Jimmy Bowen born 30 November 1937

James Albert Bowen (born November 30, 1937) is an American record producer and former rockabilly singer. Since the 1970s, Jimmy Bowen has been a powerful executive in the record industry; he's worked for several labels, but has stayed with MCA since 1986, and is acknowledged as one of the most influential figures in Nashville. 

Bowen was born in Santa Rita, New Mexico. His family moved to Dumas, Texas, when he was eight years old. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and holds an MBA with honours from Belmont University. He entered the business as a teenage rockabilly singer, landing a Top 20 hit in 1957 with "I'm Stickin' With You." The song was basic in the extreme, built around a thwacking bass riff, a singsong melody, and Bowen's own nervous, boyish vocals, suggesting that it may have been intended as nothing more than a demo. That indeed may have been close to the truth, as it was first released as a B-side to a song that made number one, Buddy Knox's "Party Doll." 

                             

Bowen and Knox's careers were bound together in an unusually close fashion that makes thumbnail sketches of their recording activities rather cumbersome and tangled. Knox (guitar, vocals) and Bowen (bass, vocals) met in the '50s and became the front men of a rockabilly combo, the Orchids. They were directed to Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, NM, by Roy Orbison. There the Orchids cut "Party Doll" (with Knox on vocals) and "I'm Stickin' With You" (with Bowen on bass).

The Rhythm Orchids

The tracks, both co-written by Knox/Bowen, were issued on the small Triple D label, the top side billed to Buddy Knox & the Orchids, the other to Jimmy Bowen & the Orchids. When the single was leased to Roulette for nationwide distribution, the company shrewdly divided the product into two separate singles. When both became hits, it found itself with two separate new stars, although nominally they were still part of the same group (now renamed, to further confuse matters, the Rhythm Orchids).

Bowen and Knox embarked on simultaneous solo careers for Roulette, although each continued to use the Rhythm Orchids as his backup band for quite a while. That accounts for the similar mild rockabilly-pop sound of each artist, but Knox was a far better singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist than Bowen; for that matter, he was far more successful, landing a string of smaller follow-up hits to "Party Doll." Bowen never entered the Top 20 again, although he did quite a bit of recording for Roulette in the late '50s. He found it hard to recapture the unforced bounce of "I'm Stickin' With You" and ultimately he abandoned a singing career, choosing to stay in the production end of the music industry. 

In the early 1960s, in Los Angeles, California, he bucked the decade's rock phenomenon when Frank Sinatra hired him as a record producer for Reprise Records, and Bowen showed a strong knack for production, generating chart hits for Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bert Kaempfert and Sammy Davis, Jr., regarded as too old-fashioned for the market at the time. Among the songs Bowen produced for Sinatra was the 1966 "Strangers in the Night", which went to No. 1 in the US and UK, and won three Grammy Awards in 1967, including Record of the Year for Bowen. 

Bowen with Keely Smith

In mid-1968, Bowen launched an independent record label, Amos Records, which lasted until 1971. Leaving Los Angeles for Nashville, Tennessee, Bowen became president of a series of record labels including Capitol, MGM, Elektra/Asylum, and MCA and took each one to country music pre-eminence. His success stories during the second half of the 1970s included Glen Campbell, Kenny Rogers, Hank Williams, Jr., The Oak Ridge Boys, Reba McEntire, George Strait, Suzy Bogguss, Kim Carnes and Garth Brooks in the 1980s. Bowen helped Conway Twitty make the album titled "Merry Twismas" in 1983, which was one of Conway's No. 1 selling albums. Bowen also revolutionized the way music was recorded in Nashville, introducing digital technology and modernizing the way instruments such as drums, for example, were recorded and mixed. 

Bowen with George Strait

Bowen produced his first movie soundtrack in 1970, for Vanishing Point, which was released in 1971 Other soundtracks include the movies Smokey and the Bandit II (1980), The Slugger's Wife (1985) and the soundtrack of the theater play Big River (1988). In 1988, Bowen founded a label named Universal Records (not to be confused with the much more famous Universal Records of 1995 to 2005), which he sold to Capitol Records a year later. 

