Mick Taylor

For the cricketer, see Michael Taylor (cricketer).

Mick Taylor
Taylor performing at The Colne Festival, UK
Background information
Birth name	Michael Kevin Taylor
Also known as	Little Mick
Born	17 January 1949 (1949-01-17) (age 62) Welwyn Garden City, England United Kingdom
Genres	Blues-rock, Hard-rock, rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Guitar, bass guitar, vocals, keyboards, percussions, slide guitar
Years active	1965–present
Labels	Columbia, Decca, Rolling Stones, Atlantic, EMI, Virgin, CBS, Maze Records
Associated acts	John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (1966-69), The Rolling Stones (1969-74)
Website	Mick Taylor.net
Notable instruments
Gibson Les Paul Gibson SG Fender Stratocaster Fender Telecaster

Michael Kevin "Mick" Taylor (born 17 January 1949 in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire) is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (1966–69) and The Rolling Stones (1969–74). Since resigning from the Rolling Stones in December 1974 at age 25, Taylor has worked with numerous other artists and has released solo albums.

Biography

Early career

Taylor was born to a working-class family in Welwyn Garden City, but was raised in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England, where his father worked as a fitter for De Havilland aircraft company.^[1] He began playing guitar at age nine, learning to play from his mother's younger brother. As a teenager, he formed bands with schoolmates and started performing concerts under names such as The Juniors and the Strangers. They also appeared on television and put out a single.^[2] Part of the band was recruited for a new group called The Gods, which included Ken Hensley (later of Uriah Heep fame). In 1966, The Gods opened for Cream at the Starlite Ballroom in Wembley.

In 1965 at age 16, Taylor went to see a John Mayall's Bluesbreakers performance at "The Hop" Community Centre, Welwyn Garden City. A former drummer with the Juniors, Danny Bacon, remembers: "On the night in question, I had gone to The Hop with some guys from our band, former schoolmates and Ex-Juniors Mick Taylor and Alan Shacklock. It was after John Mayall had finished his first set without a guitarist that it became clear that for some reason Eric Clapton was not going to show up. A group of local musicians, which included myself, Robert 'Jab' Als, Herbie Sparks, and others, along with three local guitarists—Alan Shacklock, Mick Casey (formerly of the Trekkas) and Mick Taylor—were in attendance."^{[citation needed]} Taylor himself has said after seeing that Clapton hadn't appeared, but that his guitar had already been set up on the stage, had approached John Mayall during the interval, asking if he could play with them, mentioning that he'd heard their albums and knew some of the songs. After a moment of deliberation, Mayall agreed. Taylor amended, "I wasn't thinking that this was a great opportunity.. I just really wanted to get up on stage and play the guitar."

Taylor played the second set with Mayall's band, and afterwards, they exchanged phone numbers, which proved to be pivotal in his career a few years later. Taylor had won Mayall's respect, and when he was 17, Mayall was looking for another guitarist to fill the vacancy left after Peter Green's resignation. Mayall contacted Taylor, and invited him to take Green's place.^[3] Taylor made his debut with the Bluesbreakers at the Manor House, an old blues club in North London. For those in the music scene the night was an event... "Let's go and see this 17-year-old kid try and replace Eric".^[4] Before he turned 18, Taylor toured and recorded the album Crusade with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. From 1966 to 1969, Taylor developed a guitar style that is blues-based with Latin and jazz influences. Later on in his career, he further developed his skills as a slide guitarist.

In 1967, Mick made the drawings for Donovan's Gift From a Flower to a Garden double LP.

The Rolling Stones

Main article: The Rolling Stones

Taylor with the Rolling Stones, 1972

After Brian Jones left the The Rolling Stones in June 1969, Mayall recommended Taylor to Mick Jagger. Taylor believed he was being called in to be a session musician at his first studio session with the Rolling Stones.^[5] An impressed Jagger and Keith Richards invited Taylor back the following day to continue rehearsing and recording with the band. He overdubbed guitar on "Country Honk" "Live With Me" for the album Let It Bleed, and for the single "Honky Tonk Women" released in the UK, on 4 July 1969.^[6][7] Taylor's onstage debut as a Rolling Stone, at the age of 20, was the free Hyde Park concert on 5 July 1969. An estimated quarter of a million people attended for a show that turned into a tribute to Brian Jones, who had died 3 days before the concert.

