV studio. This Ohne Filter James Taylor special was recorded on March 27, 1986, and first broadcast on January 2, 1987.

Program: Ohne Filter extra: James Taylor und Band Director: Harald Schäfer Presenter: Frank Laufenberg Concert Recording: 1986, SWF-Studio Baden-Baden Production: SWF, now SWF, 1987 licensed via SWR Media Services GmbH Band: Arnold McCuller (vocals), Rosemary Butler (vocals), Carlos Vega (drums), Lee Sklar (bass), Dan Dugmore (pedal steel) Bill Payne (keyboards).

LYRICS
You’ve Got A Friend by Carole King

When you’re down and troubled
And you need some loving care
And nothing
Oh, nothing is going right

Just close your eyes and think of me
Yes, and soon I will be there
To brighten up
Oh, even your darkest nights

You just call out my name
And you know wherever I am
I’ll come running
To see you again

It’s winter, spring, summer or fall
Now all you got to do is call on me
And I will be there, yeah, yes, I’ll be there
You’ve got a friend

If the sky high above you
Should grow dark and full of clouds
And that old cold north wind
Should begin to blow

Just keep your poor head together now
And call my name out loud, you know
Pretty soon
I’ll be knocking on your door

You just call out my name
And you know wherever I am
I’ll come running
To see you again

It’s winter, spring summer or fall
Really, all you got to do is call
And I’ll be there
You know I’ll be there

Oh, ain’t it good to know that you’ve got a friend
When people can be so cold
They’ll hurt you, yes, and desert you
Well, they’ll take your soul if you let them
But don’t you let them

You just call out my name
And you know wherever I am
I’ll come running like as fast as I can
To see you again

Oh, yes, don’t you know about that

Winter, spring, summer or fall
Oh, all you’ve got to do is call
And I will be there
Yeah, yes, I’ll be there

You’ve got a friend
You’ve got a friend
Ain’t it good to know that you’ve got a friend
Walking and talking and everything friend
Well, I said everybody here tonight in Pittsfield
No matter how low you may go sometimes
Ought to take some consolation in one thing, oh, yeah
Ain’t it good to know
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
You’ve got a friend