During 2016 the former staffers of the Capitol Records office of the 1990s gathered to celebrate Jimmy Bowen  at Cabana restaurant in Hillsboro Village.The party was titled “Capitol Nashville During the Jimmy Bowen Years (1989-1995).” It was a nostalgic look back at what many of the attendees viewed as the most rewarding experience of their careers. 

Jimmy lives with his wife  Ginger in Longmont, Colorado but other sources state a move to Arizona (*) 

(Edited from AllMusic, Wikipedia & Radaris*)

Please note there is another Jimmy Bowen who is a bluegrass mandolin player who played with the Country gentlemen and his photographs are wrongly included in many of producer Bowen’s biographies. So beware!

Jody Miller born 29 November 1941

Jody Miller (born November 29, 1941) is an American country music singer. 

Raised in Oklahoma, she was born Myrna Joy Miller and, inspired by the music of Joan Baez, learned to play guitar at the age of 14. Soon after, Miller joined a folk trio and began performing at a local coffeehouse. Lou Gottlieb, a member of folk group the Limelighters, heard her sing and was impressed enough to offer to help her get a recording contract, provided she move to Los Angeles. Miller initially declined, as she had recently married, but eventually she and her husband went to California to test the waters. A friend of the family arranged an audition with Capitol Records, which signed Miller while suggesting that she change her name from Myrna to the folkier "Jody." 

In 1963, Miller recorded her debut album, Wednesday's Child Is Full of Woe, which did fairly well and led to appearances on Tom Paxton's folk music television show. In 1964, she had a minor pop hit with "He Walks Like a Man" but her breakthrough arrived in 1965, when "Queen of the House" reached number five on the country charts and number 12 on the pop charts. Billed early in her career as “The Little Girl with a Big Voice”, Jody Miller was Capitol Records most promising young female vocalist in the 1960s. In an era of petite belters who could shake the rafters with their powerful voices (Brenda Lee, Connie Francis, Lesley Gore, Timi Yuro, et al.), Jody was, for a time, the Capitol Tower’s contender for the title of Pop Music’s Top Princess 

                              

Despite her success on the country charts, Miller continued to have more hits as a pop act; "Silver Threads and Golden Needles," her follow-up to "Queen of the House," was a minor hit in the summer of 1965, as was the protest song "Home of the Brave." For several frenetic years in the 60s, Jody toured Hawaii with The Beach Boys, entertained at an air base in Alaska with Bob Hope, and performed shows with everyone from Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass to Don Rickles.

In the middle part of the decade, along with several other recording artists of the day, she also pioneered the music video format in some groundbreaking and eye-popping films for the Scopitone movie jukebox. A true road warrior, Jody’s musical journey has literally taken her around the globe —from England and Italy, to Japan and the Philippines. 

During the latter half of the '60s, she released a handful of albums and singles, none of which gained much attention.At the end of the '60s, Miller left the West Coast and returned to her Oklahoma ranch to spend more time with her family. After a few years of semi-retirement, she began recording with Billy Sherrill in Nashville in late 1970; the result, Look at Mine, was released in 1971 and featured a mixture of country-pop songs and a few traditional tunes. The album produced her first string of country hits, as "He's So Fine" and "Baby I'm Yours" reached the Top Ten, and several other songs from the record reached the Top 40. 

Throughout 1972 and 1973, Miller hit the Top Ten with regularity. However, her comeback ended as quickly as it began -- as of 1974, she no longer was able to crack the Top 40, although she did have a string of minor hits. She managed to bounce back into the Top 40 in 1977 with "Darling, You Can Always Come Back Home," but by and large, her career had stalled. In 1979, her contract with Epic expired and she chose to retire to her ranch with her family. 

Miller returned in 1987 with the independently released My Country, which consisted entirely of patriotic songs; it caught the attention of President-elect George H.W. Bush, who invited her to perform at his 1988 inaugural ball. Afterward, Miller's now-grown daughter Robin encouraged her to return to country music and the two formed a duo. In 1990, they tried to secure a record contract in Nashville, but were unsuccessful. 

Miller re-emerged as a gospel singer in the late '90s. She cut over a half dozen gospel albums (earning her induction into the International Country Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame in 1998 and her being named 1999’s Entertainer of the Year by the Country Gospel Music Guild), and has now resumed performing her country and pop hits in her shows. 

