Artist:Livingston Taylor
Song:I Will Be in Love with You
Album:The Middle Years (1978-1996)
Of course most music fans are familiar with singer songwriter James Taylor. But you may not be familiar with his siblings as James was the only one to have wide success. Livingston Taylor probably came the closest in the 70s. But I always thought he sounded too much like James to be successful. And there are other factors. Livingston Taylor was born Nov. 21, 1950 in Boston. He is the fourth of the five Taylor siblings in this order: Alex, James, Kate, Livingston and Hugh. His father was a physician and a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His mom studied music at Berklee in Boston. Mom led family sing a longs and even had the kids form a band. This was mostly steeped in folk music like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. She encouraged them to write by holding up a can of vegetables and telling them to write a song about it. When Alex started earning money by performing at parties, Livingston got serious about music. Livingston started performing locally in Chapel Hill in a folk music trio. They were a cover band. He started writing songs in high school. Then manager Manny Greenhill got Livingston a gig at a Worcester, MA. YMCA. That led to shows at Boston University and on one of those shows, he opened for Joni Mitchell. He was spotted by producer Jon Landau (Bruce Springsteen) and he got Livingston a record deal at Phil Walden's new label Capricorn Records. He recorded three albums for Capricorn and Landau produced the first two Livingston Taylor (1970) and Liv (1971). By this time, James Taylor was already successful. There's nothing wrong with Livingston Taylor's music but he sounds too much like his brother. And James was on the much larger Warner Bros. Records. Livingston left Capricorn for Epic and released the 1978 album 3-Way Mirror. The lead single I Will Still Be in Love With You reached #30 on the Billboard Hot 100. It would turn out to be the highest chart placing of his career. He's done well on the Adult Contemporary chart and that's where he has been aiming his music since the late 70s. Livingston wrote all the songs o n the album. Nick DeCaro produced. He's an Easy Listening recording artist and he produced The Sandpipers and Chris Montez when he worked for A&M in the 60s. Livingston Taylor continues to record. This comp of original recordings is on his own label. He also teaches at Berklee in Boston. So Livingston Taylor has had a long career. But he was never a top star. He's done OK. Here's Livingston Taylor performing I Will Still Be in Love with You with the BBC Concert Orchestra June 2025. I think this is from his latest album.
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