Sam "The Bluzman" Taylor, R.I.P.

Blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist Sam "The Bluzman" Taylor passed away on Monday, January 5th, 2009 in his Islandia, NY home from complications associated with heart disease. Taylor was 74 years old.

A veteran musician with almost five decades experience under his belt, Taylor was born in Mobile, Alabama in 1934 and settled in the Long Island area after a stint in the U.S. Air Force. A talented guitarist with a wide range, Taylor was much in demand throughout the 1960s. He was an early member of Joey Dee & the Starliters, playing on the band's big hit "Peppermint Twist," but he was also a bandleader who worked with legends like Otis Redding, The Isley Brothers, and Sam and Dave, among others.

Taylor was also a gifted songwriter, with over a hundred songs to his credit, and an uncanny ability to work in rock, soul, blues and R&B genres. Many of Taylor's songs were hits for those that recorded them, a list that includes Elvis Presley, Freddie King, Jimmy Witherspoon, Maxine Brown, Joe Tex, Son Seals, the Beach Boys, and many others. Taylor also worked as a producer and arranger, most notably with 1970s-era R&B hitmakers B.T. Express, and he also made several film and TV appearances as an actor.

Blues music was Taylor's passion, and although the guitarist had been recording since the late-1950s, he didn't release his first blues album – Bluzman – until 1995. Since that time, Taylor has recorded a dozen well-received albums, his most recent being Portrait: The Funky Side of Sam, released on his own independent Bluzman label in 2006. Taylor was inducted into the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame in 1995, and was one of the first inductees into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame when it was created in 2006.

Sam "The Bluzman" Taylor's contributions to the blues, soul, and rock music are immeasurable, and his songs will continue to be recorded for years to come.

Photo courtesy Price Grabber