Long Ago and Far Away: James Taylor - His Life and Music

Author: Timothy White
Publisher: Omnibus Press
ISBN: 0857120069
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Book Description
From The Beatles' patronage of his 1968 debut album to his Grammy awards for Hourglass, James Taylor has remained a universally acclaimed songwriter of effortless eloquence and power. In this major biography, the late Timothy White explores the myths and reality behind the personal journey of legendary singer. White examines the roots of Taylor's anguish, and his recurring problems with heroin and alcohol. There is an epic family history, an exploration of the stories behind Fire And Rain, and a frank account of the artist's time spent at Apple Records and Warner Brothers. With contributions from Paul McCartney, Carly Simon, Sting, the Taylor family and many other key figures, this edition is destined to become the definitive biography of the troubled hero. There is also an epilogue concerning the memorial concerts arranged by Taylor for the late author White, as well as an extensive discography and bibliography.

Long Ago & Far Away

Author: Timothy White
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781849387736
Category : Guitarists
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
In this major biography, the late Timothy White explores both the career and the troubled personal journey of the legendary singer-songwriter.Rich with insights from Paul McCartney, Carly Simon, Sting, Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar, the entire Taylor family and many other key figures around James Taylor and his music.Dispelling myth and rumour, Long Ago and Far Away examines the roots of Taylor's mental anguish and his recurring battles with heroin and alcohol. This is an epic family history, an exploration of the real stories behind Fire and Rain and the rest of the songs, as well as a frank account of Taylor's days on the Apple record label, the financial disaster of his Greatest Hits album deal and the deaths and divorces that have haunted his life.This edition has been updated by his friend and former Rolling Stone comrade Mitch Glazer and includes an epilogue about the memorial concerts for Timothy that James Taylor helped organise.The book includes many rare photos and an extensive discography and bibliography.

James Taylor

Author: Timothy White
Publisher: Omnibus Press
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 468

Book Description
In this biography, Timothy White explores both the career and the troubled personal journey of the legendary singer-songwriter.

Sweet Dreams and Flying Machines

Author: Mark Ribowsky
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
ISBN: 1613733798
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 375

Book Description
In 1970 a scraggly, antiheroic young man from North Carolina by way of Massachusetts began presenting a comforting new sound, a kind never heard before. Within a year, when young ears sought a new sound, there was "Fire and Rain" and "You've Got a Friend," and a new Southern California-fed branch of pop music. Taylor was its reluctant leader. Remarkably, Taylor has survived: his 2015 release, Before This World, edged out Taylor Swift and went to #1 on the charts. Today he is in better physical and probably mental condition than during the whirlwind when he influenced music so heavily, the decade when magazines and newspapers printed feverish stories about his gawky hunkiness, his love affair with Joni Mitchell, his glittery marriage to Carly Simon, his endlessly carried-out heroin habit, and sometimes even his music. Despite it all, Taylor has become the nearest thing to rock royalty in America. Based on fresh interviews with musicians, producers, record company people, and music journalists, as well as previously published interviews, reviews, and profiles, Sweet Dreams and Flying Machines is the definitive biography of an elusive superstar.

Fire and Rain

Author: David Browne
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN: 030682213X
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 388

Book Description
Set against a backdrop of world-changing historical and political events, Fire and Rain tells the extraordinary story of one pivotal year in the lives and music of four legendary artists, and reveals how these artists and their songs both shaped and reflected their times. Drawing on interviews, rare recordings, and newly discovered documents, acclaimed journalist David Browne “allows us to see—and to hear—the elusive moment when the '60s became the '70s in a completely fresh way” (Mark Harris, author of Pictures at a Revolution).