The Rolling Stones' 1971 release Sticky Fingers included "Sway" and "Moonlight Mile" which Taylor and Jagger had completed in Richards's absence. At the time Jagger stated: "We made [tracks] with just Mick Taylor, which are very good and everyone loves, where Keith wasn't there for whatever reasons ... It's me and [Mick Taylor] playing off each other - another feeling completely, because he's following my vocal lines and then extemporizing on them during the solos."^[8] However, Taylor was only credited as co-author of one track "Ventilator Blues", from the album Exile on Main St. (1972).^[9] Taylor was noted for his smooth lyrical touch and tone which contrasted with Richards's jagged and cutting technique.

After the 1973 European tour, Richards's drug problems had worsened and began affecting the ability of the band to function as a whole.^[10] Between recording sessions, the band members were living in various countries and during this period Taylor appeared on Herbie Mann's London Underground (1974) and also appeared on Mann's album Reggae (1974).

It's Only Rock 'n Roll and departure

Taylor during the Rolling Stones 1972 tour of North America in June, at Winterland in San Francisco

In November 1973, while the band were to begin work on the LP It's Only Rock 'n Roll at Musicland Studios in Munich, Taylor missed some of the sessions whilst he underwent surgery for acute sinusitis.^[11] Not much was achieved during the first 10 days at Musicland. Most of the actual recordings were made in January (Musicland) and April 1974 (Stargroves). When Taylor resumed work with the band, he found it difficult to get on with Richards. At one point during the Munich sessions, Richards confronted him, and said, "Oi! Taylor! You're playing too fuckin' loud. I mean, you're really good live, man, but you're fucking useless in the studio. Lay out, play later, whatever." Richards erased some of the tapes where Taylor had recorded guitar parts to some of the songs for It's Only Rock n' Roll^[12] Taylor was, however, present at all the sessions in April at Stargroves, England, where the LP was finished and most of the overdubs were recorded.^{[citation needed]}

Not long after those recording sessions, Taylor went on a six-week expedition to Brazil, travelling down the Amazon River in a boat and exploring Latin music.

Just before the release of the album in October 1974, Taylor told Nick Kent from the NME magazine about the new LP and that he had co-written "Till the Next Goodbye" and "Time Waits for No One" with Jagger.^{[citation needed]} Kent showed Taylor the record sleeve, which revealed the absence of any songwriting credits for Taylor. In an interview with Gary James, Taylor later said: "I was a bit peeved about not getting credit for a couple of songs, but that wasn't the whole reason [I left the band]. I guess I just felt like I had enough. I decided to leave and start a group with Jack Bruce. I never really felt, and I don't know why, but I never felt I was gonna stay with the Stones forever, even right from the beginning.^[5] In a 1997 interview with Mojo Magazine, Taylor said: "We used to fight and argue all the time. And one of the things I got angry about was that Mick had promised to give me some credit for some of the songs – and he didn't. I believed I'd contributed enough. Let's put it this way – without my contribution those songs would not have existed. There's not many but enough, things like "Sway" and "Moonlight Mile" on Sticky Fingers and a couple of others."

In December 1974, Taylor announced he was leaving the Rolling Stones. The bandmates were at a party in London when Taylor told Mick Jagger he was quitting and walked out. Taylor's decision came as a total shock to many.^[13] The Rolling Stones were due to start recording a new album in Munich, and the entire band was reportedly angry at Taylor for leaving at such short notice.^[14]

