Artist:Johnnie Taylor
Song:Steal Away
Album:Live At The Summit Club
Here's a long lost live recording from a legendary soul singer who had a lot of longevity because of his ability to adapt to changing musical trends. Johnnie Taylor was born May 5, 1934 in Crawfordsville, AR. He grew up singing in church in nearby West Memphis and moved to Kansas City to sing with the gospel group The Melody Kings. It was here that he met Sam Cooke and in 1957 Taylor replaced Cooke in The Soul Stirrers. Then Taylor signed with Cooke's Sar label in 1961. After Cooke's death, Taylor moved back to Memphis and signed with Stax in 1965. His biggest hit was 1968's Who's Making Love which was a top 5 pop hit. In the early 70s Taylor became more of a soul crooner and continued to have success. Live At The Summit Club was recorded in 1972 as part of the Wattstax festival in Los Angeles. But Taylor was barely in the film and these recordings were never released. When Concord Jazz purchased Fantasy Records last year, one of the first things they did was release Live At The Summit Club. Taylor is fantastic and this is a must for soul fans. Of course Stax went broke in 1975 and Taylor had his biggest hit Disco Lady in 1976. And then he went back to a grittier blues sound for many years for Malaco Records until his death of a heart attack on May 31, 2000 at age 66. Here's Johnnie Taylor performing Jody Got Your Girl And Gone from the film Wattstax in 1972.
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