Hearts of Darkness

Author: Dave Thompson
Publisher: Backbeat Books
ISBN: 145847139X
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 445

Book Description
(Book). Hearts of Darkness is the story of a generation's coming of age through the experiences of its three most atypical pop stars. James Taylor, Jackson Browne, and Cat Stevens could never have been considered your typical late-sixties songwriters self-absorbed and self-composed, all three eschewed the traditional means of delivering their songs, instead turning its process inward. The result was a body of work that stands among the most profoundly personal art ever to translate into an international language, and a sequence of songs from "Sweet Baby James" and "Carolina in My Mind," to "Jamaica Say You Will" and "These Days," to "Peace Train" and "Wild World" that remain archetypes not only of what the critics called the singer-songwriter movement, but of the human condition itself. Author Dave Thompson, himself a legend among rock biographers, takes on his subjects with his usual brio and candor, leaving no stone unturned in his quest to shine a light on the dark side of this profoundly earnest era in popular music. Penetrating, pointed, and laced with vivid insight and detail, Hearts of Darkness is the story of rock when it no longer felt the need to roll.

Boys in the Trees

Author: Carly Simon
Publisher: Flatiron Books
ISBN: 1250095905
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Book Description
Carly Simon's New York Times bestselling memoir, Boys in the Trees, reveals her remarkable life, beginning with her storied childhood as the third daughter of Richard L. Simon, the co-founder of publishing giant Simon & Schuster, her musical debut as half of The Simon Sisters performing folk songs with her sister Lucy in Greenwich Village, to a meteoric solo career that would result in 13 top 40 hits, including the #1 song "You're So Vain." She was the first artist in history to win a Grammy Award, an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, for her song "Let the River Run" from the movie Working Girl. The memoir recalls a childhood enriched by music and culture, but also one shrouded in secrets that would eventually tear her family apart. Simon brilliantly captures moments of creative inspiration, the sparks of songs, and the stories behind writing "Anticipation" and "We Have No Secrets" among many others. Romantic entanglements with some of the most famous men of the day fueled her confessional lyrics, as well as the unraveling of her storybook marriage to James Taylor.

Fire & Rain

Author: Ian Halperin
Publisher: Mainstream Publishing Company Limited
ISBN: 9781840184341
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 283

Book Description
Many musicians sing about heartache, despair and confusion, but few have experienced those feelings more intensely than James Taylor, who rose from a privileged childhood as the son of an affluent medical school dean to become a modern-day troubadour and pop superstar. When he was seventeen years old, Taylor's personal demons led him to a Massachusetts mental institution where he confronted them the only way he knew how - by writing his first songs. Thirty years later, Taylor's songs are among the most popular in the annals of music, but the demons are still with him. This book chronicles Taylor's turbulent rise to fame - from his ten month stay in the exlusive private psychiatric institution where he finished high school and through his early years as a songwriter mentored by Paul McCartney, to his current status as a pop folk icon. Throughout his life Taylor has battled with drink and drug addiction and suffered frequent bouts of mental illness. Unlike many of his contemporaries who facing similar struggles, Taylor confronted and overcame his problems, emerging as an inspirational figure. FIRE AND RAIN traces his remarkable road to recovery, including his troubled marriage to pop star Carly Simon and the premature death of his brother due to alcoholism.

Hippies

Author: Micah Issitt
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 233

Book Description
An insightful introduction to hippie culture and how its revolutionary principles in the 1960s helped shape modern culture. This title explores how hippies, and 1960s counterculture in general, developed and influenced popular culture in America. Covering the years between 1961 and 1972, this is the first volume focused exclusively on the emergence, growth, and lasting legacy of hippie culture, on everything from clothing, hair styles, and music to attitudes toward sex and drugs, and anti-war, anti-establishment activism. Hippies includes a chronology, topical chapters on hippie culture, biographies, primary documents, and a glossary. Coverage ranges from an examination of hippie involvement in drug use, politics, sexual behavior, and music, and a contemporary perspective on lasting impact of hippies on modern American life. Readers will encounter famous icons of the era, from Abbie Hoffman to Timothy Leary, while getting a real sense of what life inside the hippie counterculture was like.

The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

Author: Colin Larkin
Publisher: Omnibus Press
ISBN: 0857125958
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 4183

Book Description
This text presents a comprehensive and up-to-date reference work on popular music, from the early 20th century to the present day.