Throughout her entire career, Jody has proven to be such a gifted and versatile vocalist that it has often made classifying her as a singer almost next to impossible. In the past, however, this versatility in several different musical styles often created a dilemma for Jody when dealing with an industry so intent on pigeonholing performers. Exactly where, on the musical continuum, did she belong? The lady herself once asserted, “I love all music…from opera to the blues. One newspaper reporter once said my voice was smoky, but she really meant bluesy, I think. I could never be categorized. Maybe I shoulda done Broadway tunes…” 

With questioning her proper musical niche long a thing of the past, Jody Miller has amassed a multitude of awards, accomplishments and fans in a multi-faceted career She continues to perform live and sings her secular hits as well as her gospel material.. 

(Edited from AllMusic & Jody Miller Music) 

Berry Gordy born 28 November 1929

Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929), known professionally as Berry Gordy Jr., is an American record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record label and its subsidiaries, which was the highest-earning African-American business for decades. 

Berry Gordy, Jr., was born in 1929 and reared in Detroit. Gordy dropped out of Northeastern High School in his junior year to pursue a career as a Featherweight boxer. Between 1948 and 1951 he fought 15 Golden Gloves matches, 12 of which he won, but his fighting career was clipped short when he was drafted to serve in the Korean War. Upon his discharge from the Army in 1953, Berry Gordy returned to Detroit and used his service pay to open the Three-D Record Mart. His love for the jazz of Stan Kenton, Charlie Parker, and Thelonius Monk influenced his inventory more than his customers' requests for "things like Fats Domino," and his business soon failed. 

Gordy worked for his father for a short period and then as a chrome trimmer on the assembly line at the Ford Motor Company. The monotony was formidable, and Gordy's way of overcoming it was to write songs in his head, some of which were recorded by local singers. Decca Records bought several of his compositions, including "Reet Petite" and "Lonely Teardrops" (both recorded by Jackie Wilson), and when Gordy compared his royalty checks to what Decca made from the modest hits, he realized that writing the hits wasn't enough. He needed to own them. 

In 1959, again borrowing money from his father, he founded a music publishing company, Jobete, then two record labels, Tamla Record Company and later in the year Motown. Also in 1959 Gordy purchased the house on Detroit’s Grand Boulevard that would become known as Hitsville USA. He converted a photography studio near the back of the property into a recording studio, set up administrative offices on the first floor, and moved his family to the second floor of the two-family flat.

                              

In 1960, Gordy officially incorporated his company, Motown Records including Tamla Records under the Motown Record Corporation name. The company enjoyed quick success, with its first release “Money (That’s What I Want)” by Barrett Strong in 1960. That same year “Shop Around” by The Miracles was Motown’s first record to sell more than one million copies. In the late 1960s, Gordy lived in a 1917 Italianate mansion with pool house and five-car garage in Detroit’s Boston-Edison district, which he sold in 2002.

From 1961 to 1971, Motown Record Corporation enjoyed over one hundred Top Ten hits, from artists that included Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, The Marvelettes, Marvin Gaye, and The Four Tops. By 1966 the company was taking in $20 million and added four more properties to its Grand Boulevard headquarters. By 1967 there were five labels under the Motown umbrella. In 1972, Gordy moved Motown Records to Los Angeles. 

Although Gordy continued his songwriting, credited with co-authoring such hits as “Lonely Teardrops,” “I’ll be There,” and “Reet Petite,” among others, his talent lay in mainstreaming black popular music by finding talent and matching them with the right musical vehicle. He created an empire that encouraged creativity and polished its performers. 

After establishing his record firm that churned out hit after hit in production line fashion, he turned to the movie business, with successes like Lady Sings the Blues, Mahogany, and The Wiz. Gordy was quick to include his family in the business, hiring his father, who he calls his “biggest hero,” and mother for office of the president. His sister Esther had many key roles throughout the company, including founding the Motown Museum. 

Gordy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, the same year he sold his company to MCA, Inc. He retained control of Jobete, the music publishing operation, and Motown's film division, but sold the record label to the entertainment conglomerate for $61 million. He told the newspaper Daily Variety that he wanted to "ensure the perpetuation of Motown and its heritage." 

