James Vernon Taylor has always had a great deal of affection for the Carolina’s as heard in his song lyrics, North Carolina in particular, but did you know he was actually born in Boston in 1948? The family moved to Chapel Hill, NC when James was three, where growing up James enjoyed the upper class stylings of the south and the early days of folk music. James has won five Grammys and has sold over 100 million albums.
James has struggled with addition much of his adult life, the primary reason for his break up with wife Carly Simon and dark lyrics. The song “Fire and Rain’ written in 1970 was inspired by the suicide of a childhood friend and his own addictions.
Although James is considered an acoustic guitar virtuoso, his first musical instrument (pushed by his well to do parents) was the cello. James moved away from the cello in his early years to learn the guitar. Hey! Chicks don’t dig the cello, but instead dig the guitar!
James was inducted into both the Song Writers and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame in 2000. He’s also in the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame, and has an honorary doctorate from Williams University in MA. Perhaps his greatest accomplishment was being honored with a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.
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