Song:Disco Lady
Album:Lifetime
Johnnie Taylor is one of the all time soul greats best known for his 60s Stax recordings. But his only number one hit was Disco Lady in 1976 after Stax closed. Taylor was born May 5, 1934 in Crawfordsville, AR. He grew up in nearby West Memphis. He grew up singing in church. Eventually he moved to Chicago and he replaced Sam Cooke in The Soul Stirrers. The two were close friends. And when Taylor left gospel for secular music, he signed with Cooke's label SAR. Taylor released a few singles. After Cooke's 1964 murder, Taylor signed with Stax. His biggest hit at Stax was Who's Making Love in 1968. That was a top five pop hit. Taylor was a staple on the R&B charts until Stax began to have financial problems and went bankrupt in 1975. Taylor signed with Columbia. Fortunately he brought longtime producer Don Davis with him. Davis had left Stax for Chess to work with The Dramatics. But he continued to work with Taylor. When The Dramatics left Chess for ABC, Davis became a producer for hire. So Davis produced Taylor's 1976 album Eargasm. Disco Lady topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks. Disco Lady was written by Harvey Scales and Al Vance. Scales led The Seven Sounds in the 60s but he had most of his success as a songwriter. He brought Disco Lady to Davis who reworked it with P-Funk's Bernie Worrell and Bootsy Collins. P-Funk's guitarist Glenn Goins and drummer Jerome Brailey also played on the record. Columbia then tried to turn Taylor into a disco singer. They even brought in former Wilson Pickett producer Brad Shapiro. But it didn't work and Taylor left Columbia in 1980. This 3CD Stax box set is the only place you can get Disco Lady and Taylor's Stax hits. Taylor signed with Malaco in 1984 after he sang at ZZ Hill's funeral. He recorded some great albums for Malaco mostly at Muscle Shoals. Taylor also worked for KKDA radio in Dallas. He continued to record for Malaco and tour until he died of a heart attack on May 31, 2000 at age 66. Taylor's complicated personal life was chronicled on the Investigation Discovery series The Will: Family Secrets Revealed. Here's Johnnie Taylor performing Disco Lady on Soul Train 1976.
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