He was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame in 2009. When Gordy received the Songwriters Hall of Fame's Pioneer Award on June 13, 2013, he was the first living individual to receive the honour. In 2016, Gordy received the National Medal of Arts from President Obama for "helping to create a trailblazing new sound in American music. As a record producer and songwriter, he helped build Motown, launching the music careers of countless legendary artists. His unique sound helped shape our Nation's story." 

In 2019 he announced his retirement when he was awarded the Motown Legacy Award during a Hitsville Honours ceremony in Detroit. He was married and divorced three times and fathered eight children through a number of relationships, including one with Motown Records’ most successful female artist, Diana Ross. 

(Edited fromYour Dictionary, Detroit Historical Society and Wikipedia) 

Eddie Rabbitt born 27 November 1941

Edward Thomas Rabbitt (November 27, 1941 – May 7, 1998) was an American country music singer and songwriter. During his career, Rabbitt scored 26 #1 hits on the country charts, and had 8 Top 40 pop hits. He was named the Top New Male Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music in 1977, and he won an American Music Award for Best Pop Male Vocalist in 1981. 

Eddie Rabbitt was born in Brooklyn, New York, but raised in New Jersey. His Irish- American father played both the fiddle and accordion and by the age of 12, having been taught by a scoutmaster who performed under the name "Texas" Bob Randall, young Eddie was proficient on guitar. 

A high school drop- out, he worked as a trucker, fruit picker and mental hospital orderly during the day whilst playing Newark's clubs in the evening. He later won a talent contest and was given an hour of Saturday night radio show time to broadcast a live performance from a bar in Paterson, New Jersey. In 1964 he cut an unmemorable debut single, "Six Nights & Seven Days" for 20th Century Records. 

In 1968 Rabbitt took the plunge and headed to Nashville by way of the famous WWVA Wheeling Jamboree. On his first night in Music City, whilst sitting in the bath, he penned "Working My Way Up to the Bottom", a song which soon after wards was recorded by Roy Drusky, who charted with it. Despite this initial and unexpected success he found himself earning just $37.50 a week as a staff writer with Hill & Range Publishing, living in an uncomfortable apartment with just a rooster for company. 

One of the more positive aspects of this period was the time he spent honing his craft alongside fellow songwriters, notably Kris Kristofferson. It paid off in 1970 when Elvis Presley scored with a Rabbitt composition, "Kentucky Rain". Four years later Ronnie Milsap took his "Pure Love" to the top of the country charts and Rabbitt signed with Elektra Records, making his chart debut for them with "You Get To Me". 

                             

In early 1976 he enjoyed his first No 1 as a vocalist with "Drinking My Baby (Off My Mind)". Co-written with his regular collaborator Even Stevens, it had originally been cut by Texas's honky-tonker Johnny Bush and was to prove the first of 17 trips to the top of the country charts. The next, "You Don't Love Me Anymore" (1978), was the first country record to feature synthesised drums, and pointed the way to other pop-flavoured hits including "Someone Could Use a Heart Tonight" and "You Can't Run From Love" (both 1982). 

"Every Which Way But Loose" (1979), taken from the Clint Eastwood movie of the same name, helped start a trend in country-oriented movie soundtracks, though Rabbitt refused to record the theme to its sequel Any Which Way You Can (1980). "Drivin' My Life Away" and "I Love a Rainy Night" were infectious up-tempo numbers; the former obviously indebted to Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and the latter featuring rockabilly echoes. Both crossed over into the pop charts, selling a million copies each in the process. 

A 1982 duet with Crystal Gayle, "You and I", not only topped the charts but gained additional popularity when used as a love theme on the daytime soap All My Children. Four years later another duet, "Both To Each Other (Friends and Lovers)" with Juice Newton, followed suit, though this time propelled to No 1 courtesy of the rival soap Days of Our Lives. 

In 1983 Rabbitt's newborn son Timothy was diagnosed with biliary atresia, a condition which necessitated near constant care and ultimately a liver transplant. The child died two years later and Rabbitt, who had already cut back on his touring schedule, never returned to a full-throttle career. Also in 1985 he signed to RCA and, while the hits continued, it became clear that pop-country vocalists like himself were losing ground to the genre's emergent new traditionalist movement. In 1988 he paid tribute to his formative years on the East Coast with an insipid if chart-topping cover of Dion's "The Wanderer". Two years later he scored a final No 1 hit with "On Second Thought" before switching to Capitol where his chart career came to a close. 

