50 Fun Facts About James Taylor

Which songwriter wrote You've Got a Friend, the ballad that gave James Taylor a US number-one single in 1971?

Carole King wrote it and put her own version on Tapestry the same year. At the 1972 Grammys she won Song of the Year for it while he took the male pop vocal award.

Which 1970 James Taylor hit reflects on a friend's suicide, his own addiction and the collapse of his New York band?

Fire and Rain became his first US top-ten hit, and he has said he wrote it in three parts, the last about coming to grips with fame and fortune.

Which singer-songwriter married James Taylor in her Manhattan apartment in 1972 and later scored duet hits with him?

Carly Simon and he saw an after-show party at Radio City Music Hall turn into their wedding reception, and their children Sally and Ben both grew up to be musicians.

Which star inducted James Taylor into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, decades after playing on his debut album?

Paul McCartney played bass on Carolina in My Mind in 1968, with George Harrison adding uncredited backing vocals, and did the honours at the 2000 ceremony.

Which superstar sang James Taylor's blues parody Steamroller on the live album of a satellite concert from Hawaii?

Elvis Presley made a single of a song James Taylor had written to mock the pompous white blues bands he kept hearing in Greenwich Village.

In which animated series does James Taylor play himself, singing to astronauts from mission control?

The Simpsons cast him in the episode Deep Space Homer beside Buzz Aldrin, and his face later turned up as the missing last piece of the family's jigsaw puzzle.

Which Pixar film features James Taylor singing Our Town, a Randy Newman ballad that earned an Oscar nomination?

Cars won Randy Newman a Grammy for the song, though the Oscar itself went to a track from the climate documentary An Inconvenient Truth.

Which president gave James Taylor the Medal of Freedom after the singer had played free campaign concerts for him?

Barack Obama presented the medal in 2015, having had James Taylor sing America the Beautiful at his second inauguration in 2013.

Which record label made James Taylor its first non-British signing in 1968 after hearing his demo tape in London?

Apple was the Beatles' own new label, and his sessions overlapped with the White Album, so some studio time booked for the band went to his record instead.

James Taylor wrote the cowboy lullaby Sweet Baby James for which newborn relative, who had been named after him?

His nephew was the baby son of his older brother Alex, and the tune came to him on a drive through Carolina to meet the child for the first time.

Which Inez and Charlie Foxx tune did James Taylor and his first wife turn into a top-five duet in 1974?

Mockingbird was his idea. He had watched the Foxx siblings perform it at the Apollo Theater in 1965 and used to sing it for fun with his sister Kate.

Which Jimmy Jones hit did James Taylor slow right down for a 1977 single that won him a second Grammy?

Handy Man had already charted for Del Shannon in 1964, and James Taylor's drowsy remake turned the brisk original into a ballad that reached number one in Canada.

Which Motown singer first recorded How Sweet It Is, the song James Taylor took into the US top five in 1975?

Marvin Gaye cut the original in 1964, and James Taylor's version, with his then-wife on harmony vocals, is still the most successful remake of it.

Which 1962 Drifters hit did James Taylor remake as the lead single from his 1979 album Flag?

Up on the Roof gave him a top-30 single, and he later singled it out as the remake that had brought him particular satisfaction.

Which songwriter, then romantically linked to James Taylor, sang backing vocals on his hit You've Got a Friend?

Joni Mitchell also had him play acoustic guitar on three tracks of Blue, the album she made during their intense romance.

Which short-lived band did James Taylor form in New York with his friend Danny Kortchmar before finding fame solo?

The Flying Machine broke up after a three-week stay at a failing nightspot in the Bahamas for which the players were never paid.

Which former British pop star signed the unknown James Taylor in 1968 and then became his manager and producer?

Peter Asher, once half of the duo Peter and Gordon, went on to shape the 1970s California rock sound and twice won the Grammy for Producer of the Year.

In which 1971 road movie did James Taylor star as a street racer alongside Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson?

Two-Lane Blacktop cast him after its director spotted his face on a Sunset Strip billboard, and he played a character known only as the Driver without ever reading the script.

James Taylor grew up in which North Carolina college town, where his father became dean of the medical school?

Chapel Hill became home in 1951, though his father Isaac was often away, including a spell in Antarctica with the Navy's Operation Deep Freeze.

What kind of accident on Martha's Vineyard broke both of James Taylor's hands and feet just as his career was starting?

A motorcycle crash stopped him playing for several months, shortly after he had closed the 1969 Newport Folk Festival before thousands who stayed on through a downpour.

Which album finally gave James Taylor a number one on the Billboard 200, some 47 years after his debut?

Before This World ended a wait for the top spot that only Tony Bennett had exceeded, and it came after 11 of his earlier albums had reached the top ten.

Which James Taylor album made him the first act with a US top-ten album in each of six consecutive decades?

American Standard, his 2020 album of covers, debuted at number four and went on to win the Grammy for best traditional pop vocal album.

Which label did James Taylor join in 1977 after leaving Warner Bros., staying for more than a quarter of a century?

Columbia kept him until he chose not to renew in 2004, while Warner marked his departure with a Greatest Hits set that has sold 11 million copies in the US.

A huge festival crowd in which city in 1985 lifted James Taylor at a time when he was thinking of retiring?

Rio de Janeiro put him before some 300,000 people who knew his songs in detail, and he said the welcome helped get him back on track.

Which West Hollywood club hosted James Taylor's 2007 reunion with his original band, later issued as a live album?

The Troubadour was marking its 50th anniversary with those six shows, and he had headlined there as a newcomer back in July 1969.

