John Taylor

At 64 years old, John Taylor has this physical status:

Nigel John Taylor (born 20 June 1960) is an English musician, singer, composer, producer, and actor who is best known as the bass guitarist and founding member of Duran Duran's new wave band. Duran Duran was one of the world's most influential bands of the 1980s, due in large part to their groundbreaking music videos, which were in heavy rotation in the early days of MTV.

Taylor was with Duran Duran Duran from its inception in 1978 to 1997, when he left to pursue a solo recording and film career.

Over the next four years, he had a lead role in the film Sugar Town and appeared in half-dozen other film projects, and released a dozen solo releases (albums, EPs, and video projects) through his private record label B5 Records.

Duran Duran Duran returned to the firm in 2001 for a reunion of the original five members and has been loyal to the company ever since.

Duran Duran's most recent permanent members include Simon Le Bon (singer), John Taylor (bass guitar), Nick Rhodes (synthesizer), and Roger Taylor (drums). Taylor was also a member of two supergroups, The Power Station and Neurotic Strangers.

Early life

John Taylor grew up in Solihull, Worcestershire, England, when it was then in Warwickshire. He wore glasses at Our Lady of the Wayside Catholic School and the Abbey High School in Redditch as a child (due to severe myopia, over ten dioptres), loved James Bond movies, and was interested in wargaming with hand-painted model soldiers. He discovered music in his teenage years, selecting Roxy Music as his favorite band, and before long, he was collecting records and teaching himself to play the piano. Shock Treatment was his first band name.

Personal life

From 1985 to 1989, John dated Danish model Renée Toft Simonsen to whom he was engaged. On December 24, 1991, John married Amanda De Cadenet at Chelsea Old Town Hall's registry office, and they had one daughter, Atlanta Noo, who died on March 31, 1992. They officially separated in May 1995.

Taylor sought medical attention for his alcoholism and heroin use in late 1994 and has been sober ever since.

In 1996, John met Gela Nash, co-founder of Juicy Couture, and they married in Las Vegas on March 27, 1999.

Taylor and Nash-Taylor live in Los Angeles but spend several weeks at South Wraxall Manor, which they purchased in 2005, for many weeks. Taylor became an American citizen in 2013 and held dual citizenship.

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Career

Duran Duran was formed by Taylor and a school friend Nick Rhodes and Stephen Duffy when they were attending the Birmingham Polytechnic School of Foundation Studies and Experimental Workshop (now Birmingham City University). Shortly after Taylor underwent a "ugly duckling" makeover, the glasses were switched to contact lenses, adopting the ruffles and sashes of the fashion that would become known as the New Romantic style, and discovering how to wear eyeliner and lipstick. He ceased using the word "Nigel" and has been identified as John Taylor throughout his career.

When Duran Duran Duran was born, Taylor played guitar, but after discovering the Chick rhythms of Chic, she discovered playing in the rhythm section with Duran's newly recruited drummer Roger Taylor, Taylor found he loved playing in the rhythm section. In comparison to Paul McCartney, James Jamerson, and Roxy Music players Graham Simpson and John Porter, Bernard Edwards and The Clash's Paul Simonon have often cited Chic's Bernard Edwards and The Clash as his two biggest influences, in addition to Paul McCartney, James Jamerson and John Porter. Duran Duran's first album was released in 1981 and then went on to international success in the early 1980s.

Duran Duran Duran split into two side projects in 1985 after recording the theme song to the Bond film A View to a Kill. Andy Taylor and Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor joined forces with former Chic drummer Tony Thompson and Robert Palmer, who performed at Duran Duran's charity concert on 1983, to form the band The Power Station. They released one album, "Some Like It Hot" and the T.Rex cover song "Get It On") under producer Bernard Edwards' direction.

Taylor also launched his first solo venture in 1991, recording the single "I Do What I Do" for the soundtrack to Kim Basinger's film 912 Weeks. Jonathan Elias, a composer, also wrote some instrumental music for the film's score.