Rabbitt was among the many country singers who suffered a dramatic decline in chart success beginning in 1991. That year, he released the album Ten Rounds, which produced the final charting single of his career, "Hang Up the Phone". Following that release, he left Capitol Records to tour with his band Hare Trigger. In 1997, Rabbitt signed with Intersound Records where, he released the album Beatin' the Odds. In 1998, he released his last studio album, Songs from Rabbittland.  

Rabbitt died on May 7, 1998, in Nashville from lung cancer at the age of 56. He had been diagnosed with the disease in March 1997 and had received radiation treatment and surgery to remove part of one lung. His body was interred at Calvary Cemetery in Nashville following a private burial on May 8, 1998. 

(Edited from article by Paul Wadey @ The Independent & Wikipedia)

Jimmie Revard born 26 November 1909

Jimmie Revard (26 November 1909 – 12 April 1991) was a Western swing bandleader, vocalist and musician who led one of the best-known western swing bands in the Southwest prior to World War II. Arriving on the scene just as the genre was beginning to gain national popularity, the Oklahoma Playboys became one of the most popular western swing outfits in South Central Texas, alongside local favorites the Tune Wranglers. At times, in fact, the bands shared several members. 

He was born James Osage Revard in Pawhuska, Oklahoma into a musical family that had fiddled for generations. He moved to Texas before he became a teenager and began his foray into the western swing scene of 1930s at St. Mary's University. He led a semi-pro band in San Antonio. It was here that he heard and hired teenage brothers Emil (steel guitar) and Adolph Hofner (vocals/guitar). It was the steel guitar that appealed to Revard but because of Emil’s youth he took along Adolph, thus unwittingly kick-starting a long and illustrious career for the singer. Revard named his new band the Oklahoma Playboys, ostensibly to differentiate between himself and Bob Wills And His Texas Playboys, but actually capitalizing upon the latter’s growing fame. 

The Oklahoma Playboys’ original line-up included Jimmie Revard (bass and guitar), Adolph and Emil Hofner, Ben McKay (fiddle), Curley Williams (guitar), and Eddie Whitley (piano and vocals). Revard (born November 26, 1909, in Pawhuska, Oklahoma), Johnny H. “Curley” Williams, and Adolph Hofner took turns on vocals when Eddie Whitley left after the first few sessions. 

                             

A rep from Bluebird Records heard them when he had stopped by San Antonio and was so impressed that he decided to record them immediately; "Oh! Swing It" was released in October 1936 and became one of the label’s best-selling country acts from 1936 to 1938. Other Revard hits included “Holding the Sack” (1936) and “Tulsa Waltz” (1937). 

After travelling around Texas, Revard (on bad advice) moved the band north to play at KOAM in Pittsburgh, but the pay was low, the weather was cold, and the businessman behind the deal eventually went bust. The Hofner brothers left the band by 1938 and went on to form their own group. In 1938 the addition of clarinet (Jimmie Revard) and drums (Edmond Franke) helped solidify the band’s standing as “one of the most sophisticated country dance bands of the era. By October 1938, Revard returned to Texas as well, but by 1939 he had had enough of the travelling musician's life and quit at 30. 

The Oklahoma Playboys. Rever 2nd from left.

Over the years critics have noted that although the group’s fame was largely limited to the Lone Star State, its blues and jazz-inflected string-band sound make the Oklahoma Playboys a remarkable example of the eclectic blending of musical genres found throughout the Southwest. Norm Cohen, for example, included Jimmie Revard and His Oklahoma Playboys as one of the area’s “first rate groups that…demonstrate Western Swing’s various debts to blues, jazz, big-band swing and old time fiddle music.” 

After completing his recording contract in 1940, Revard he become a San Antonio police officer, but he continued to perform locally throughout the 1940s and 1950s. He died on April 12, 1991. 

Though the group’s widespread popularity lasted for only a short time, the music the band left behind is substantial and has assured its place in western swing history. 

