Golden Hits Of The 60s”
Main MenuConcept Refinement The Author..Wayne JancikGolden Age Of The 50sGolden Age Of The 60s1970s and There After
LITTLE JOHNNY TAYLOR
“PART TIME LOVE”
(Clay Hammond)
Galaxy 722
No. 19 October 5, 1963
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“I’m a legend now,” said Little Johnny Taylor, in an exclusive interview. “30 years now, but not too many
peoples know that.” He was born Johnny Young, February 11, 1943, in Memphis.
While still knee-high, Little John was asked to join the renowned Mighty Clouds of Joy–one-time home to
BUNKER HILL–where he remained for half a decade. At 17,after a brief stay in the Stars of Bethel gospel
group, John moved to Los Angeles to takeup the life of a secular singer and harmonica man. “One song
turned me ’round, Bobby’Blue’ Bland’s ‘I Smell a Whole Lot Of Trouble,'” said Taylor. “I learned that and
was arhythm and blues man.”
Little Johnny Taylor, as he renamed himself, worked the bars and let word of his music get around town.
For a while in the late ’50s, he was with the JOHNNY OTIS Show; making his first recordings about then for
Hunter Hancock’s Swingin’ label. Sales were minimal, but scouts from the Berkeley-based Fantasy/Galaxy
label took notice and offered him a contract. “You’ll Never Need Another Favor,” “Part Time Love” were
two of his earliest waxings for Galaxy; the latter, his big mainstream moment. “I had to beg ’em to let me
record ‘Part Time Love,'” said Taylor. “It just fit me just right, but they didn’t hear it. See, I had this girl I
went with for five years and we broke up and she married this old 65 year old and I was just this teenager,
then, 18 when I cut it. I did that song for her, from my heart. She came and wanted me to take her back
after that but it was too far gone.”
Perennial favorites with R&B listeners are Taylor’s “Everybody Knows About My Good Thing. (R&B: #9,
1971) and “Open House At My House” (R&B: #16, 1972). While pop listeners would get to hear little more
by him–and would often confuse him with the more prominent Johnnie Taylor, of “Who’s Making Love”
and “Disco Lady” fame–Taylor, with his distinctive dry-voiced style, has maintained a loyal R & B following
through the years. More than a half-dozen of his sides have made the black charts. In the ’70s, Little
Johnny would often do duets with his labelmate the late Ted Taylor (a cousin, according to Little John),
who besides charting under this name charted as “Austin Taylor” with a rockin’ regional hit, “Push Push,”
in 1960.