1973
I BELIEVE IN YOU * JOHNNY TAYLOR * STAX 2025-194 * UK
Born 1938, in Crawfordsville, Arkansas, Johnny Taylor sang with various Gospel groups including the Five Echoes and the Highway QCs before he joined the Soul Stirrers, replacing the man who recommended him for the place, Sam Cooke. Still obviously under the influence of Sam Cooke, Johnny Taylor switched to secular music in 1961 and recorded some beautiful ballads for Cooke's Sar and Derby labels. He signed for Stax in 1965 and had an enormous hit in 1968 with Who's Making Love which was a winner with the then nascent Disco scene. Although the above uses the latest in musical styles and instrumentation, it is something of a throw back to his Sam Cooke influenced Sar days.