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Eddie Taylor (1923-1985)

Big Town Playboy

Edward Taylor a.k.a. Eddie "Playboy" Taylor (January 29, 1923 – December 25, 1985) was an American blues guitarist and singer. Born in Benoit, Mississippi, as a boy Eddie Taylor taught himself to play the guitar. He spent his early years playing at venues around Leland, Mississippi where he taught his friend Jimmy Reed to play guitar. Bringing with him a style deeply rooted in the Mississippi Delta tradition, in 1949 Eddie Taylor moved to Chicago. While Taylor never achieved the stardom of some of his compatriots in the Chicago Blues scene, he nevertheless was an integral part of that era and is especially noted as a main accompanist for Jimmy Reed as well as working with John Lee Hooker, Big Walter Horton, and others. Eddie Taylor's own records Big Town Playboy and Bad Boy on Vee Jay Records became local hits in the 1950s. Eddie Taylor's son Eddie Taylor Jr. is a blues guitarist in Chicago, and his stepson Larry Taylor Hill is a blues drummer and vocalist. Eddie Taylor's wife Vera was the sister of well-known bluesmen Eddie Burns and Jimmy Burns. Eddie Taylor died in 1985 and was interred in the Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. (quoted from wikipedia.org)

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