Floyd Taylor (Just Think If He Were Alive...)
Daddy B. Nice's #16 ranked Southern Soul Artist
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Floyd Taylor (Just Think If He Were Alive...)Daddy B. Nice's #16 ranked Southern Soul Artist |
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"I Love Being In Love With You" Floyd Taylor (Just Think If He Were Alive...) Composed by Charles Richard Cason March 5, 2022:
...I just heard me some Floyd Taylor and came away amazed by how accessible and relevant his music sounded, not to mention how reminiscent of the Johnnie Taylor era. It made me wonder where musically Floyd Taylor would be today if he were still alive. What spot would he hold in the current echelon of southern soul stars? Of the top current performers, it would seem Tucka might be most closely related. And only think of how popular Tucka is.
February 21, 2014: Floyd Taylor Obituary FLOYD TAYLOR DIES (Scroll down for services.) Acclaimed contemporary Southern Soul singer Floyd Taylor, the son of the late, legendary soul singer Johnnie Taylor and Chicagoan Mildred Singletary, passed away February 21, 2014. According to soulandjazzandfunk.com, Floyd's stepbrother, recording artist TJ Hooker Taylor, reported that, "He died pretty much the way my dad died: a heart attack at the age of 60." "Dad" of course was soul legend Johnnie Taylor who died of a heart attack aged just 66. 
Born in 1954, Floyd Taylor was the #39-ranked Southern Soul performer on Daddy B. Nice's original Top 100 Southern Soul Artists, (covering the years 1990 through 2010) and had recently moved up to the #16-ranked recording artist on Daddy B. Nice's new Top 100 21st Century Southern Soul Countdown (covering the years 2000 through 2014). In the seventies, during Johnnie Taylor's "Disco Lady" phase, Floyd began reaping the benefits of being Johnnie's son, accompanying his famous father on tours and Kool Jazz Festival shows. The exposure to the R&B world continued over the next two decades, with young Floyd watching and absorbing the work of his father and fellow musicians. Along the way, he met and played with a Who's Who of contemporary Southern Soul: Bobby "Blue" Bland, Marvin Sease, Tyrone Davis, Bobby Rush and many others. Taylor's first release, Legacy, appeared on Malaco Records in 2002, igniting a major buzz throughout the chitlin' circuit for a good year afterward, with one radio single after another from the album achieving favor. Taylor's concerts during this period, according to some fans, displayed a young performer torn between reprising the sound of his famous father and forging his own musical identity. There were still echoes of Johnnie Taylor on his second CD, No Doubt (Malaco), but overall the disc presented a mature performer with his own style. The albums You Still Got It (Malaco, 2007) and All Of Me (CDS, 2010) followed. In an updated assessment of Floyd Taylor posted last year, Daddy B. Nice wrote: The CD's have come deliberately, over well-spaced intervals--Legacy (2002), No Doubt (2005), You Still Got It (2007) and All Of Me (2010)--but oh, what an impact they've had. Each one has been a near-masterpiece, spawning a minimum of two or three--and sometimes more--bona fide Southern Soul hits. The voice is famously (and accurately) known as the reincarnation of Johnnie Taylor, and the material has featured the best songwriters the genre has to offer (Lawrence Harper, Harrison Calloway, George Jackson, etc.), and most notably the recently deceased Charles Richard Cason, whose compositions were perfectly realized in the peerless vocal work of the young artist: "Baby I've Changed," "I Love Being In Love With You," "Old School Style," "Slipped, Tripped, Stumbled And Fell," "You've Still Got It," "My Bad," "Step Into My Heart" and "Sweet Love," to name some of the most noted. Listen to Floyd Taylor singing "Old School Style" on YouTube. In recent years, including his 2010 album ALL OF ME, Floyd Taylor had been collaborating with songwriter/producer Simeo Overall, notching a major Southern Soul single with "I'm 'Bout It 'Bout It. The pair was poised to release a new single, "It's On Me," with Mel Waiters assisting on vocals, as news of his death broke. Floyd Taylor was currently performing on northern legs of the Blues Is Alright Tour, with an upcoming show slated for March 15, 2014 in Merrillville, Indiana, outside Chicago. See Daddy B. Nice's Concert Calendar. February 25, 2014: Services for Floyd Taylor VISITATION Friday MARCH 7th 6 to 9 pm Leak and Sons Funeral Chapel 7838 S Cottage Grove Ave Chicago, IL (773) 846-6567 WAKE Saturday MARCH 8th, 10 am Omega Missionary Baptist Church 4627 S STATE ST CHICAGO, IL 60609-4602 (773) 536-7514 FUNERAL SERVICES Saturday March 8th, 11 am Omega Missionary Baptist Church 4627 S STATE ST CHICAGO, IL 60609-4602 (773) 536-7514 *********** February 1, 2014: NEW ALBUM ALERT! Sample/Buy Floyd Taylor's new SHUT UP DOWN CD. *********** Note: Floyd Taylor also appears on Daddy B. Nice's original Top 100 Southern Soul Artists (90's-00's). The "21st Century" after Floyd Taylor's name in the headline is to distinguish his artist-guide entries on this page from his artist-guide page on Daddy B. Nice's original chart. ************ February 17, 2013: Much of the following critique comes from a Daddy B. Nice CD review written in the summer of 2010, and in re-writing a few sections I have made the commendations, if anything, even loftier. The album has aged well, and of all Floyd's CD's now appears to be the most comparable to the Floyd Taylor debut LEGACY, with 2007's YOU STILL GOT IT a strong runner-up. DBN. ********* February 17, 2013: The CD's have come deliberately, over well-spaced intervals--Legacy (2002), No Doubt (2005), and You Still Got It (2007)--but oh, what an impact they've had. Each one has been a near-masterpiece, spawning a minimum of two or three--and sometimes more--bona fide Southern Soul hits. The voice is famously (and accurately) known as the reincarnation of Johnnie Taylor, and the material has featured the best songwriters the genre has to offer (Lawrence Harper, Harrison Calloway, George