Chip Taylor was born James Wesley Voight in the city of Yonkers, just north of New York City, in 1940. He was the younger brother of actor Jon Voight and thus the uncle of Angelina Jolie.
First hit
After trying to become a professional golfer like his father, Elmer Voight, Taylor decided to enter the music industry. There he had his first big hit with "Wild Thing", which was first recorded by The Wild Ones, but it was the British group The Troggs who had great success with the song in 1966. The music video was shot in the Odenplan subway in Stockholm.
He formed a duo, Just Us, with colleague Al Gorgoni and they had a minor hit with "I can't grow peaches on a cherry tree".
In 1967, Chip Taylor wrote "Angel of the Morning," which was recorded by singer Evie Sands and became a hit for Merilee Rush the following year. The most successful version, however, was Juice Newton's from 1981, which reached number four on the Billboard charts. It was also sampled by Shaggy, whose song "Angel" reached number one on the Billboard charts in 2001.
Chip Taylor wrote many more songs during his career, including "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)", which was sung by Janis Joplin.
Last album
During the 1980s and 1990s, Chip Taylor was, according to his own account, a gambling addict and supported himself by betting on cards and horses. He returned to music in the mid-1990s and released about thirty albums. His last album, "Words from Holy Gardens," came out just a few weeks ago; on it Taylor processed the grief after the death of his wife, Joan, this summer.
He toured frequently in Scandinavia and played regularly in Stockholm, where he collaborated closely with the music company Rootsy Music, founded by Håkan Olsson in 2004.
Chip Taylor turned 86.
