08/08/2024
On August 7th, 2016, I got the news that my best friend, B.E. Taylor, had passed after experiencing a brain hemorrhage caused by a nine year old tumor breaking.
I wrote an entire chapter about Me and B.E. in my book. If I can paste it in the comments section below I will.
Bill was in a duo with Donnie Iris between Donnie's stints with the Jaggerz and Wild Cherry. Donnie and Mark (Ah Leah) Avsec produced the B.E. Taylor Group's first album -- INNERMISSION released on MCA/SWEET CITY/CAROUSEL records. Released in 1982 there were two emphasis singles -- the first a happy go lucky tune called I Like the Way I Feel (When I'm With You) which didn't get off the ground and the second, "Never Hold Back", which reached #54 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.
Had there been a video for MTV -- who knows. It. ROCKS! Listen to the full five minutes. Rick Witkowski of Crack the Sky fame provides the searing guitar. Iris produced the album with an effect on Bill's voice. I don't believe it was a good idea as it pinched his glorious range. On subsequent albums his vocals were untouched.
There would be a second MCA album featuring the Billboard Top 100 track "Vitamin L" , one which Bill gave the lead vocal to the drummer, because he wasn't fond of the 'electronica' sound. The third album should have been THE ONE -- titled OUR WORLD -- this time on CBS ASSOCIATED/EPIC. The problem was the label tried to make Karen a national hit in 1986 -- yet it had already gone Top ten on a series of stations in the Tri State. Karen just got inside the Top 100.
The group got dumped from Epic after Bill refused to record a Dan Hartman song that was pitched to him. The lyrics were of a compromising nature for the devout Christian.
In the 1990s he recorded a series of Christmas and gospel albums and he sold out venues in Pittsburgh; Wheeling; Morgantown; Charleston from 1995-2015.
Michael Stanley once told Mike McVay that Bill's voice was one of the best he'd ever heard. Recordings could never quite capture the scope of it. To hear Bill in all his glory you'd need to watch the B.E. Taylor Christmas concert at Heinz Hall.
Bill's music was almost always about God/Jesus/Unconditional Love. He never met a stranger. And he never held back his love. Missing you on the anniversary of your reunion with the Lord.
Another vinyl rip from B.E. Taylor Group's 1982 debut album, "Innermission". The song was released as a single and only made it on the Billboard Mainstream R...