When interviewed by Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone magazine in 1995, Mick Jagger stated that Taylor never explained why he had left, and surmised that "[Taylor] wanted to have a solo career. I think he found it difficult to get on with Keith." In the same interview Jagger said of Taylor's contribution to the band: "I think he had a big contribution. He made it very musical. He was a very fluent, melodic player, which we never had, and we don't have now. Neither Keith nor [Ronnie Wood] plays that kind of style. It was very good for me working with him ... Mick Taylor would play very fluid lines against my vocals. He was exciting, and he was very pretty, and it gave me something to follow, to bang off. Some people think that's the best version of the band that existed".^{[citation needed]} Asked if he agreed with that assessment, Jagger said: "I obviously can't say if I think Mick Taylor was the best, because it sort of trashes the period the band is in now."^{[citation needed]} Charlie Watts stated: "I think we chose the right man for the job at that time just as Ronnie was the right man for the job later on. I still think Mick is great. I haven't heard or seen him play in a few years. But certainly what came out of playing with him are musically some of the best things we've ever done".^{[15][page needed]} Another statement, made by Keith Richards, is: "Mick Taylor is a great guitarist, but he found out the hard way that that's all he is".^[16]

In an essay about the Rolling Stones, printed after Taylor's resignation, music critic Robert Palmer of The New York Times wrote that "Taylor is the most accomplished technician who ever served as a Stone. A blues guitarist with a jazzman's flair for melodic invention, Taylor was never a rock and roller and never a showman."^{[citation needed]}

Taylor has worked with his former bandmates on various occasions since leaving the Rolling Stones. In 1977 he attended London-based sessions for the John Phillips album Pay Pack & Follow, appearing on several tracks alongside Jagger (vocals), Richards (guitar) and Wood (bass) - taking notable solos on the songs "Oh Virginia" and "Zulu Warrior". A possibly apocryphal story is that after Taylor played a particularly jaw-dropping solo in the studio, Richards half-jokingly exclaimed, "That's why I never liked you, you bastard!"

On 14 December 1981 he performed with the band at their concert at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri.^[7] Keith Richards appeared on stage at a Mick Taylor show at the Lone Star Cafe in New York on 28 December 1986, jamming on "Key to the Highway" and "Can't You Hear Me Knocking"; and Taylor is featured on one track ("I Could Have Stood You Up") on Richards' 1988 album Talk is Cheap. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Mick Taylor along with the Rolling Stones in 1989.^[17] Taylor also worked with Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings in the early 1990s.

In addition to his contributions to Rolling Stones albums released during his tenure with the band, Taylor's guitar is also on two tracks on their 1981 release Tattoo You: "Tops" and "Waiting on a Friend", both of which were originally recorded in 1972. (Taylor is sometimes mistakenly credited as playing on "Worried About You", but the solo on that track is performed by Wayne Perkins.)^[18]

Taylor's onstage presence with the Rolling Stones is preserved on the album Get Yer Ya-Yas Out!, recorded over four concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York and the Civic Center in Boston in November 1969; in the documentary films Stones in the Park (released on DVD in 2001), Gimme Shelter (released in 1970) and Cocksucker Blues (unreleased); and in the concert film Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones (shown in cinemas in 1974). Bootleg recordings from the Rolling Stones' tours from 1969 through 1973 also document Taylor's concert performances with the Rolling Stones.

In March 2010, rumours started circulating that Taylor had contributed guitar work on the upcoming Exile on Main Street special edition release. This expanded version of the original double album includes 10 outtakes/alternate versions of songs. Taylor later revealed (in an interview with a journalist from Cleveland) that he had indeed recorded new guitar overdubs for the CD, at Mick Jagger's request. On 17 April 2010 (National Record Store Day), the new Rolling Stones single 'Plundered My Soul' came out, featuring recently recorded vocals and guitars by Jagger and Taylor.

Around this time, Eagle Rock Entertainment also announced that a first official release of the concert film Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones was planned for autumn 2010. Apart from a one-off cinema screening in the past, the film had previously only been available on bootleg videos and DVDs.

Post-Stones: 1975 to 1981

Taylor in Barcelona in 1984 Courtesy: F. Antolin Hernandez

Taylor worked on various side projects during his tenure with the Rolling Stones.

In June 1973, he joined Mike Oldfield onstage at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in a performance of Oldfield's Tubular Bells. Taylor was asked to take part in this project by Richard Branson as he felt Oldfield was unknown having just been signed to Branson's fledgling label, Virgin Records. Taylor joined Oldfield once more for a BBC television broadcast in November 1973.