(Edited from The Handbook Of Texas & AllMusic)

Paul Desmond born 25 November 1924

Paul Desmond (November 25, 1924 – May 30, 1977) was an American jazz alto saxophonist and composer, best known for his work with the Dave Brubeck Quartet and for composing that group's biggest hit, "Take Five". He was one of the most popular musicians to come out of the cool jazz scene.

Paul Emil Breitenfeld was born on November 25, 1924 in San Francisco, California. Desmond’s childhood was problematic as his parents had a somewhat unhealthy relationship. As a child, he often played the violin (even though his father forbade him to do so), and the age of twelve, he would start studying the clarinet at San Francisco’s Polytechnic High School. By the time he reached college, he started playing the Alto Saxophone, which later became his most preferred instrument. Desmond was also drafted into the army for three years due to World War II, however, his unit was never called up to the front lines. 

In 1946, following his military discharge, Desmond legally changed his last named from Breitenfeld to Desmond. He told many stories over the years regarding how he chose the name Desmond, but his biographer Doug Ramsey offers an account from Desmond's friend Hal Strack that the two were listening to the Glenn Miller band singer Johnny Desmond in 1942, and Desmond told Strack "that's such a great name. It's so smooth and yet it's uncommon....If I ever decide I need another name, it's going to be Desmond."Desmond was married from 1947 to 1949 to Duane Reeves Lamon. Following his divorce, he remained single for the rest of his life. 

Desmond’s encounter with the legendary Dave Brubeck has become a trademark story in the jazz world. It is said that when Desmond started work in California at the Bandbox, Desmond hired Brubeck; only to first cut his pay in half and then fire him after taking him on tour just so that he (Desmond) could gamble in the casinos at Reno. In 1950 Desmond joined the band of Jack Fina and toured with Fina for several months. Brubeck went back home to California and started work with his trio, with whom he landed a radio gig; upon hearing of Brubeck’s success, Desmond travelled back to California and begged Brubeck to hire him, which Brubeck did not, until he made Desmond babysit his children. 

Desmond officially started work with the Dave Brubeck Trio (now Quartet with the inclusion of Desmond) in 1951. At first the Quartet spent time touring colleges with Desmond on the Alto Saxophone, and in 1953, they released their debut album titled “Jazz at Oberlin”, which was a live recording of their performances at Oberlin College. In 1954, the quartet was featured on Time Magazine. The Quartet was extremely successful for their Time Series, which was a series of five albums that featured songs in irregular, unusual time signatures such as 5/4 and 9/8. 

                               

The first Time Series album, “Time Out”, was released in 1959 and it was the first ever jazz album to sell over a million copies. The rest of the Time Series albums were released between 1961 and 1963. Desmond was also credited as the lead songwriter for the Quartet’s most famous composition, “Take Five”. Desmond continued with the Quartet until their breakup in 1967, after which the Quartet only reassembled for reunion tours, the last of which was held in 1976, a year before Desmond’s death. 

Desmond spent the remainder of his life playing with many different artists and composers. He first collaborated with Gerry Mulligan, with whom he shared stage in 1969 and in 1974, the former being for the New Orleans Jazz Festival. Desmond also played with guitarist Jim Hall on several albums recorded by Desmond between 1959 and 1963 for the Warner Bros. and RCA record labels. After some time spent inactive, Desmond was asked to play the Half Note in New York City in 1971 by Hall. With his special brand of humour, Desmond said that he took the job only because he was nearby and could tumble out of bed to work. 

Desmond was a guest artist on five tracks by Chet Baker, recorded between 1975-1977. These were released on the albums She Was Too Good to Me, You Can't Go Home Again, and The Best Thing For You. Baker and Desmond also appeared together on two tracks included on Jim Hall's 1975 Concierto album. Desmond also played with Canadian guitarist Ed Bickert in Toronto. One of Desmond’s legendary performances was in collaboration with The Modern Jazz Quartet for a Christmas concert in 1971. In 1976 Desmond played 25 shows in 25 nights with Brubeck, touring the United States in several cities by bus.

Desmond died on May 30, 1977, not of his heavy alcohol habit but of lung cancer, the result of his long-time heavy smoking. Never without his humour, after he was diagnosed with cancer, he expressed pleasure at the health of his liver. His last concert was with Brubeck in February 1977, in New York City. His fans did not know that he was already dying. He donated many of his possessions to libraries and to charity and specified in his will that all proceeds from "Take Five" would go to the Red Cross following his death. 

