R&B Male Vocalist - Gary Taylor * Morning Crew Music, Inc.

Gary Taylor - Biography by Steven Ivory

Gary Taylor routinely does something I'd say most recording artists don't even have the luxury of dreaming about: He creates music entirely on his terms.

When he sits down at the keyboard, he's not thinking of writing a radio smash, because few radio stations play "real" music anymore. He's not thinking of a chart record, because most music charts are driven by something strange and sinister beyond mere listener appeal. No, when Gary writes, the only voice he feels obligated to listen to, is his heart. This is how he makes music.

If you're holding anyone of his albums, then you probably dig a certain kind of music. You probably embrace Stevie Wonder of the "Music Of My Mind" era, or Donny Hathaway.

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You understand the cream Burt Bacharach, and Hal David stirred when they whipped up all that divine, sassy space music with Dionne Warwick.

You love the delicious crescendo on Earth, Wind & Fire's "Love's Holiday", you turn up the volume for the last intense seconds of Stevie's "That Girl" savouring every run of his ad-lib at the end…

Gary’s discography reads like a who's who of the music industry: Anita Baker, George Clinton, The Whispers, Vesta Williams, LaLah Hathaway, Vanessa Williams and Grover Washington, Jr., even A Tribe Called Quest, all came calling for the songs. Before the fiercely independent, never-say-die Taylor became a record company.

So who is this man behind the shadows, the man penning lyrics of love lost and found? That's not such an easy question to answer and he likes it that way.

Gary Taylor who is probably best known for the song "Tease Me", (which was the introduction for LA late night jock Eazy Wiggin's Mood for Love on the now defunct KACE) is the second of six children born in Compton CA. His parents, being of Dominican and Belizean heritage, Gary grew up in a house filled with all kinds of music. He cites Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder as his musical inspirations.

"What I loved about Donny and Stevie is that they could sing soft and get you to understand the same level of intensity as Teddy Pendergrass" says Gary. He loathes to talk about his personal life, so here's the skinny. He worked at a Grocery before deciding to take the plunge and live the life of an artist. He's been married and divorced twice, he has a son in medical school and a daughter whom he calls his best friend.

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He boxes to keep in shape and adores the sport. Does he want a woman in his life? The answer is yes, if she has her own life and doesn't interfere with an artist in the midst of the creative process.

Gary and I used to write together. What that really means is I'd sit late into the night and listen while he searched tirelessly, trying to squeeze just one more spooky, sexy chord out of his Fender Rhodes.

Needless to say, the collaboration was brief. But it afforded me a front row seat to witness Gary's will and growth as a songwriter.

Back then, I used to call Gary "Vamp King" for his propensity for three minute songs with trance-like vamps that would go on about two days. We'd study his latest creation where we always listened to the music -in his car- and promptly slip into a sublime, chord-induced coma.

The day they let Taylor have synthesized strings will live in infamy. He'd lay smooth, warm "sleep" (as we called it) over one of his chordy arrangements. The result would be surreal, stark, tantalizing, soothing. Like sucking on a Dreamcicle…

With these tracks serving as his vibrant, moody canvas, Gary would then lyrically paint some of the most revealing and sensitive portraits of people,love and relationships, testimonials you would ever expect to hear from a quiet, introspective (but insanely funny when you get to know him) cat like Gary.

All this was a long time ago, when Gary was just beginning to carve out a career as a recording artist and producer.

Today Gary's music still intoxicates. The words still tug at the heart and the chords still melt in my mouth. Thank God some things never change, or to take the really corny route and quote Taylor by way of The Whispers, it simply "Just Gets Better With Time."

Steven Ivory,
Music Journalist / Author

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