Tot Taylor | |
---|---|
Born | Cambridge, England |
Genres | Music |
Occupation(s) | Songwriter composer record producer author art curator |
Years active | 1973–present |
Website | Riflemaker Gallery Official website |
Tot Taylor is an English, Cambridge-born, London-based songwriter, composer, record producer, author and art curator. He was a songwriter, singer, performer and band member throughout the seventies, eighties and nineties [1] as well as composer of film soundtracks and theatre scores including stage-productions for the UK's National Theatre. In 2003 he founded the Riflemaker Gallery in London with the curator Virginia Damtsa, which featured feminist, audio and performative art for galleries and museums. [2]
His first novel, The Story of John Nightly, was published by Unbound/Penguin in 2017 and by Heyne Verlag/Random House in Germany in 2019. [3] [4]
A songwriter/guitarist since the age of 7 and a pianist from 11, [5] while still at school, Taylor's first group, A Special Moment, were signed to Chris Blackwell’s Island label to record the single "Let’s Socialize", [6] though the record was never issued. [7] Taylor then formed the group, Advertising, (Advert-i-sing) with guitarist Simon Boswell, releasing two singles and one album, Jingles, on EMI. [8]
As a solo artist, Taylor then signed to Blackhill Enterprises (managers of Pink Floyd, Ian Dury and The Clash), releasing three singles and an album, Playtime, in 1981 for GTO/CBS Records under the name Tot Taylor and his Orchestra. [9] His second solo album, The Inside Story, and two singles, "The Girl with Everything" and "Poptown", were released in 1983 (this time simply under the name Tot Taylor). [10] He then released a further three albums over three years: Box-office Poison(1986), My Blue Period(1987) and Menswear Pt1(1988), [1] whilst also composing the song "Selling Out" [11] for the 1986 David Bowie-starring, Julien Temple-directed film, Absolute Beginners and compiling the soundtrack for the films Dance with a Stranger and Alan Bleasdale's No Surrender . [12]
During this period, Taylor began a career as a songwriter for other artists and founded the independent record label, The Compact Organization, which issued the debut album for the Swedish singer Virna Lindt, Shiver, (produced and co-written by Taylor and Lindt). [13]
Under the pseudonym ‘Teddy Johns’, Taylor wrote all the original compositions on Mari Wilson's debut album, Showpeople , [14] which was released on Taylor and Paul Kinder's Compact Organization label and achieved a top 30 UK chart position. [15] The album produced a UK chart top ten hit in "Just What I Always Wanted", reaching no.8 in 1982, as well as two other singles, "Baby, It’s True" and "Beware Boyfriend". Taylor's songs have also been covered by Stacey Kent, Simon Warner, Melissa Manchester, Cynthia Scott, Slim Gaillard and Peter Kay (co-writes) among others.
Following his solo career, Taylor moved into theatre and film soundtrack scoring, relocating to Los Angeles, and working for the BBC as an arranger and composer. He composed six-hour's of piano score for the National Theatre's eight-hour production of the play Picasso's Women. [2] [7] [16] The play was also staged in Edinburgh, toured the UK and Europe, returning to London in 2018. Other theatre scores include touring productions of Shakespeare’s The Tempest for the AJTC Theatre Company, and Charles Thomas‘s ‘Blood Royal’ at the Kings Head Theatre, Islington, London.
Taylor has composed for film, television and video games, including Muela, Sparkhouse, The Grimleys , My Wonderful Life, Shatterer/Sicilian Connection and Batman: Dark Tomorrow - the world's first ever orchestral soundtrack to a video game (with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) . His compositions, production and compilation work have featured in the Tom Hardy-starring Kray twins film Legend , the Joaquin Phoenix film, Buffalo Soldiers Julien Temple’s Absolute Beginners, Mike Newel's Dance With a Stranger with Rupert Everett & Miranda Richardson, No Surrender and Mike Leigh's Career Girls . [17] [18]
For the BBC, Taylor composed and produced the soundtrack for the series Early Travellers in North America. [19] [20] He was the music director for a series of documentary films for the BBC about how music is recorded: A Different Perspective (2001) on both Paul McCartney and Michael Stipe, directed by Kevin Macdonald. His music 'Trainer Trainers' was chosen to introduce mobile phones into the UK. He restored Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata for Prince Albert of Monaco and is an international D&AD-awarded composer (2003) for his work in film.
Taylor has released two instrumental albums: Music for the Left Handed (with Mick Bass) [21] and Waterland. [22] He was the producer of a compilation album of modern interpretations of the music of Bach, entitled Bachology (EMI). [23]
In 2003, with Virginia Damsta, he co-founded the gallery Riflemaker in Beak Street in Soho (until 2018). The gallery was so-named because it was on the premises of a former gunmaker's workshop, Soho's oldest building (1715). [24] The gallery has exhibited the work of William S. Burroughs, Juan Fontanive, Judy Chicago, Liliane Lijn, Gavin Turk, Jaime Gili, Marta Marce, Wen Wu, Penelope Slinger, Chosil Kil and Leah Gordon. [25] Together Taylor & Damtsa have collaborated with Tate Modern (JUDY CHICAGO), Tate St. Ives (PENNY SLINGER), MoMA New York (LILIANE LIJN), LACMA LA, The National Portrait Gallery (CHRISTOPHER BUCKLOW), The V&A, The Royal Academy, Frieze (JUDY CHICAGO) and many others including YOKO ONO in promoting the work of feminist artists and with the gallery's own groundbreaking themed exhibitions: ANALOG, RIFLEMAKER BECOMES INDICA, VOO-DOO, and four historic exhibitions with JUDY CHICAGO.
