Debbie Taylor: Anthology (1968-1975)

Debbie Taylor's short recording career produced some of the most impassioned vocal performances ever committed to vinyl. Little is known about her background, date of birth etc, but she has achieved iconic status with fans of soul music due, in the main, to her partnership with producers David Jordan and Patrick Adams. It is believed that Debbie Taylor first came to the attention of Decca records through her church singing. Her first recording with the Decca label in 1968 produced the tracks 'I Get the Blues' / 'The Last Laugh's on the Blues' and 'Check Yourself' / 'Wait Until I'm Gone', none of which achieved much in the way of commercial success. She parted company with Decca and moved to the New York based GWP label. Her 1969 debut single with GWP 'Never Gonna Let Him Know' / 'Let's Prove Them Wrong' was also the launch single for the label. In that year she also recorded the uptempo 'Don't Let It End' / 'How Long Can This Last' and the flip side to a Hesitations' single titled 'Mamma Look Sharp'. Despite having released three records in 1969 between then and 1972 she released only one further recording - 'Don't Nobody Mess With My Baby' / 'Stop' on the GWP subsidiary label GWP Grapevine. In 1972 she left the GWP label and was brought to the Perception/Today label by its then Vice President Boo Frazier and songwriter/producer David Jordan. Taylor's tenure with Today was another short stint, but many regard this as her best period. It was then that she recorded the seminal soul funk album Comin' Down on You, a soul masterpiece wrapped in genuine Patrick Adams' arrangements. Her collaboration with Adams, the then producer and co-writer for label mates Black Ivory, resulted in her covering their track 'No If's, And's or But's'. In 1973 demo recordings on the Polydor label of the Mavis Staples track 'I Have Learned to Do Without You' released on Volt Records in 1970 began to surface. Commercial success still eluded her and by 1975 she'd moved to and was recording with Arista Records, where she recorded 'Just Don't Pay' backed by a phenomenal vocal performance of 'I Don't Wanna Leave You'. This is supposed to be the last recording session of this little-known deep soul sister. http://en.wikipedia.org/. I have compiled here a total of 20 tracks recorded by Taylor between 1968 and 1975 for Decca, GWP, Polydor and Arista, including the entirety of her 1972 album for Today. Enjoy!

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