Michael Kevin "Mick" Taylor (born 17 January 1949) is an English musician best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones. He is well known for his skills as a slide guitar player. He also plays piano, bass and drums.
Life
Taylor during the Rolling Stones 1972 tour of North America in June, at Winterland in San Francisco
He formed his first band The Gods in 1965. He played together with Ken Hensley (later with Uriah Heep). Other musicians were Greg Lake (later with Emerson, Lake and Palmer) and John Glascock. 1966 he left the band and joined John Mayall´s Bluesbreakers. He replaced there Peter Green. In June 1969 the Rolling Stones looked for a new guitarist and they found Mick Taylor. His first gig as band member of the Stones was the concert in Hyde Park on 5 July 1969 . The concert was in memory of the late Brian Jones.
Like Bill Wyman he was never the show man on stage. Due to Richards drug problem he did a lot of guitar work for the albums. Jagger and Taylor recorded Sway, Moonlight Mile, Winter, Till the Next Goodbye and Time Waits For No One. But Taylor never earned money for this work. As Richards critizied his guitar playing he decided in December 1974 to leave the Stones.
Taylor's onstage presence with the Rolling Stones is preserved on the album Get Yer Ya-Yas Out!, recorded in New York and 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.
Compared to the Rolling Stones time his solo career was not very successful. After leaving the Stones he formed together with Jack Bruce, Carla Bley and Bruce Gary the Jack Bruce Band. The project failed due to musical differences between Bruce and Taylor. But despite the split Taylor was often guitar player on solo projects of Rolling Stones members. For example he played om Richards album "Talk is cheap" from 1988. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Mick Taylor along with the Rolling Stones in 1989.In the early 1990s he played for Bill Wyman´s Rhythm Kings.
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)
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
"Slim's Got His Thing Goin' On" (Sunnyland Slim) (World Pacific Records 1969)
Tubular Bells PremiereMike 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[2] and aired in early '74 and June '74. Available on Oldfield's Elements DVD.
Live European TourBilly 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)
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)
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.
↑Prato, Greg. "Shadow Man". Allmusic. Archived from the original on 2011-10-23. 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.