After his resignation from the Rolling Stones, Jack Bruce invited him to form a new band with keyboardist Carla Bley and drummer Bruce Gary. In 1975, the band began rehearsals in London with tour dates scheduled for later that year. The group toured Europe, with a sound leaning more toward jazz, including a performance at the Dutch Pinkpop festival, but disbanded the following year. A performance recorded on 1 June 1975 (which was finally released on CD in 2003 as "Live at the Manchester Free Trade Hall" by The Jack Bruce Band) and another performance from the Old Grey Whistle Test seem to be the only material available from this brief collaboration.

Taylor appeared as a special guest of Little Feat at the Rainbow Theatre in London, 1977, sharing slide guitar with then-frontman Lowell George on "A Apolitical Blues": this song appears on Little Feat's critically acclaimed live album Waiting for Columbus.^[19] In the summer of 1977 he collaborated with Pierre Moerlen's Gong for the album Espresso II, released in 1978. Taylor began writing new songs and recruiting musicians for a solo album and worked on projects with Miller Anderson, Alan Merrill and others. He was present at many of the recording sessions for John Phillips' first solo album. The recordings for Phillips' album took place in London over a prolonged period between 1973 and 1977. This led to Taylor working with Keith Richards and Mick Jagger who were also working on the Phillips' album. Atlantic Records eventually cancelled the project but copies of the sessions(under titles "Half Stoned" and "Phillips '77") circulated among bootleg traders. The original tapes were rescued and restored and were officially released in 2002 as Pay Pack & Follow.

Taylor performing with John Mayall in the early 1980s

In 1977 Taylor signed a solo recording deal with CBS Records. By April 1978 he gave several interviews to music magazines to promote the new album which was finished, but would not be released for another year. In 1979 the album, titled Mick Taylor, was released by CBS Records. The album material mixed rock, jazz and Latin-flavoured blues musical styles. The album reached #119 on the Billboard charts in early August with a stay of five weeks on the Billboard 200.^{[citation needed]} CBS advised Taylor to promote the album through American radio stations but was unwilling to back the guitarist for any supporting tour.^{[citation needed]} Already frustrated with this situation, Taylor took a break from the music industry for about a year.

In 1981, he toured Europe and the United States with Alvin Lee of Ten Years After, sharing the bill with Black Sabbath. He spent most of 1982 and 1983 on the road with John Mayall, for the "Reunion Tour" with John McVie of Fleetwood Mac and Colin Allen. During this tour Bob Dylan showed up backstage at The Roxy in Los Angeles in order to meet Taylor.^{[citation needed]}

In 1983, Taylor joined Mark Knopfler and played on Dylan's Infidels album. He also appeared on Dylan's live album, Real Live, as well as the follow-up studio album Empire Burlesque. In 1984, Dylan asked Mick Taylor to assemble an experienced rock and roll band for a European tour he signed with Bill Graham. Ian McLagan was hired to play piano and hammond organ, Greg Sutton to play bass and Colin Allen, a long time friend of Taylor, on drums. The tour lasted for four weeks at venues such as Munich's Olympic Stadium Arena and Milan's San Siro Stadium, sharing the bill with Carlos Santana and Joan Baez, who appeared on the same bill for a couple of shows (in particular in the same Milan concert).

Later career

Taylor w/ Ricky Byrd & Smokey Quartz at Wonderland Blues NYC, 1989 Courtesy: Dina Regine

Taylor guested with the Grateful Dead on September 24, 1988 at the last show of that year's Madison Square Garden run in New York. Taylor lived in New York throughout the 1980s. He battled with addiction problems before getting back on track in the second half of the 1980s and moving to Los Angeles in 1990.^{[citation needed]} During this time Taylor did session work and toured in Europe, America and Japan with a band including Max Middleton (formerly of the Jeff Beck Group), Shane Fontayne, and Blondie Chaplin. In 1990 his CD "Stranger In This Town" was released by Maze Records backed up by a mini-tour including the record release party at the Hard Rock Cafe in Boston as well as gigs at the Paradise Theater.^{[disambiguation needed ]}

Taylor moved back to England in the mid 1990s. Taylor never seemed to feel comfortable in his role as a former Rolling Stone until he released a new album in 2000, entitled, A Stone's Throw. Playing at clubs and theatres as well as appearing at festivals has connected Taylor with an appreciative audience and fan base.