Jackson, etc.), and most notably the recently deceased Charles Richard Cason, whose compositions were perfectly realized in the peerless vocal work of the young artist: "Baby I've Changed," "I Love Being In Love With You," "Old School Style," "Slipped, Tripped, Stumbled And Fell," "You've Still Got It," "My Bad," "Step Into My Heart" and "Sweet Love," to name but a few. Listen to Floyd Taylor singing "I Love Being In Love With You" on YouTube while you read. There are more flamboyant young Southern Soul stars, but none of whom one can say they always excelled, they never failed. So the appearance of a new CD by Floyd Taylor on a new label, CDS (the first three were published by Malaco), featuring material written by a new slate of younger-generation songwriters, represents a dramatic departure. And while the audience may have asssumed that much of Floyd's early success was the result of his access to his famous father's supporting cast and their cumulative knowledge and advisement, the new CD, All Of Me, confirms the conviction of many close watchers of Southern Soul music over the last decade that it's Floyd's talent, painstaking craftsmanship and patience in picking material that has made his music so consistently memorable. As most soul and blues fans are already aware, All Of Me is anchored by "All Of You, All Of Me," the most vintage-sounding FT song on the CD and the single that has been lighting up Southern Soul radio all summer. The ballad, written by S. E. Powell and Izk Jenkins, is an Earl Powell project. (You may remember Earl Powell from the worthy single, "If You Catch Me Sleeping (Walk On By)" from the You Still Got It album.) Four of the ten songs on the album are written by the fresh-sounding composing duo of Izk Jenkins and Sidney Jones, the latter also being responsible for the music and production of those tunes. Jones and Jenkins are the creative geniuses behind the amazing "That's My Lady (Me & My Lady)," a super-atmospheric slow jam that should be the next single. Floyd sinks his teeth into the lyrics and doesn't let go. His phrasing and enunciation are a miracle to witness, and the background vocals lend just the right touch of airy sophistication. "Wanna Make Love" is nearly as good, with a soft, insistent hook that approximates the romantic pulse of foreplay and its accompanying obsessions, and "Baby I Love You" is a little more generic but just as typically well-done. The big surprise of All Of Me is Floyd's teaming up with southern soul-slash-hiphop firebrand Simeo Overall for both the material and production of no less than five of the ten cuts on the CD. The even bigger surprise is that the tactic works. The new songs aren't better than the old-school FT songs--that would be nearly impossible given their classic ambience--but neither are they embarrassing by comparison. There is no noticeable drop-off in quality. They sound like first-rate Floyd Taylor songs, which is a pretty amazing feat when you think of all the potential pitfalls, not to mention the high standards imposed on Taylor to match his early work. Simeo's "Everyone Celebrate," which opens the album, and "Someone To Love You," which closes it, are vivid illustrations. Floyd smooths out Simeo's "edge." There's still plenty of "edge" left over, and in the process the slicker, smoother Floyd gains access to those inner depths the deeper Simeo is able to plumb for musical inspiration. Other than Floyd's voice, these new songs do not sound like classic Taylor vehicles, and yet they are undeniably soulful. Even the uptempo "I'm 'Bout It 'Bout It" succeeds not only because it's at its heart a catchy hook but because Floyd engages it with so much enthusiasm So a kind of magic does happen. Floyd Taylor wraps his voice around the Overall compositions, making them thoroughly his own, even when Simeo sings prominent back-up, which by the way burnishes the songs with yet another soulful dimension. From Simeo, who has always had trouble translating his hiphop-sleek sound into Southern Soul, the collaboration with Taylor represents his finest and most realized work to date. Listen to split-still-picture videos (Floyd first, Simeo second) of Floyd Taylor singing and Simeo remixing "I'm 'Bout It 'Bout It" on YouTube. But it's Floyd vocal magic that transforms the material on the CD, well-written and well-chosen as it is. On "Someone To Love You" Floyd takes what would in Simeo's delivery be a heartfelt but weepy outing and makes it resonate with pure, optimistic love: the sunshine, as it were, to Simeo's shade. With Simeo singing such strong backup, the song blossoms into a beautiful, Simon & Garfunkel-like exercise in harmony, all done with a scintillating precision that doesn't sacrifice any of the real emotion. All Of Me showcases the one artist in Southern Soul who above all should appeal to the neo-soul crowd--the kind of people who like Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings or Syleena Johnson. Floyd Taylor's Southern Soul brings a lot more to the table musically, as fans of the genre already know and neo-soul fans have yet to find out, but the commercial crossover potential is intriguing to ponder, nonetheless. It's the sign of an artist coming into his own--an artist becoming big enough to render musical labels meaningless. --Daddy B. Nice Bargain-Priced All Of Me CD Sample and Buy Floyd Taylor music on iTunes. --Daddy B. Nice About Floyd Taylor (Just Think If He Were Alive...) Floyd Taylor was born in Chicago and raised by his mother, Mildred Singletary. Floyd began performing locally while holding day jobs in hospitals, then--in the seventies during father Johnnie Taylor's "Disco Lady" phase--began reaping the benefits of being Johnnie's son, accompanying his famous father on tours and Kool Jazz Festival shows.
Song's Transcendent Moment "You're my first.
Tidbits 1.
If You Liked. . . You'll Love If you liked Dennis Edwards' "Don't Look Any Further," you'll love Floyd Taylor's "I Love Being In Love With You."
Honorary "B" Side "I'm 'Bout It 'Bout It (w/ Simeo)" |
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