Chip Taylor

James Wesley Voight was born in Yonkers, New York, on 21 March 1940, the youngest of three sons of Elmer Voight, a professional golfer who played in the US Open in 1928 and 1929, and Barbara Voight, a teacher and swimming instructor. His older brothers were Barry Voight, who became an eminent geologist, and Jon Voight, who became an Academy Award winning actor. He recalled that the brothers "were brought up to think there was nothing we couldn't do."

At about seven he saw the film musical My Wild Irish Rose with his parents and was, in his words, "mesmerised by the music". He listened to country and blues on the radio, tried the violin, then the ukulele, which he said made it easier to learn guitar. He wrote his first song at around 12 and by 16 was leading a group called Wes Voight and the Town Three.

Taylor and his brothers attended Archbishop Stepinac High School, a Catholic school in White Plains, New York, where he formed his first band with school friends. In 1961 he spent one year at the University of Hartford in Connecticut, taking business studies while pursuing music. For a time he also tried to become a professional golfer like his father before committing to the music business.

Taylor's first records were made for King Records and its DeLuxe subsidiary: two DeLuxe singles with the Town Three in 1958, and King singles as Wes Voight in 1959, among the earliest stereo singles issued. As Chip Taylor he signed with Warner Bros. after Burt Bacharach recommended his song "Here I Am", which became his first chart single in 1962. In 1963 he had a top 40 hit in Australia with "Sandy Sandy" as part of the Town and Country Brothers.

Working as a staff writer for publisher Aaron Schroeder near the Brill Building, he became one of the most successful songwriters of the 1960s, alone and with Al Gorgoni, Billy Vera, Ted Daryll and Jerry Ragovoy. "Wild Thing" (1965) became a US No. 1 for the Troggs in 1966 and was immortalised by Jimi Hendrix at Monterey Pop in 1967; it was later covered by the Runaways, the Muppets and X. "Angel of the Morning" was a top 10 hit for Merrilee Rush (1968) and a No. 4 million seller for Juice Newton (1981), and was also recorded by P.P. Arnold, Nina Simone, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt and Chrissie Hynde. His catalogue also includes "I Can't Let Go" (Evie Sands, the Hollies, Linda Ronstadt), "Any Way That You Want Me" (the Troggs, Evie Sands, Juice Newton), "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)" (Lorraine Ellison, Janis Joplin), "He Sits at Your Table" (Willie Nelson), "Son of a Rotten Gambler" (Anne Murray), "The Baby" (the Hollies), "Step Out of Your Mind" (the American Breed) and "Country Girl City Man" (Billy Vera and Judy Clay).

In 1967 he co-founded Rainy Day Records with Al Gorgoni, which released "Night Owl" by the Flying Machine, a band that included James Taylor. His 1970s solo albums, including Last Chance (1973), Some of Us (1974) and This Side of the Big River (1975), were well reviewed but not big sellers.

After roughly 15 years away gambling, he returned to recording in 1993. His partnership with Carrie Rodriguez produced Let's Leave This Town (2002), The Trouble With Humans (2003) and Red Dog Tracks (2005). In 2007 he founded Train Wreck Records, produced albums for John Platania and Kendel Carson, and toured with his band the New Ukrainians. Yonkers, NY was nominated for a Grammy for best recording package. Late albums included Behind the Sky (2024), The Truth and Other Things (2025) and Words from Holy Gardens (2026).

Taylor married Joan Carol Frey in 1964. They had two children, Kristian and Kelly, and several grandchildren, among them granddaughters Kate, Samantha and Riley and grandsons Jack and Ben. Joan and Chip were divorced for several years starting in the 1990s and later reunited; she died in June 2025.

By his own account, from about 1980 to 1995 he was a highly successful but unhappy professional gambler, betting on horse races and counting cards at blackjack in New Jersey casinos until several casinos barred him. He said the addiction was hard on him and his family. He returned to music by singing to his dying mother, Barbara, and he lived in New York City for the rest of his life.

Taylor treated songwriting as an act of feeling rather than craft for its own sake. "I just try to let my spirit go some place, and then I try to catch up to it," he said in a Speaking Freely interview, adding, "I just wanted to write stuff that made me feel something." After recovering from gambling addiction he created the Church of the Train Wreck, a self help programme and later podcast meant for himself and others, including fellow addicts.

"Wild Thing" became one of the defining garage rock songs, a staple from the Troggs and Hendrix through the Runaways and X, and later a sports anthem through the film Major League. "Angel of the Morning" crossed pop, country and reggae, reaching new generations through Juice Newton in 1981 and Shaggy's "Angel" in 2001. In 2009 Ace Records issued Wild Thing: The Songs of Chip Taylor, and in 2012 Norwegian singer Paal Flaata released an album made up entirely of his songs. His song "On the Radio" featured in the Netflix series Sex Education. His late career showed a hit songwriter reinventing himself as an independent Americana artist on his own label.

Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2016, in the same class as Marvin Gaye and Tom Petty. Grammy Award nomination for best recording package for Yonkers, NY. Several of his songs became US No. 1 or top 10 hits, and "Angel of the Morning" sold more than a million copies for Juice Newton.

Selected albums: Last Chance (1973), Some of Us (1974), This Side of the Big River (1975), Let's Leave This Town with Carrie Rodriguez (2002), The Trouble With Humans with Carrie Rodriguez (2003), Red Dog Tracks with Carrie Rodriguez (2005), Unglorious Hallelujah / Red Red Rose (2005), Yonkers, NY (2011), Behind the Sky (2024), The Truth and Other Things (2025), Words from Holy Gardens (2026). Compilation: Wild Thing: The Songs of Chip Taylor (Ace Records, 2009). He was profiled by CBS Sunday Morning and interviewed in the Freedom Forum series Speaking Freely.

Taylor was treated for throat cancer in 2023. He died of cancer at a hospital in New York on Monday 23 March 2026, two days after his 86th birthday. His label Train Wreck Records confirmed the death; earlier reports, citing his longtime friend Billy Vera, said he had been in hospice care. Tributes ran in The Guardian, Rolling Stone, Variety, Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter, among others. His final album, Words from Holy Gardens, inspired by his late wife Joan, had been released about six weeks earlier.