From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Sun Jul 14, 2002  2:18 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Vince Taylor
 
VINCE TAYLOR (By Kevin Carey)

Born Brian Maurice Holden, July 14th 1939, London, England

Died 28th August 1991, Lausanne, Switzerland

When Vince Taylor burst on to the British Rock n Roll scene in 1958 with Right
Behind You Baby and Brand New Cadillac, the heavy American influence in both
lyric and style fuelled countless rumours of where this singer had come from,
with a popular story being that he had left America following a gang fight to
take up residence back in his ancestral homeland. As ever, fact is often less
glamorous than fiction.

Vince Taylor left England with his family shortly after the 2nd World War to
live in America, settling in New Jersey where his father became a miner.
Taylor's sister later married Joe Barbara, son of Joseph Barbara (of
Hannah/Barbara fame) and it was on one of Joe's business trips to England that
Vince was invited along and soon integrated into the London rock n roll scene
around the 2 I's coffee bar. It was here that Taylor met and started performing
with those who would become his first 'Play Boys' (Tony Sheridan, Tony Harvey,
Brian 'Liquorice' Locking and Brian Bennett) who played on his first Parlophone
release, Right Behind You Baby / I Like Love.

Taylor's second release was the classic Brand New Cadillac/Pledgin' My Love, and
while Vince Taylor's style was perfect for the tough sounding Brand New
Cadillac, huge credit must also go to Joe Moretti, whose driving lead guitar had
replaced Tony Sheridan. Moretti would later join Johnny Kidd where once again
his guitar lead on Shakin' All Over would provide the backbone for another slice
of classic British rock n roll.

While these 2 releases have subsequently gone down in history as some of the
best original rock n roll to be cut by a British performer, Parlophone were less
than impressed and did not renew the contract. Taylor found himself on the small
Palette label where subsequent releases lacked the punch of either Cadillac or
Right Behind You Baby, and saw him concentrating more on covers of classic rock
n roll.

Taylor's own instability and difficulty to get on with led to a split with The
Play Boys (who had already undergone numerous personnel changes), although they
remained friends and soon found themselves on a tour to France together in 1961.
It was on this tour that Taylor dramatically donned a black leather outfit,
complete with a Joan of Arc medallion, and went on to find a new, if only
localised fan base. While the rest of the world seemed to forget him, the French
fans never did.

Vince Taylor was clearly a man beset by his own demons and there are countless
stories of how these manifested themselves. On one occasion Taylor appeared on
stage announcing that he was the Messiah and wouldn't need a backing band
anymore. On another well documented occasion, Vince met a young David Bowie in
Carnaby Street (circa 1966), where he promptly laid out a map on the pavement to
show Bowie where all the UFO's had landed. Bowie later confirmed that Taylor was
the inspiration behind his own alter ego, 'Aladdin Sane'.

In 1981 Taylor moved to Switzerland where he worked as a baggage handler for
Swiss Airlines. He would later tell friends this was the happiest period of his
life. Contracting cancer, he died in Lausanne on 28th August 1991.

Recommended listening: The Complete Barclay Sessions (2 volumes of post 'Brand
New Cadillac' recordings)

Web site http://www.ifrance.com/vince-taylor/