sam taylor

For those of you who don’t know, Blues Legend, Sam Taylor, is quite the modest celebrity. Born in 1934 in Mobile, Alabama, he comes from four generations of gospel singers, banjo pickers, minstrel players and vaudeville people.

Sam has resided in Tucson for the last 11 years. Prior to that he had been living in the Los Angeles area for 13 years.

Sam has an illustrious background in the music scene. In the 50’s, he cut “Ain’t That Some Shame” with Bobby Robbins who owned Fire and Fury Records. Also on that label was Ike and the Aces — Ike Turner’s band.

To his credit, Sam was in one of the first big integrated bands in the country, Joey Dee and The Starliters (“Peppermint Twist”), playing the Peppermint Lounge during the Twist Craze.

Among the performers he’s played with are Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, T-Bone Walker, Solomon Burke, Little Johnny Taylor and Big Joe Turner, who called him the Crown Prince of the Blues.

Sam noted that he wrote a lot of songs for many people who made good money off of his work. He sold seven songs to the Rolling Stones, one of which they recorded — “Midnight Rambler” — a number that Sam says wasn’t even the best in the bunch. In all, his songs have been covered by a diversity of people from Freddy King to Tiny Tim.

Sam Taylor passed away on January 5, 2009 at the age of 74, in his Islandia, New York home.