Sam "Bluzman" Tayor ~ 1997

"Sam "Bluzman" Taylor was born in Mobile, Alabama, and cut his teeth early in music, beginning singing gospel at age 3.His first major professional gig was as Maxine Brown's band leader at the Apollo Theater. Sam recorded for various labels including Capitol Records and authored hundreds of songs, many of them hits and some even gold records like "Do It 'Til You're Satisfied" by the BT Express. His songs can be heard rendered by Freddie King, Son Seals, Jimmy Witherspoon, Jay and the Americans, Joey Dee, Maxine Brown and Joe Tex. Taylor also was bandleader/guitarist for the likes of Big Joe Turner, The Isley Brothers, Tracy Nelson, Otis Redding and more notably Sam and Dave.

Taylor was also original member/guitarist of Joey Dee and the Starliters, one of the first integrated rock and roll band that contributed to the twist-dance craze with the "Peppermint Twist". He was also a mentor to, and wrote some of the first songs for The Vagrants which included innovative rock guitarist, Leslie West,of Mountain.
At the start of the 1970s, Sam & Bennie were hired as staff writers for The Beach Boys new record label, Brother Records.

In the early 1970s, Taylor released his opus Tunnels Of My Mind on the GRT record label and in the late 70s, he moved to Santa Monica, California, where he created a scene of his own at Venice Beach that attracted fellow artists like Rickie Lee Jones and good friend Albert Collins. He later moved to Tucson, Arizona where a supportive blues community helped him become a celebrity of the town. He was living in Tucson when we invited him to play Alleyfest, but it was during this time his band moved to New York, so Sam hired a car and driver to bring him to Longview for the weekend.

Sam later rejoined his band in New York, and lived theruntil his death in January 5, 2009 at his home in Islandia, New York. He was 74". ~Wikipedia