Steve Taylor Sparrow Bio / Limelight Press Release
March 1986
With his 1983 Sparrow Records' release of I Want To Be A Clone, a then 26-year-old Steve Taylor added a new dimension to the definition of contemporary Christian music. Clone, a six-song mini-LP written entirely by Taylor, controversially focused on the issues, conditions and current attitudes of society in an up-beat, new wave style that would become the artist's trademark. In a similar vein, Taylor's first full-length recording, Meltdown, released the following year, contained all the bite and wit of its predecessor, while looking at the hypocrisy in a world where few are willing to take a stand.
On Taylor's current On The Fritz LP, one of the first albums under Sparrow and Capitol Records' cross-marketing and distribution agreement, he puts his modern-uncontrived music and thought-provoking lyrics on the line, in a way that clearly states... now is the time for Steve Taylor.
The ten songs which comprise On The Fritz, all written by Taylor, aptly display an unfaltering commitment to the peculiar power of music to move and shake those of his generation and others, in a way that's both instantly refreshing and danceable!
Produced by Foreigner and King Crimson veteran Ian McDonald, On The Fritz lists a line-up of New York's top session players, including Tony DaVilio, Hugh McCracken, Carmine Rojas and Allen Childs, whose credits include concert and studio work with Dave Bowie, John Lennon, Julian Lennon, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Steely Dan, Aerosmith and others.
As for Steve Taylor and Some Band's live performance prowess, Cliff White's review of the group's show at Europe's giant Greenbelt Festival (attended by more than 40,000 in 1984 and '85) put it most succinctly. Writing for England's Buzz Magazine White said, "Taylor arrived on stage like a wolfhound among dinosaurs. He writes like he looks, like he moves, like he thinks, with personal conviction. He's a star if he wants to be." Yet Steve makes it all seem accidental, the inevitable result of talent and integrity, rather than ambition.
Steve Taylor was born in Brawley, CA, a small town some 50 miles north of the Mexican border. His father Roland, a Baptist minister, relocated the family to Northglenn, CO, a suburb of Denver, when Taylor was six. There was the eldest of three children, he pursued studies in filmmaking, while playing bass guitar in "assorted gigless garage bands."
Following his 1980 graduation from the University of Colorado in Boulder, Taylor began to progressively devote his talents to songwriting. After a series of rejection letters from several different labels, Taylor decided to take some time off, doing concerts with a performing group of Christian college students behind the Iron Curtain.
An eleventh-hour addition put Taylor and band in the line-up at the prestigious Christian Artists' 1982 Music Seminar in the Rockies for their first live performance, and a decidedly middle-of-the-road crowd responded to "I Want To Be A Clone" with a standing ovation.
Sparrow Records' president Billy Ray Hearn was in the audience and was so impressed with Taylor's performance that he signed him to a recording contract.
Based on the success of I Want To Be A Clone, and his Grammy-nominated Meltdown, Taylor quickly became one of the fastest rising contemporary Christian artists in the industry's history, establishing an international following through critical acclaim in publications throughout the United States and Europe, Australia, and South America.
His first video release, "Meltdown (At Madame Tussaud's)," based on the title track from the Meltdown LP, has received widespread airplay on major cable outlets throughout the country, including MTV, while the single of the same name is still charting at several college and AOR radio stations.
Twelve of Taylor's most popular songs are featured in a newly produced one-hour live film performance, Limelight - The Film, from Sparrow. Filmed in 16mm stereo fore a sold-out crowd of 20,000 at the 1985 Greenbelt Festival, the film contains exclusive interview footage of Taylor along with reactions from the Greenbelt fans, and his new "Lifeboat" conceptual video in its entirety.
Through his unpredictable satire and wit, Taylor offers a series of message-packed musical portraits with songs ranging from high-energy rockers, "This Disco," "On The Fritz," and "You Don't Owe Me Nothing," to conscience-stirring ballads, 'Sin For A Season," "Hero" and "Over My Dead Body."
In conjunction with Limelight - The Film, Sparrow has released an eight-song Limelight album, also recorded live at the Greenbelt Festival.
"Music is music, and it's the vehicle of expression for my generation," said Taylor in a 1985 interview with TIME magazine. "I want my music to be entertaining, while expressing the issues that face my generation, as well."
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