Which music legend played harmonica on James Taylor's 1997 album Hourglass, two decades after writing a song with him?

Stevie Wonder guested on the single Little More Time with You, and back in 1976 the pair had written Don't Be Sad 'Cause Your Sun Is Down together.

The death of which comedian, a friend of James Taylor, helped spur the singer to finally give up heroin in 1983?

John Belushi's death and a wish to be a better father to Sally and Ben led him to come off methadone over four months starting in September 1983.

James Taylor joined Bruce Springsteen and the Doobie Brothers in New York in 1979 for concerts opposing what?

Nuclear power was the target of Musicians United for Safe Energy, formed soon after the Three Mile Island accident, and the shows became the album and film No Nukes.

Which Massachusetts music venue, long a summer stage for James Taylor, honoured him with its own medal in 2024?

Tanglewood is the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home in the Berkshires, and Taylor Swift, who was named after him, joined him on its stage as a guest in 2012.

Which US Secretary of State invited James Taylor to Paris to sing You've Got a Friend after terror attacks there?

John Kerry and the mayor of Paris hosted him at the Hôtel de Ville in January 2015, where he played an acoustic version in tribute to the victims of that month's attacks.

Which James Taylor song supplied the opening line of a number-one Beatles ballad written by George Harrison?

Something in the Way She Moves gave Harrison his first line, and by his own account it was also the song he played for two Beatles at his audition for their label.

Which James Taylor song was inspired by a wooded street beside the hospital where he was treated as a teenager?

Country Road took its cue from Somerset Street in Belmont, which borders the grounds of the hospital he entered in 1965 to be treated for depression.

Which 1991 James Taylor single, a look back at a peaceful childhood, was written with the poet Reynolds Price?

Copperline grew out of an older song of his called A Dog Named Blue, and he has said it is about home and about his father.

Which country names a 1975 James Taylor single whose narrator finally admits he has never actually been there?

Mexico has David Crosby and Graham Nash on harmony vocals, and although it stalled at number 49 on the Hot 100 it won heavy radio play.

Which country-rock songwriter shared lead vocals with James Taylor on the 1981 top-twenty duet Her Town Too?

JD Souther wrote it with him and guitarist Waddy Wachtel, and despite talk that it was about his own marriage, he said it concerned a mutual friend's ex-wife.

James Taylor guested on which singer's 1978 remake of Sam Cooke's Wonderful World, a hit that reunited a famous duo?

Art Garfunkel slowed the song right down and had James Taylor and his old singing partner trade lead and backing lines, taking it to number 17 in the US.

Which country legend took Bartender's Blues, James Taylor's attempt at writing a country song, into the country top ten?

George Jones reached number six with it in 1978, though his own producer Billy Sherrill later said the singer had overdone his trademark style on the record.

Which British guitarist duetted with James Taylor on Sailing to Philadelphia, a song about surveyors Mason and Dixon?

Mark Knopfler drew the song from Thomas Pynchon's novel Mason & Dixon and made it the title track of his second solo album in 2000.

For which 1978 Broadway musical, drawn from a Studs Terkel book, did James Taylor write Millworker and Brother Trucker?

Working was built from Terkel's interviews with ordinary people about their jobs, and James Taylor recorded both of his songs himself a year later on the album Flag.

Which magazine put James Taylor on its cover in March 1971 as the face of the new rock?

Time ran its cover story a few weeks before he released Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon, the album that carried his first chart-topping single.

On which children's TV show did James Taylor sing Jellyman Kelly with a group of kids in the early 1980s?

Sesame Street aired the song in its 14th season, and its co-writer, credited as Sarah Taylor, is his daughter Sally.

A 1970 Vancouver benefit concert featuring James Taylor and Phil Ochs helped launch which environmental group?

Greenpeace used the proceeds to fund its protests against US weapons tests at Amchitka in Alaska, and the show was finally released as an album in 2009.

James Taylor was a 2016 Kennedy Center honoree alongside which rock band?

Eagles shared that year's honours with Al Pacino, Mavis Staples and the pianist Martha Argerich, and the centre honoured the late Glenn Frey along with the three surviving members.

Which country superstar idolised James Taylor so much that he named his first child after him?

Garth Brooks called his eldest daughter Taylor Mayne Pearl, and he counts the 1970s singer-songwriters among his strongest influences despite being a country artist himself.

In which political TV drama did James Taylor appear as himself, singing a Sam Cooke classic for the fictional president?

The West Wing named the episode A Change Is Gonna Come after the song he performs for President Bartlet at a reception, and it first aired in December 2004.

Which greeting-card company distributed James Taylor's 2004 Christmas album after he chose not to renew his record deal?

Hallmark handled the original release, and two years later a repackaged version reached record shops under the title James Taylor at Christmas.

At which Massachusetts psychiatric hospital did the teenage James Taylor spend nine months and finish high school?

McLean in Belmont later treated his brother Livingston and his sister Kate too, and he came to describe his own stay there as a lifesaver.

Which 1975 James Taylor album reached the US top ten and included his hit remake of How Sweet It Is?

Gorilla peaked at number six, went Gold and showed off a lighter, more electric side of his music.

Which classical star played on James Taylor's album Hourglass and later recorded a Stephen Foster song with him?

Yo-Yo Ma brought him in to sing Hard Times Come Again No More on Appalachian Journey, the cellist's album with Edgar Meyer and Mark O'Connor.

A 2001 remake of Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight with which jazz saxophonist won James Taylor a Grammy?

Michael Brecker had also played the tenor saxophone part on the 1972 original, and the remake appeared on his ballads album Nearness of You.