Mick began what was to be a significant series of collaborations with Carla Olson with their "Live at the Roxy" album Too Hot For Snakes; the centerpiece of which is a extended 7 minute performance of "Sway".^{[disambiguation needed ]} It was followed by Olson's Within An Ace which featured Taylor on seven songs, he appeared on three songs from Reap The Whirlwind and then again on Olson's The Ring Of Truth, on which he plays lead guitar on nine tracks including a twelve minute version of the Jagger and Taylor song "Winter". Further work by Olson and Taylor can be heard on the Olson produced Barry Goldberg album Stoned Again. Taylor went on to appear on Percy Sledge's Blue Night (1994), along with Steve Cropper, Bobby Womack and Greg Leisz.

In 2003, Taylor reunited with John Mayall for his 70th Birthday Concert in Liverpool along with Eric Clapton. A year later, in autumn 2004, he also joined John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers for a UK theatre tour. He toured the US East Coast with the Experience Hendrix group during October 2007. The Experience Hendrix group appeared at a series of concerts which were a homage to Jimi Hendrix and his musical legacy. Taylor played with Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, Buddy Guy, Hubert Sumlin and Robby Krieger.

In recent times Taylor reunited with Ronnie Wood (an old pal from his teenage years) at a benefit gig put on, organized and publicised by UK-domiciled US fellow Blues guitarist Stephen Dale Petit to save the 100 Club in London, on 1 December 2010. Other special guests at the show were Dick Taylor (first bassplayer in the Rolling Stones) and blues/jazz trombonist Chris Barber. Mick also toured the UK with Stephen Dale Petit appearing as Petit's Special Guest, featured on a Paul Jones BBC Radio 2 session with him and guested on Petit's 2010 Classic Rock magazine Album of the Year - "The Crave".

For the 2010 rerelease of Exile On Main Street Taylor recorded a new guitar part for the previously unreleased song, Plundered My Soul.

He also helped to promote the "Boogie For Stu" album, which was recorded by Ben Waters to honour Ian Stewart (original Stones pianist and co-founder of the band), by taking part in a concert to mark the CD's official launch at the Ambassadors Theatre, London on 9 March 2011. Proceeds from the event were donated to the British Heart Foundation. Although Mick Jagger and Keith Richards didn't show up, Taylor noticeably enjoyed performing with, amongst others, Charlie Watts, Ronnie Wood and Bill Wyman.

Personal life

Taylor has been married twice and has two daughters. Chloe (born 6 January 1971) is a daughter by his first wife Rose Millar. Taylor married Rose in 1975 after leaving the Stones, but the relationship was reportedly "on the rocks" before long^[20] and resulted in divorce only a few years later.^[21] His second daughter Emma was born from a short relationship with an American woman, who sang backing vocals with Taylor's band on one occasion.^[22]

Taylor currently resides in Suffolk.

Discography

With John Mayall's Bluesbreakers

• Crusade (Decca, 1967/LP, 1987/CD)
• Diary of a Band Volume 1 & 2 (Decca, 1968/LP)
• Bare Wires (Decca, 1968/LP, 1988/CD )
• Blues from Laurel Canyon (Decca, 1968/LP, 1989/CD)
• Primal Solos (Decca, 1969/LP)
• Back to the Roots (Decca, 1971/LP, 2001 on 2CD)
• Return Of The Bluesbreakers (AIM, 1985/LP, 1993/CD)
• The 1982 Reunion Concert (Repertoire records, 1994/CD) with John Mayall, Mick Taylor, Colin Allen and John McVie
• Wake Up Call (1993)
• Silver Tones - The Best of John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers (Silvertone Records, 1998)
• Along For The Ride (2001)
• Rolling With The Blues (2003) - selection of live recordings '72-'82
• Essentially John Mayall (Eagle Rock Records, 2007) 5 CD Box Set

With The Rolling Stones

Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor playing
with Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, 17 March 2008

• Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) (1969) (compilation)

Taylor plays on "Honky Tonk Women"

• Let It Bleed (1969)

Taylor plays on "Country Honk" and "Live With Me"

• Get Yer Ya-Yas Out! (1970)
• Sticky Fingers (1971)
• Hot Rocks, 1964-1971 (1972) (compilation)
• Exile on Main St. (1972)
• Goats Head Soup (1973)
• It's Only Rock 'n Roll (1974)
• Made in the Shade (1975) (compilation of hits 1971-1974)
• Metamorphosis (1975)

Taylor plays on "I Don't Know Why" and "Jiving Sister Fanny".