Taylor is the author of several books and monographs on artists and the visual arts including ‘Me as Him’ about the artists Gavin Turk and Andy Warhol, Analog (trends in Sound & Picture) and Indica, the story of the famous 1960s art space. . [26] His debut novel, the 900-page The Story of John Nightly was published by Unbound/Penguin Random House in the UK in 2017. [4] [27] [28]
'The Story of John Nightly' featured in The Guardian 'Best novels of 2019' (Guardian Newspapers)
Unkle is a British musical outfit founded in 1992 by James Lavelle. Originally categorised as trip hop, the group once included producer DJ Shadow and have employed a variety of guest artists and producers.
David Holmes is an Irish musician and composer. He worked as a DJ before releasing several solo albums that have incorporated elements of trip hop, big beat, electronic and rock. In the late 1990s, he also began composing film scores, establishing a long-standing collaboration with director Steven Soderbergh that includes Out of Sight (1998) and the Ocean's trilogy.
Thomas Bangalter is a French musician, record producer, singer, songwriter, DJ and composer. He is best known as one half of the former French house music duo Daft Punk, alongside Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. He has recorded and released music as a member of the trio Stardust, the duo Together, as well as a solo artist. Bangalter's work has influenced a wide range of artists in various genres.
David John Haskins, better known as David J, is a British alternative rock musician, producer, and writer. He is the bassist for the gothic rock band Bauhaus and for Love and Rockets.
Ray Williams is a British A&R music producer and publisher. He discovered Elton John and introduced him to Bernie Taupin. Williams has been a prominent figure of the music and film industry for many years as a press agent, A&R head, artist manager, film music producer, and publisher. He was the music supervisor of films including The Last Emperor, Absolute Beginners, and Naked Lunch.
Silicon Teens were a British new wave virtual band. The project was the creation of Mute Records founder Daniel Miller. Frank Tovey was the band's fictional frontman.
Bruce Clifford Gilbert is an English musician. One of the founding members of the influential and experimental art punk band Wire, he branched out into electronic music, performance art, music production, and DJing during the band's extended periods of inactivity. He left Wire in 2004, and has since been focusing on solo work and collaborations with visual artists and fellow experimental musicians.
"Al di là" ("Beyond") is a song written by Italian composer Carlo Donida and lyricist Mogol, and recorded by Betty Curtis. The English lyrics were written by Ervin Drake. The song was the Italian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1961, performed in Italian by Curtis at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France, on 18 March 1961, after Curtis had won the Sanremo Music Festival 1961 on 2 February.
"Sweet Lies" is a song by the English singer Robert Palmer, released in 1988 as a single from the soundtrack of the film of the same name. As well as appearing on the film's soundtrack release, it was also included on Palmer's 1989 compilation album Addictions: Volume 1. The song was written by Palmer, Frank Blair and Dony Wynn, and produced by Palmer.
De Wolfe Limited is a British music production company, recognised as the originator of what has become known as library music. De Wolfe Music was established by Meyer de Wolfe in 1909 and began its recorded library in 1927 with the advent of 'talkies'.
Virna Lindt is a Swedish singer and record producer. Her debut single "Attention Stockholm" became an indie-chart hit in 1982. She released two studio albums, Shiver in 1983 and Play/Record in 1985, both on the Compact Organization label. Both collaborations with writer/producer/arranger Tot Taylor. Combining pop, soundtrack and experimental influences, they have since been reissued on CD by LTM. Her style has been described as "John Barry-meets-new wave" and, in another review, a diseuse.
Christopher Evans-Ironside was an English and German songwriter, composer, and music producer. Born in England and based in Hamburg, Germany, his awards included Gold and Platinum discs for collaborations with Nino de Angelo and Drafi Deutscher as Mixed Emotions and Masquerade.
John Francis Schroeder was a British pop and easy listening composer, arranger, songwriter and record producer. In 1961, Schroeder won an Ivor Novello Award for co-writing "Walkin' Back to Happiness".
Showpeople is the debut album by UK singer Mari Wilson. It was released in 1983 and featured her breakthrough hit "Just What I Always Wanted".
Carly Paradis is a Canadian-born British composer, songwriter and pianist. She composes soundtracks for movies, TV series and solo albums.
Riflemaker is a contemporary art business and exhibition space in London specialising in exhibiting and representing emerging artists. The building is a historic gunmaker's workshop off Regent Street. Built in 1712, it is one of the oldest public buildings in the West End of London. Riflemaker is also a publisher of artists books and host of a variety of events including poetry, music, film events, talks, discussions and performances in the space.
Keaton Henson is an English musician, composer, visual artist, and poet. He has released six studio albums, a wordless graphic novel titled Gloaming, published by Pocko, and a book of poetry called Idiot Verse. Henson suffers from anxiety, and as a result, he rarely plays concerts.
Fredric Myrow was an American composer. He composed the soundtracks for Soylent Green, Scarecrow, and Phantasm. He was composer in residence of the Los Angeles Theatre Center in the mid-1980s, and before that at the New York Philharmonic. By the time of his death in 1999, he had scored dozens of films, collaborated on numerous theater projects, and released albums.
"Mr. Soft" is a song by the British rock band Cockney Rebel, fronted by Steve Harley, which was released in 1974 as the second single from their second studio album The Psychomodo. The song was written by Harley, and produced by Harley and Alan Parsons. "Mr. Soft" peaked at number 8 in the UK Singles Chart.
The Three Musketeers, also known as The Glorious Musketeers in the UK, is a 1974 French-Italian-British animated adventure film, directed by animators John Halas and Franco Cristofani. It is based on Alexandre Dumas's classic French novel, The Three Musketeers, first published in 1844.