He was a member of "John Mayall's Bluesbreakers" and later of "The Rolling Stones".
He has collaborated with great artists such as: Bob Dylan, Mike Oldfield, Jack Bruce, and with the psychedelic-progressive band "Gong". Even Slash noted that he was greatly influenced by him.
(Photo: Larry Rogers)
Here are some interesting facts about guitarist and musician Mick Taylor:
1. He was born in England on January 17, 1949, and named Michael Kevin Taylor.
2. He started playing the guitar at the age of 9. The one who taught him at the beginning of his career was his uncle - his mother's brother.
3. He formed his first band "The Juniors" when he was in high school, they managed to appear on TV and release a single.
4. In 1965 when he was only 16 years old, he formed the band "The Gods" together with keyboardist Ken Hensley.
5. In April 1966 he went to a performance of "John Mayall's Bluesbreakers", which was held at the "Hop Community Center" in the town of Welwyn Garden City. It was a fateful moment for him. For no apparent reason, guitarist Eric Clapton, who was part of John Mayall's band, did not take the stage. The first set was played without him when Mick Taylor jumped at the chance after the intermission and asked Mayall to come up and replace Clapton. John agreed after a brief deliberation.
6. John Mayall did not forget the 16-year-old boy who stepped into Eric Clapton's big shoes, and a year later after Peter Green left the band to form "Fleetwood Mac", Mick Taylor was chosen as the band's guitarist.
7. Taylor, joined the band in 1966 and was a member until 1969, releasing four studio albums with the band, from "Crusade" in 1967 to "Blues from Laurel Canyon" in 1968.
8. During his time in John Mayall's band, Jones developed his playing technique and even began playing the slide guitar.
9. After guitarist Brian Jones left "The Rolling Stones" in June 1969, John Mayall recommended Mick Taylor as a guitarist to replace him. Taylor was asked by Keith Richards, and Mick Jagger to come to the studio He was pretty sure he was going to record with the "Stones" as a session guitarist. However, the very next day the members informed him that he had been accepted into the band, and he recorded with them 4 songs intended for the band's next album, including "Honky Tonk Women" and "Let It Bleed".
10. Taylor's first appearance with "The Rolling Stones" was at their famous free concert in Hyde Park, held on July 5, 1969, in front of an audience of 250,000 people, just one month after Brian Jones was left out of The band, in June 1969 John Mayall was the one who recommended Mick Taylor to "The Rolling Stones". Taylor was then only 20 years old !!!
11. Taylor was a member of the band until 1974 and took part in its masterful albums such as: "Let It Bleed", "Sticky Fingers", "Goats Head Soup" and "Exile on Main St".
12. During the recordings of "It's Only Rock' n Roll" album, disagreements arose between Taylor, Jagger, and Richard. But "the final straw" was the fact that Taylor found out from reviewing the album cover, that he did not receive any credit for the Songs he wrote.
13. In December 1974 Taylor announced that he was leaving the band His successor was Ronnie Wood, who co-recorded the theme song of the album "It's Only Rock 'n Roll" along with David Bowie, who performed background vocals.
14. Before leaving "The Rolling Stones" and before Ronny Wood joined the band, Taylor played guitar, bass, and keyboards on Ronnie Wood's solo album, which was released in September 1974 and was titled: "I've Got My Own Album to Do".
15. Taylor will also play guitar on Wood's second solo album - "Now Look", which was released in July 1975.
16. Although he was no longer part of "The Rolling Stones", Mick received credit for two of the band's songs from the excellent album "Tattoo You", released in 1981. Recordings of "Tops" and "Waiting on a Friend" began in 1973, during the sessions for the album "Goats Head Soup" and Mick Taylor was a part of the band while recording them.
(Photo: popexpresso.com)
17. Despite leaving "the Stones", the friendships between Taylor and the band members were maintained, and he was occasionally invited to be a guest guitarist on their live performances.
18. Further proof that the membership was preserved, can be found in the fact that Taylor was invited to play on the album "Talk Is Cheap". Keith Richards' first solo album, from 1988.
19. While he was a member of "The Rolling Stones", Taylor collaborated with Mike Oldfield during a tour to promote the album "Tubular Bells", in 1973.
20. In 1983 Taylor played alongside Mark Knopfler on Bob Dylan's album "Infidels". Taylor also played on Dylan's 23rd album from 1985 - "Empire Burlesque".
21. Taylor collaborated with many more artists, including Jack Bruce, Joan Jett, "Little Feat", "Gong" on the album "Expresso II" and later with "Pierre Moerlen's Gong" on the album "Downwind" and more.
22. In addition, Taylor released 2 solo albums, the first named after him in 1979 and the second - "A Stone's Throw" from 1998.