• Sucking in the Seventies (1981) (compilation of hits, album cuts and outtakes 1974-1981)
• Tattoo You (1981)

Taylor plays on "Tops" and "Waiting on a Friend", both tracks recorded in 1972 during the Goats Head Soup sessions.

• Rewind (1971-1984) (1984) (compilation of hits 1971-1983)
• Singles Collection: The London Years. (1989) (compilation of singles 1963-1971)
• Jump Back: The Best of The Rolling Stones (1993) (compilation of hits 1971-1989)
• Forty Licks (2002) (compilation 1964-2002)
• Rarities 1971-2003 (2005)

Taylor plays on "Let It Rock" (live 1971) and the 1974 b-side "Through The Lonely Nights".

Non-Rolling Stones work with Rolling Stones members:

• Pay, Pack and Follow (John Phillips, first official release by Eagle Rock Records, 2001)

from 1973-1979 recording sessions in London aka "Half Stoned" sessions

produced by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards

• I've Got My Own Album to Do (Ronnie Wood solo album) (1974)
• Now Look (Ronnie Wood solo album) (July 1975)
• Talk Is Cheap (Keith Richards solo album) (1988)

With Jack Bruce

• Live on the Old Grey Whistle Test (Strange Fruit, 1995). Tracks from several Whistle Test shows recorded between '75 and '81. Seven of the songs feature Taylor on guitar.
• Live at the Manchester Free Trade Hall (2 CD, Polydor, 2003)

With Bob Dylan

• Infidels (1983)
• Real Live (In Europe, 1984) (1984)
• Empire Burlesque (1985)
• The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 (1991)

Solo discography

• Mick Taylor (1979) US #119 [5 wks on top 200]
• Stranger in This Town (1990)
• Arthur's Club-Geneve 1995 (Mick Taylor & Snowy White) (Promo CD/TV Especial)
• A Stone's Throw (2000)
• Coastin' Home aka Live at the 14 Below (1995) re-issued 2002
• 14 Below (2003)
• Shadow Man (2003) ^[23]

With Carla Olson

• Too Hot For Snakes (Live at the Roxy) (1991 live album)
• Within An Ace (1993)
• Reap The Whirlwind(1994, Virgin Records Europe)
• Special - The best of Carla Olson (1995, Virgin Records Sweden)
• The Ring of Truth (2001)
• Too Hot For Snakes plus (2008, Collectors' Choice) 2 CD set of the Roxy album plus "You Gotta Move" and a 2nd disc of 13 studio tracks 1993 - 2004 including a previously unreleased version of "Winter" and "Think I'm Goin' Mad" from the Carla-produced Barry Goldberg album Stoned Again.

Other session work

• Tubular Bells Premiere Mike Oldfield (June '73) Queen Elizabeth Hall
• Tubular Bells (Mike Oldfield) Telecast Tubular Bells Part One and Tubular Bells Part Two. Recorded at BBC Broadcasting House November 1973^[24] and aired in early '74 and June '74. Available on Oldfield's Elements DVD.
• The Tin Man Was A Dreamer (Nicky Hopkins) (1973)
• "London Underground" (Herbie Mann 1974)
• Live European Tour Billy Preston - (A&M Records, 1974). Recorded with Stones Mobile Studio during the '73 tour. Preston opened up for the band with Mick Taylor on guitar.

released on CD (A& M - Japan, 2002)

