James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is a Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter and guitarist born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Carrboro, North Carolina. He currently owns a home in Berkshire County, Massachusetts.
Taylor's career began in the mid-1960s, but his commercial and critical breakthrough came with the 1970 album Sweet Baby James, a collection of sensitive and introspective songs ranked among the greatest folk rock albums ever.[who?] He was part of a wave of singer-songwriters of the time that also included Cat Stevens, Carole King, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Tom Rush, and Jackson Browne, as well as Carly Simon, whom Taylor later married, although the marriage did not last.
During the early seventies his work achieved success among critics and the public, with hit singles like Fire and Rain and the U.S. number-one You've Got a Friend, a cover of Carole King's song. His 1976 album Greatest Hits was certified diamond and has sold more than 11 million copies. After the very successful JT (1977), he retained a large audience over the decades. His commercial achievements slipped down until a big resurgence during the late nineties and early 2000s, when some of his best-selling and most-awarded albums (Hourglass, October Road and Covers) were released.
