Johnnie Taylor, Soul Music Legend, Dies Of Apparent Heart Attack At 62 In Texas

Jet, June 19, 2000

Johnnie Taylor, whose 1976 Disco Lady was a hit on the dance floor and on the pop charts, recently died of an apparent heart attack. He was 62.

Taylor was stricken at his home in suburban Duncanville and died at Charlton Methodist Medical Center in Dallas, TX, according to authorities.

The Crawfordsville, AR, native was nicknamed the "Philosopher of Soul" by Memphis' Stax Records.

His career started with a Chicago-based gospel group called the Highway QCs in the early 1950s. A short while later he joined the gospel group the Five Echoes.

A protege of late music great Sam Cooke, Taylor eventually became lead singer of the gospel group the Soul Stirrers in 1957 when Cooke handpicked Taylor to replace him as the group's lead vocalist.

In 1968, Taylor went solo and scored big with the release of his first No. 1 on the R&B charts, Who's Making Love--his first million-seller.

Five years later Taylor earned another chart success with the song Cheaper To Keep Her, which was a Top 20 hit.

When Stax went bankrupt in 1975, Taylor signed to Columbia Records. There he recorded the biggest hit of his career with the tune Disco Lady, which sold 2 million copies and stayed at No. 1 for four weeks.

"I do love music because it's always loved me," Taylor told the Dallas Morning News last year. "It gives me a certain kind of feeling. The material I choose isn't Black music or White music. It's just music-real, honest music."

In 1996 Taylor received the Rhythm & Blues Foundation's Pioneer Award. A year later he hit big again with the release of the album and single Good Love.

Other Taylor classics include Take Care Of Your Homework, Jody's Got Your Girl And Gone, Hijackin' Love, I Believe In You (You Believe In Me), We're Getting Careless With Our Love, Somebody's Gettin' It and Love Is Better In The A.M.

Most recently Taylor released the album Gotta Get the Groove Back, featuring the ironic upcoming single Soul Heaven, a song in which the singer dreams of a concert featuring deceased jazz superstars.

He lived in Dallas more than 30 years after he decided to settle there after he played a show in the city.

Survivors include his wife of 24 years, Gerlean, and four adult children.