• Have Blues Will Travel (Speedo Jones) (Integrity Records, 1988)
• Reggae II (Herbie Mann) (Atlantic, 1976)
• Just A Story From America (Elliott Murphy) (Columbia 1977)
• Waiting for Columbus (Little Feat) (1978) double CD released 2002
• Expresso II (Gong) (1978)
• Downwind (Pierre Moerlen's Gong) (1979) lead guitar on What you know
• Alan Merrill (Alan Merrill)'s solo album (Polydor, 1985) recorded in London in 1977
• Vinyl (Dramarama) (1991)
• Burnin' Blues (Coupe De Villes) (1992)
• Once in a Blue Moon (Gerry Groom) (1993)
• Cartwheels (Anthony Thistlethwaite) (1993)
• Hecho en Memphis (Ratones Paranoicos, Sony Music) (1993)
• Let's get stoned (The Chesterfield Kings) (Mirror Records,1994)
• Crawfish and Caviar (Anthony Thistlethwaite)
• Blue Night (Percy Sledge, Virgin Records, 1994)
• Mick & I (2001) Miyuki & Mick Taylor
• From Clarksdale to Heaven (BlueStorm, 2002) John Lee Hooker Tribute Album.
• Stoned Again (Barry Goldberg, Antone's Records, 2002)
• Meaning Of Life (Todd Sharpville) (Cathouse/Universal, 2003)
• Key To Love (Debbie Davies) (Shanachie Records, 2003)
• Shadow Man (re-release of a Sasha album from '96) (2003)

Originally released by Alpha Music in 1996, this "Mick Taylor featuring Sasha" album should have read "Sasha featuring Mick Taylor", but the company felt it would sell better under a household name. It features Mick Taylor on guitar, but is basically a Sasha Gracanin album.

• Treasure Island (Nikki Sudden) (Secretly Canadian, 2004)
• Unterwegs (Crazy Chris Kramer) (2009)

Music DVDs

• Blues Alive video (RCA/Columbia Pictures 1983), recorded at Capitol Theatre, NJ 1982
• Jamming with the Blues Greats - DVD release from the 1983 video, featuring John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (Mick Taylor, Colin Allen, John McVie) and special guests Albert King, Etta James, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells and Sippie Wallace (Lightyear/Image Entertainment 2005)
• The Stones in the Park Hyde Park concert video (Granada Television, 1969)

released on DVD (VCI, 2001)

• Gimme Shelter (Maysles Films, 1970) music documentary film by Albert and David Maysles, shot at the Rolling Stones concerts at Madison Square Garden, NY on 27/28 November and Altamont, CA on 6th Dec December 1969.

restored and released on DVD (Criterion, 2000)

• John Mayall, the Godfather of British Blues documentary about John Mayall's life and career (Eagle Rock, 2004. Region 1: 2005)
• 70th Birthday Concert (Eagle Rock, 2004. Region 1: 2005). Bluesbreakers Charity Concert (Unite for Unicef) filmed in Liverpool, July 2003. John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers with special guests Chris Barber, Eric Clapton and Mick Taylor.

• "Stones In Exile" 2010

• "Ladies & Gentlemen The Rolling Stones" 2010

---

Music DVDs - Unofficial

• Cocksucker Blues

Filmography

• The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) directed by Nicolas Roeg

Contributed to soundtrack. Played guitar on various songs, including "Hello Mary Lou" after developing ideas for soundtrack with John Phillips.

• The Last of the Finest (1990) directed by John Mackenzie. Assisted composer Jack Nitzsche with the moviescore
• Bad City Blues (1999) directed by Michael Stevens. After the book by Tim Willocks.

Music composers: Mick Taylor and Max Middleton

Awards

• Inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame (with the Rolling Stones, 1989)
• Taylor's handprints have been on Hollywood's RockWalk since 6 September 1998.

Guitar history

Throughout his career, Taylor has used various guitars, but is mostly associated with the Gibson Les Paul. His first Les Paul was bought when he was still playing with The Gods (from Selmer's, London in '65). He acquired his second Les Paul in 1967, not long after joining The Bluesbreakers: Taylor came to Olympic Studios to buy a Les Paul that Keith Richards wanted to sell.^[25] On the '72/'73 tours Taylor used a couple of Sunburst Les Paul guitars without a Bigsby. Other guitars include a Gibson ES-355 for the recording of Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street, a Gibson SG on the 1969, 1970 and 1971 tours, and occasionally a Fender Stratocaster and a Fender Telecaster.

