Margo Guryan's professional journey opened ten years before her celebrated 1968 sunshine pop album Take a Picture, when she worked as a jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Hearing the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" sparked her interest in pop songwriting and led to the enchanting single "Sunday Morning," later a hit for Spanky & Our Gang, Oliver, and assorted other artists. Her own recording of the track formed the centerpiece of Take a Picture, which gradually earned status as a revered cult favorite among listeners over following decades. Afterward she withdrew from the spotlight to concentrate on behind-the-scenes roles as songwriter, producer, and eventually teacher. Although her commercial phase proved brief, her catalog gained fresh traction in the 1990s once several notable indie pop groups began championing her material. The revival persisted into the new century with the archival collection 25 Demos, issued in multiple editions across fifteen years, alongside a classical album she recorded during that span. Several years after her passing in 2021, the Numero Group assembled most of her recordings into the expansive Words and Music box set.
Raised in a New York suburb, Guryan started piano lessons in first grade and continued through high school before enrolling at Boston University. While she pursued classical studies, jazz had already captured her attention during her teenage years. Reluctant to perform, she changed her major from piano performance—thereby avoiding a required senior recital—to composition during her sophomore year. Her early pop and jazz pieces quickly attracted notice; Chris Connor became the first artist to record one of them, releasing "Moon Ride" on Atlantic in 1957. The summer after college graduation, Guryan attended the three-week Lenox School of Jazz in Massachusetts, sharing classes with fellow students Ornette Coleman and Gary McFarland while the faculty included Bill Evans, John Lewis, Milt Jackson, Jim Hall, Max Roach, and Gunther Schuller. Upon completion Lewis and Schuller placed her under contract with MJQ Music and commissioned a vocal adaptation of Coleman's "Lonely Woman."
Through the mid-1960s Guryan remained focused on classical and jazz until her friend Dave Frishburg played her the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows," an encounter that redirected her creative focus. She immersed herself in pop and rock records and adjusted her songwriting approach accordingly. After assembling a set of originals, jazz producer Creed Taylor arranged an introduction to April-Blackwood, Columbia's publishing arm; manager David Rosner, later her husband, then supported the recording of an album. Take a Picture appeared on Bell Records in 1968, by which point Spanky & Our Gang had already scored a hit with "Sunday Morning." Critics responded favorably, yet her aversion to live performance limited broader exposure.
Songwriting nevertheless proved fruitful. Claudine Longet, Jackie DeShannon, and Astrud Gilberto each issued versions of "Think of Rain," while Dion and Harry Nilsson cut unreleased renditions. Oliver scored a hit with "Sunday Morning," and further covers came from Julie London, Bobbie Gentry, and Glen Campbell. Additional placements reached Carmen McRae, the Lennon Sisters, and Mama Cass Elliot.
Guryan sustained her compositional work through the close of the 1960s and into the 1970s. After relocating to Los Angeles with her husband she attempted topical material and even one disco experiment, yet her affinity for contemporary styles diminished, prompting a shift toward production. She resumed classical study with Howard Richman, originally her stepson's instructor, and later began teaching, employing new compositions as pedagogical tools in the 1990s. By decade's end Take a Picture had reemerged as an object of admiration among pop enthusiasts in the United States, Japan, England, and Europe, while a younger cohort of artists—Saint Etienne, Linus of Hollywood, and the Wondermints—embraced her catalog. Franklin/Oglio issued the archival 25 Demos in 2001; a modestly expanded U.K. edition titled Thoughts followed on RPM.
Mid-2000s sessions for a new album yielded only the 2006 release "16 Words." An instrumental rendering of The Chopsticks Variations appeared in 2009, and subsequent expanded editions of her demo anthology followed, among them Burger Records' 27 Demos in 2014 and Modern Harmonic's 29 Demos in 2016. Margo Guryan died at her Los Angeles home on November 8, 2021, at age 84. In 2024 the Numero Group issued the Words and Music box set, remastering the bulk of her catalog and including, in select editions, a limited 10" pressing of The Chopsticks Variations.
