Michael Kevin Taylor He was born on January 17, 1949, in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England and grew up in the London suburb of Hatfield.
At the young age of 9 he took up the guitar for the first time, inspired by his guitarist uncle. A few years later and into the mid-1960s, he played alongside obscure local artists such as the Juniors and Gods, and during that time he thoroughly studied blues guitarists such as Freddie King and Albert King.
People say that Taylor was in the audience of a John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers show in Hertfordshire during June 1966, a concert to which Bluesbreakers guitarist Eric Clapton was unable to perform, so Taylor He offered to replace him, and after doing so, Mayall was very impressed. But before the two of them could talk about the possibility of continuing to work together, Taylor He had already left the venue without any contact information so the band ended up hiring Peter Green instead.
A year later Green left the group and Mayall was finally able to track down Taylor through an ad and they immediately offered to join them. Taylor participated in the albums of Mayall “Diary of a Band“,”Crusade“,”Bare Wires” Y “Laurel Canyon Blues“.
Around 1969, Taylor He was no longer well with the Bluesbreakers and when The Rolling Stones asked him about his availability, he did not hesitate to accept.
After a brief detour into psychedelia, the Stones had returned to their blues roots and Taylor managed to play on some tracks for the album “Let it bleed“. The guitar duo made up of Taylor and Keith Richards became one of the best in rock. However, the best was yet to come as shown by classics like “Sticky fingers“and the double album”Exile on Main St.“, in which he received one of his few” official “composition credits for”Ventilator Blues“.
But after getting so high, a drop was to be expected, which came with not-so-stellar releases like “Goats Head Soup” Y “It’s Only Rock N ‘Roll“.
While the Stones continued to be one of the biggest rock bands in the world, Taylor He was increasingly restless, and this added to the lifestyle of the group, which was beginning to weigh heavily on him, led him to surprisingly leave the group in 1975.
Immediately after his departure from the Stones, Taylor he joined the Jack Bruce Band, a fact that did not last long. Towards the end of the 70’s, he collaborated with the recordings of various artists (Ron Wood’s Now Look, Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, Gong’s Expresso II, Little Waiting for Columbus, until he finally decided to go solo.
The year 1979 came the release of his self-titled debut, considered the best of his solo releases, and the early years of the 80’s were spent touring and collaborating with other artists such as Alvin Lee, a meeting with the John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, and even Bob Dylan.
Around this time the Rolling Stones released “Tattoo You“, an album that featured updated versions of previously unreleased tracks dating back to the early 1970s, some of which were unaccredited guitar works by Taylor.
Later, Taylor He worked alongside American rocker Carla Olson, and continued his solo career by performing concerts on both the east and west coasts of the United States.
As a result of this series of concerts, a couple of live solo albums emerged such as “Stranger in this town” Y “1991 is too hot for snakes“.
Towards the middle of the 90’s he went to live in England and continued producing records such as “Live at the 14 Below“from 1995 and”A Stone’s Throw“from 1999. He later teamed up with former Pink Floyd / Thin guitarist Lizzy Snowy White and bassist Kuma Harada with whom he continued to work on different projects.