References

1. ^ Jim Sheridan, Mick Taylor Rexamined, Part 1, by Jim Sheridan
2. ^ (Nico Zentgraf, The Complete Works of the Rolling Stones: Taylor-Made Works May 1964 – August 2004, published by Stoneware Publishing, Hamburg, 2004)
3. ^ Taylor, Mick; Patrick Savey, Daniel Farhi (1998). "On the road with Mick Taylor". Video for television: On the Road with Mick Taylor. France: New Morning Vision. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he8OLo9HPJs. Retrieved 27 February 2010. 
4. ^ (Robert Greenfield, S.T.P., A Journey Through America with the Rolling Stones, published by Michael Joseph Ltd, 1974. Reprinted by Helter Skelter Publishing, London 1997 quote from Chapter Four, page 103)
5. ^ ^{a b} James, Gary. "Gary James' Interview With Mick Taylor of the Rolling Stones". http://www.classicbands.com/MickTaylorInterview.html. Retrieved 2008-02-21. 
6. ^ McPherson, Ian. "Track Talk: Honky Tonk Women". http://www.timeisonourside.com/SOHonky.html. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
7. ^ ^{a b} Zentgraf, Nico. "The Complete Works of the Rolling Stones 1962-2008". http://www.nzentgraf.de/books/tcw/works1.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-24. 
8. ^ McPherson, Ian. "Track Talk: Sticky Fingers". http://www.timeisonourside.com/lpFingers.html. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
9. ^ McPherson, Ian. "Track Talk: Exile on Main Street". http://www.timeisonourside.com/lpExile.html. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
10. ^ Davis, Stephen, Old Gods Almost Dead: The 40-Year Odyssey of The Rolling Stones, pp. 377-378, Broadway Books, ISBN 0-7679-0312-9, 2004
11. ^ Elliott, M - The Rolling Stones Complete Recording Sessions, page 220. Cherry Red Books, 2002. ISBN 1-901447-04-9
12. ^ Davis 2004, p. 387.
13. ^ "Mick Taylor Biography" Allmusic, accessed 04 Sept 2007
14. ^ Davis 2004, p. 391
15. ^ A Life On The Road, Virgin Books 1999
16. ^ Guitar World, Oct 2002, reprinted in Guitar Legends Jan 2007
17. ^ "The Rolling Stones Biography". The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc.. http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/the-rolling-stones. 
18. ^ McPherson, Ian. "Track Talk: Tattoo You". http://www.timeisonourside.com/lpTattoo.html. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
19. ^ " Waiting For Columbus tracklist and mp3 excerpts"
20. ^ Tony Sanchez, Up and Down with the Rolling Stones, published by Signet Books (New American Library), New York, 1979, republished by Da Capo Press, New York, 1996
21. ^ [1]"Daily Mail article heavily sensationalised by Bob Graham, who was not actually granted an interview by Taylor", 13 September 2009
22. ^ Sunday Express interview by Robin Eggar, July 2001
23. ^ Prato, Greg. "Shadow Man". Allmusic. Archived from the original on 2011-10-23. http://www.webcitation.org/62e8dMvJz. Retrieved 2011-10-23. "There's a bit of false advertising behind the 2003 double-disc Mick Taylor release, Shadow Man. The album in question is not a Taylor solo recording, but rather it features Taylor as a sideman, to a singer named Sasha Gracanin." 
24. ^ "Mike Oldfield (with Mick Taylor, Steve Hillage and members of Henry Cow, Gong and Soft Machine) - Tubular Bells (Live BBC Video 1973)". MOG. http://mog.com/Willard/blog/1252954. Retrieved 2009-05-23. 
25. ^ "Keith Richards 1959 Les Paul Standard". Richard Henry Guitars. http://www.richardhenryguitars.com/keith.aspx. Retrieved 2009-09-29. 

External links

• Mick Taylor.net
• Interview with Gary James from classicbands.com
• Interview with JAZZed Magazine. Oct 2007
• Rolling Stone Magazine article about Exile on Main Street
• UK Daily Mail article about Mick Taylor. Jan 2007

Persondata
Name	Taylor, Mick
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	17 January 1949
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death