Born in Boston, Massachusetts, James Taylor (1948–) grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the second of five children. Music called to him early and quietly shaped the life that followed.

About songwriting he once said, “I don’t read music. I don’t write it. I just sit down and wander around on the guitar until something starts to present itself.”

He was twelve when he got his first guitar. Three years later he was already playing local gigs. In 1965 he graduated from high school and moved to New York City.

Taylor struggled with depression, and music became his refuge. “I write lots of songs you could call remedial, songs that are sort of therapeutic. Sometimes I feel uncomfortable with that, as though they are too sentimental, but that’s what I do. That’s the kind of song I write.”

Taylor released a solo album in 1969 while battling heroin addiction. His international hit Fire and Rain (1970) reflected the suicide of a close friend and his own struggles.

“Addiction,” he later said, “is a tragic waste of time.”

Married to singer Carly Simon for ten years, the couple had two children and recorded the duet Mockingbird (1974) at the height of their romance. “It’s probably foolish to expect relationships to last forever and to say that because something lasts only ten years it is a failure,” he reflected.

With his comforting baritone and mellow folk sound, Taylor recorded a string of classic songs, including the tribute to friendship, You’ve Got a Friend.

In a 2026 conversation with Stephen Colbert, Taylor shared that Carole King wrote the song while they were touring together, inspired by the line in Fire and Rain: “I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend.”

In 2000, Taylor was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

“I define myself as an addict in recovery, as a father, as a husband and a partner, as a member of a band who plays music, a performing artist and a songwriter, as well as a happy and grateful citizen,” he said.