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Sam "Bluzman" Taylor
Sam "Bluzman" Taylor (October 25, 1934 – January 5, 2009) was an American blues singer, songwriter, producer, actor, musician. Born in Mobile, Alabama. Taylor cut his teeth early in music, beginning singing gospel at age 3. His Long Island connection began in 1957, during his service in the United States Air Force. He was stationed at the Westhampton Beach Air Force Base and was only a short distance from the blues mecca of the east end, Flanders, where the Blue Bird Inn was infamous. The Blue Bird let Taylor learn the ropes. During much the same time, he was a prime-ribbed championship boxer so he learned other ropes, too.
After leaving the service in 1959, Taylor lived in Riverhead. His first major professional gig was as Maxine Brown's bandleader at the Apollo Theater and his first big 1 R&B hit was "Funny". As an artist himself often going under the name Sammy Taylor, he recorded for various labels including Capitol Records. The author of hundreds of songs, many of them hits and some even gold records like "Do It 'Til You're Satisfied", performed by the BT Express, Taylor's handiwork can be heard rendered by Freddie King, Son Seals, Jimmy Witherspoon, Jay and the Americans, Joey Dee, Maxine Brown and Joe Tex. Taylor also was bandleader/guitarist for the likes of Big Joe Turner, The Isley Brothers, Tracy Nelson, Otis Redding and more notably Sam and Dave.
Taylor and his partner Bennie Earl wrote two of Sam and Dave's early hits "People in Love" & "Listening For My Name" when the Florida duo recorded for Roulette Records predating their later success with Stax/Volt. Taylor was also original member/guitarist of Joey Dee and the Starliters, which is considered to be the first integrated rock and roll band that contributed to the twist-dance craze with the "Peppermint Twist". With fellow Starliter Dave Brigatti, he had a huge influence on The Rascals which included Brigatti's younger brother Eddie Brigatti. Taylor was also a mentor too, and wrote some of the first songs for The Vagrants which included innovative rock guitarist Leslie West who went on to form the rock group Mountain. After recording and appearing in two movies with the Starliters including Two Tickets to Paris, Taylor gave up his position to a guitarist by the name of James Marshall, who later became known as Jimi Hendrix. At the start of the 1970s, Sam & Bennie were hired as staff writers for The Beach Boys new record label, Brother Records.
In the early 1970s, Taylor released his opus Tunnels Of My Mind on the GRT Corporation record label.Through the 1970s, Taylor spent his days writing, producing, arranging and teaching more notably for 1970s Funk/Soul group B.T Express, to whom he became a mentor. He can be heard on the group's first four albums including one of their biggest hits "Peace Pipe", but unscrupulous business practices and the changes wrought by the disco era pushed him out of the business and off Long Island. Taylor publicly voiced the fact that many record labels made broken promises to record him as an artist but chose to keep him behind the scenes out of fear of his own tremendous talent and at the same time, meager portions of the finances. In the late 70s, he moved to Santa Monica, California, where he created a scene of his own at Venice Beach that attracted fellow artists like Rickie Lee Jones and good friend Albert Collins, but drugs and medical problems were a challenge.
Through the advice of his friend Kidd Squid, he moved to Tucson, Arizona where a supportive blues community helped him heal as he became a celebrity of the town including having a top rated radio show called "The Blues According To Sam" & a weekly cable TV show called "Down To Earth". These ventures also led to Sam doing various acting jobs with the likes of Barbara Eden, Lou Gossett jr, Mario Van Peebles & more notably "Tapeheads" with John Cusack & Tim Robbins. This opened the door for his son Bobby Taylor who had a promising career after winning thirteen times at New York's Apollo Theatre. Like his father, however, he became victim to drug addiction in the 1980s. Bobby got clean and won fame in Tucson with his R&B/Soul band The Real Deal Featuring Karen Brooks, along with cousin Jacques "Showbiz" Taylor and sometimes his nephew Lawrence "L*A*W" Taylor-Worrell. Bobby died of heart failure in the mid-1990s and that was when Sam realized it was time to get back to his family and Long Island. Upon his return and through his grandson L*A*W, Sam discovered that his music was being sampled by rap artists. The song he wrote for B.T Express "Everything That's Good To Ya (Aint Always Good For Ya) has become one of hip-hop's most recognizable and favorite samples thanks to Epmd, Ma$e, Beanie Seagle and more successfully DMX whose first 1 hit "Get At Me Dog" included the song. Originally, actions to sue were formed but after the companies agreed to pay monies owed to Taylor.
Taylor was a resident of Central Islip until his death and was recognized as the blues' elder statesman there. Between his return and his death, Taylor released five CDs including Blue Tears, Voice of the Blues a live recording from his 2004 Riverhead Blues Fest set, Bluzman Back Home and "Portrait: The Funk Side Of Sam". He hosted WUSB (FM)'s "Blues With A Feeling" radio show until his death.
Taylor was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2006, which is second to him being inducted into the Arizona Blues Hall Of Fame in 1997. Just before his death, he released his autobiography "Caught In The Jaws Of The Blues". His grandson L*A*W is becoming well-known in the industry circles for his Hip-Hop/Funk-Rock/R&B hybrid known as "Tha Planet 12 Sound" and for his extensive work with Funk Legend George Clinton as the lead singer of the P-Funk affiliated 420 Funkmob and singing with British superstar Amy Winehouse and just recently had his songs "Get Hollywood On Em" & "Get Down" played on MTV's The Real World: Hollywood and Oxygen's The Bad Girls Club. After several show combacks & signs of remarkable strength, Taylor died January 5, 2009 at his home in Islandia, New York of complications associated with heart disease. He was 74
