Biography
Chip Taylor seems destined to remain identified above all as the composer behind "Wild Thing" and "Angel of the Morning." Born James Wesley Voight, with actor Jon Voight as his older brother, he started performing country music while still attending high school in Yonkers, New York. After graduation he followed his father into professional golf for a short period, only to suffer a wrist injury that prompted his return to music. In 1962 he signed with Warner Bros., and his single "Here I Am" peaked just below the Billboard Hot 100 that November.
Greater success arrived through songwriting, beginning with his first hit, "I Can't Let Go," co-written with Al Gorgoni and recorded by the Hollies for a chart entry in March 1966. Linda Ronstadt later revived the song for a Top 40 placement in 1980. The plain yet indelible "Wild Thing" followed, cut by the British band the Troggs, who took it to number one in July and turned it into a widely covered standard. Comedian Bill Minkin's parody under the name "Senator Bobby" reached the Top 40 in January 1967, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience included the song in its Monterey Pop Festival set that June.
Taylor kept delivering additional hits during the same stretch: "Make Me Belong to You," co-written with Billy Vera, reached the Top 40 for Barbara Lewis in August 1966; both the Pozo-Seco Singers and Jackie DeShannon recorded "I Can Make It with You," though only the Pozo-Seco Singers' version made the Top 40 in October 1966; the American Breed scored a Top 40 entry with "Step Out of Your Mind" in July 1967; and Billy Vera & Judy Clay reached the Top 40 in March 1968 with "Country Girl City Man," co-written with Ted Daryll. His second enduring composition, however, was the ballad "Angel of the Morning," which addressed premarital sex and tested prevailing limits of pop lyric content. Merrilee Rush & the Turnabouts recorded it, sending the track into the Top Ten in June 1968; Juice Newton later revived it for a second Top Ten showing in 1981 and earned a gold record. With Gorgoni, Taylor wrote "I'll Hold Out My Hand," which the Clique turned into a Top 40 hit in December 1969. That same year Janis Joplin recorded Taylor and Jerry Ragavoy's "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)" and placed it as the opening track on her debut solo album, I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!
Taylor never abandoned his own performing ambitions. He and Gorgoni first recorded as Just Us, after which Taylor issued a series of solo albums throughout the 1970s, among them This Side of the Big River, which charted on the country albums list in 1975 along with five of his singles between 1975 and 1977. His catalog also found traction in Nashville, where "Sweet Dream Woman," co-written with Gorgoni, reached the country Top Ten for Waylon Jennings in 1972 and Anne Murray's version of "Son of a Rotten Gambler" hit the country Top Ten in 1974. Even so, Taylor eventually left the music industry to pursue professional gambling, staying away until 1993, when he joined a national songwriters' tour. He issued the new album The Living Room Tapes in 1997, then Seven Days in May in 1998, The London Sessions Bootleg in 2000, Black and Blue America in 2001, and the collaboration with Carrie Rodriguez titled Let's Leave This Town in 2002. The 2008 mini-album sampler New Songs of Freedom drew tracks from several active recording projects. Also released that year was the elaborately packaged Songs from a Dutch Tour, which paired an autobiographically focused trade paperback with a fresh CD of new recordings. Taylor extended the autobiographical thread with his 2009 album Yonkers, NY, an earthy set of new songs and spoken stories centered on his hometown and family.
In 2011 Taylor returned with Rock and Roll Joe: A Tribute to the Unsung Heroes of Rock n' Roll, a covers collection recorded with John Platania and Kendel Carson. Ever unpredictable, he changed direction again that year, releasing his first children's album, Golden Kids Rules, on Smithsonian Folkways with assistance from his three granddaughters. His output accelerated further, yielding five additional albums across the next five years, among them the 2012 release F**k All the Perfect People, 2014's The Little Prayers Trilogy, and 2016's Little Brothers, all issued on his Train Wreck label. The run continued in February 2017 with A Song I Can Live With, which included contributions from multi-instrumentalist Goran Grini, guitarist and longtime associate John Platania, and pedal steel guitarist Greg Leisz.
Greater success arrived through songwriting, beginning with his first hit, "I Can't Let Go," co-written with Al Gorgoni and recorded by the Hollies for a chart entry in March 1966. Linda Ronstadt later revived the song for a Top 40 placement in 1980. The plain yet indelible "Wild Thing" followed, cut by the British band the Troggs, who took it to number one in July and turned it into a widely covered standard. Comedian Bill Minkin's parody under the name "Senator Bobby" reached the Top 40 in January 1967, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience included the song in its Monterey Pop Festival set that June.
Taylor kept delivering additional hits during the same stretch: "Make Me Belong to You," co-written with Billy Vera, reached the Top 40 for Barbara Lewis in August 1966; both the Pozo-Seco Singers and Jackie DeShannon recorded "I Can Make It with You," though only the Pozo-Seco Singers' version made the Top 40 in October 1966; the American Breed scored a Top 40 entry with "Step Out of Your Mind" in July 1967; and Billy Vera & Judy Clay reached the Top 40 in March 1968 with "Country Girl City Man," co-written with Ted Daryll. His second enduring composition, however, was the ballad "Angel of the Morning," which addressed premarital sex and tested prevailing limits of pop lyric content. Merrilee Rush & the Turnabouts recorded it, sending the track into the Top Ten in June 1968; Juice Newton later revived it for a second Top Ten showing in 1981 and earned a gold record. With Gorgoni, Taylor wrote "I'll Hold Out My Hand," which the Clique turned into a Top 40 hit in December 1969. That same year Janis Joplin recorded Taylor and Jerry Ragavoy's "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)" and placed it as the opening track on her debut solo album, I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!
Taylor never abandoned his own performing ambitions. He and Gorgoni first recorded as Just Us, after which Taylor issued a series of solo albums throughout the 1970s, among them This Side of the Big River, which charted on the country albums list in 1975 along with five of his singles between 1975 and 1977. His catalog also found traction in Nashville, where "Sweet Dream Woman," co-written with Gorgoni, reached the country Top Ten for Waylon Jennings in 1972 and Anne Murray's version of "Son of a Rotten Gambler" hit the country Top Ten in 1974. Even so, Taylor eventually left the music industry to pursue professional gambling, staying away until 1993, when he joined a national songwriters' tour. He issued the new album The Living Room Tapes in 1997, then Seven Days in May in 1998, The London Sessions Bootleg in 2000, Black and Blue America in 2001, and the collaboration with Carrie Rodriguez titled Let's Leave This Town in 2002. The 2008 mini-album sampler New Songs of Freedom drew tracks from several active recording projects. Also released that year was the elaborately packaged Songs from a Dutch Tour, which paired an autobiographically focused trade paperback with a fresh CD of new recordings. Taylor extended the autobiographical thread with his 2009 album Yonkers, NY, an earthy set of new songs and spoken stories centered on his hometown and family.
In 2011 Taylor returned with Rock and Roll Joe: A Tribute to the Unsung Heroes of Rock n' Roll, a covers collection recorded with John Platania and Kendel Carson. Ever unpredictable, he changed direction again that year, releasing his first children's album, Golden Kids Rules, on Smithsonian Folkways with assistance from his three granddaughters. His output accelerated further, yielding five additional albums across the next five years, among them the 2012 release F**k All the Perfect People, 2014's The Little Prayers Trilogy, and 2016's Little Brothers, all issued on his Train Wreck label. The run continued in February 2017 with A Song I Can Live With, which included contributions from multi-instrumentalist Goran Grini, guitarist and longtime associate John Platania, and pedal steel guitarist Greg Leisz.
Albums
