Gary Taylor

Gary Taylor charted just five singles on Billboard’s R&B survey between 1983 and 1991, yet he remains a revered figure among devoted fans of textured, understated R&B for his quiet-storm ballads and unhurried grooves. A native of Los Angeles, he supplied material to Platypus, Executive, and Michael Wycoff before securing his own deal with A&M. Recording under the name G.T., he issued a self-titled debut album in 1983 whose loose-boogie single “On the Line” climbed to number 33 on the R&B chart. After that release he resumed writing and producing for other acts, most notably the Whispers; on their album Just Gets Better with Time he wrote, produced, arranged, performed, and sang the title track, which fell just short of the R&B Top Ten, and he also contributed background vocals to the larger hit “Rock Steady.”

His breakthrough as a solo artist arrived in 1988 with the Virgin album Compassion. The track “Tease Me” quickly established itself as a quiet-storm favorite, while that same year he composed “Good Love,” one of the standout cuts on Anita Baker’s multi-platinum album Giving You the Best That I Got. Throughout the following decade he completed four additional albums, established the Morning Crew imprint, and placed songs with Mac Band, Lalah Hathaway, and Jennifer Holliday. Square One (1993), named for a composition he had earlier given to Ray Parker, Jr., stands as the strongest of those releases; “A.P.B.” ranks among several tracks that might have achieved greater commercial notice.

Although his output slowed in subsequent years, Taylor continued to connect with listeners through Under the Nightlight (2001), Eclectic Bohemian (2003), and Retro Blackness (2006), all issued domestically on Morning Crew.