James Taylor is often said to be from Boston. Technically he is, since he was born there, but at the age of 5 his family moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina which they called home for most his formative years. His father was a doctor who had a successful military career and became Dean of The School Of Medicine at the University of North Carolina. That having been said, Taylor attended a boarding school in Massachusetts for his high school years, and his family often vacationed in Martha’s Vineyard, so his New England ties still persisted.

It was his visits to Martha’s Vineyard that put him in contact with other musicians that encouraged him to pursue his music. James eventually moved to New York where his musical career took off. His first big hits of the 70s were “Fire and Rain” and “You’ve Got A Friend”. He is a five-time Grammy Award winner, and is one of the best-selling music artists of all time with record sales of more than 100 million worldwide. Sadly this extraordinarily talented man has suffered with bouts of depression for most of his life, which makes his accomplishments even more amazing.