(Edited from Famous Composers & Wikipedia)

Jeremy Taylor born 24 November1937

Jeremy Taylor (born 24 November 1937 in Newbury, Berkshire) is a retired English folk singer and songwriter who has spent much of his life in South Africa, originally as a teacher of English at St. Martin's School, Rosettenville in southern Johannesburg,. Since 1994 has lived in Wales and France. After attending the University of Oxford, Taylor became a folk singer in South Africa, remembered for his single "Ag Pleez Deddy". 

Much of his success came from songs that started in live performances, incorporating comedy. Taylor performed songs that questioned social problems in apartheid South Africa. Due to this, both Taylor, and his songs, often political. were banned in South Africa by the South African Broadcasting Corporation and the Government, during the apartheid era. 

Taylor began performing in clubs and coffee-bars such as the Cul de Sac in Hillbrow, Johannesburg in the 1960s and succeeded with the comedic song "The Ballad of the Southern Suburbs" also known as "Ag Pleez Deddy", in 1961. The song was a surprise hit. In performance in Chicago, he explained that while teaching South African children English, he was "enchanted" by their patois and their lust for Western European luxuries like Pepsi Cola, Canada Dry, Eskimo Pie, popcorn, chewing gum and flicks like Tarzan, and other products. 

                              

Taylor mimicked their accent in the song, in which a child begs his father to take him to different places and buy these treats. It was frowned upon by parents and the government because the song mixed English and Afrikaans – a practice of which the Nationalist government disapproved, feeling all languages should be kept "pure". This was one reason Taylor was required to leave the country. This mixing of languages led to Taylor's songwriting being described as "doing for South African English what [David] Kramer was doing for Afrikaans". 

However, it remained popular with children in South Africa, selling more than any Elvis Presley single in South Africa. Also in the early sixties he contributed to the successful musical revue Wait a Minim!, performing several of his own compositions. His archival material was donated to the Hidden Years Music Archive preserved by the Documentation Centre for Music, Stellenbosch University, in 2017. 

After returning to Britain in 1964 to perform in Wait a Minim! in the West End, he joined the British folk music circuit and appeared on television. Later in the 1960s, he taught at Eton College while a political exile. 

Taylor hosted a series of six folk-style shows entitled "Jeremy Taylor", supported by the house band Telephone Bill and the Smooth Operators, broadcast between 15 May and 19 June 1980 from the BBC's Shepherd's Bush theatre. The guests included Barbara Dickson, Alan Price, Spike Milligan, Kenny Baker, Pam Ayres, Peter Skellern and Isla St Clair. 

After befriending folk-rock singer-songwriter Cat Stevens, and his friend and guitarist, Alun Davies, Taylor helped Stevens translate one of his songs, "O Caritas", into Latin for an album, Catch Bull at Four. One of Taylor's albums was Record producer by Davies. Davies guested on a couple of the songs, but was uncomfortable with playing two roles on another person's album, saying to Melody Maker, "You can't put yourself in two places at once and get the best results." 

Some of Taylor's popular songs are: "Jobsworth", "Huberta, the hippopotamus", "The Pot Song", "Mrs Harris" and "Prawns in the Game". His "Piece of Ground" was recorded in the United States by Miriam Makeba. However, his albums never reached most of the American music audience. 

He was a long-term collaborator and performer with Spike Milligan, and recorded a live album with him entitled Spike Milligan and Jeremy Taylor: An Adult Entertainment. This was recorded at Cambridge University on 2 December 1973 and released as a double LP entitled Spike Milligan with Jeremy Taylor Live at Cambridge University. It was later re-issued as a two-CD set. 

Jeremy and his wife settled in the Loire valley of France. He continued to tour in the U.S. and Canada, the UK and South Africa in addition to entertaining locally in France. He also lectured in schools on the subject of South Africa and in 2000-2001 was Artist in Residence at Wellington College, Crowthorne. He has also co-produced an  album of songs and poems by Sidney Carter for Stainer & Bell entitled Lord Of The Dance. In 2005 he recorded an album in Chicago, Live in Chicago.  (Edited from Wikipedia)