The three remaining members of Duran Duran's 1986 Notorious album reformed, and the band's new guitarist Warren Cuccuullo began to record and tour throughout the 1990s. Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor left the band when Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor left the band.

Taylor married Amanda de Cadenet, a 19-year-old girl who was still pregnant with his daughter Atlanta, on December 24, 1991. (born 31 March 1992). He went from England to Los Angeles, California, to help with his wife's acting career, as well as escaping continual attention from the British tabloids. Even as Duran Duran Duran's star, also known as The Wedding Album, gained, Taylor's marriage fell, despite the fact that his popularity with 1993's Duran Duran Duran Duran's fame soared. Taylor sought help for his heroin use in late 1994, and has been sober ever since. In May 1995, he and de Cadenet met in a pubescent way.

Duran Duran's success with the widely mocked 1995 covers album Thank You. Duran Duran spent part of the summer of 1995 in London on the album Medazzaland, following that album's support tour. Taylor devoted time to the cause Neurotic Outsiders, recording and touring with the band from 1995 to 1996.

Taylor revealed in January 1997 that he was leaving the band at a Duran Duran Duran fan convention.

Taylor formed and performed with the band "John Taylor Terrorist" in Southern California between 1997 and 1998 (Gerry Laffy on guitar, Michael Railton/Tio Banks on keyboard, Larry Aberman on drums, John Amato on sax and flute), which appeared in numerous shows in Southern California before heading to the East and West Coasts of the United States. Through the Trust The Process website, Terrorist released a live EP 5.30.98 and the accompanying video Better Off Alive. Taylor said he would never use the band name "terrorismist" again after 9/11.

Taylor's acting debuts as a child. Allison Anders' long association culminated in his role in her independent film Sugar Town, which was released in 1998. Over the next two years, he appeared in small roles in several other films and television series.

Taylor released two albums of earlier work in 1999. Résumé, the first installment, was made up of unreleased music that he and Jonathan Elias had worked on together during the 1985 screenings for the 912 Weeks film soundtrack. Meltdown, Taylor's second album, was a series of tracks laid down in 1992, during Duran Duran's recording of The Wedding Album.

Taylor signed a recording deal with the Japanese record company Avex Trax in 1999 and released an album branded simply John Taylor on the front but not named in his official discography as The Japan Album. He began recording for Avex in 2000 and then released Techno For Two, a non-techno album packed with more personal songs, early in 2001. Taylor converted into Art, a retrospective collection of his growth over the past five years as discussions began for a potential Duran Duran Duran Duran reunion.

The collection MetaFour, Taylor's last solo release, was completed after the Duran Duran reunion was completed.

Taylor wrote In the Pleasure Groove: Love, Death, and Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran Duran autobiography Taylor was given the "Experience, Strength, and Hope" award by the Writers in Treatment group in 2013 for his writing.

Taylor was approached by singer Simon Le Bon in Los Angeles about a potential return to the original Duran Duran Duran line in 2000, and the guitarist was ecstatic about it as long as the other Taylors (Roger and Andy, who left the band in 1986) were keen to return. Soon, an agreement was reached, and Taylor reaffirmed his dedication to the band by getting a huge linked-D's tattoo on the upper arm of his right arm.

After a huge tour of Japan in 2003, the reunited band was signed with Epic Records and released the album Astronaut in October 2004. They toured through the first half of 2005 before returning to the studio to work on their next new album. Andy Taylor left the band in October 2006 and recordings from this session (under the working title "Reportage") were discarded when the band had the opportunity to collaborate with renowned producer Timbaland. In November 2007, the resulting album, "Red Carpet Massacre," was released. The band took the initiative of performing the album in its entirety for ten special performances on Broadway in New York City in 2008, during a world tour.

The band's 13th studio album, All You Need is Now, debuted on its own record label, Tapemodern, in December 2010. An abbreviated version was initially sent to iTunes, but the physical album was available in shops in March 2011.

In February 2013, he ranked 29th in MusicRadar's top bassist poll.

Taylor was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Bass Player magazine in December 2021.

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