Theodore Roosevelt Taylor, b. April 12, 1915 in Natchez, MS, d. December 17, 1975 in Chicago, IL. Taylor had an apprenticeship playing guitar in Mississippi with musicians such as Elmore James and John Lee 'Sonny Boy' Williamson. In 1942, he moved to Chicago where he worked the clubs as well as the market on Maxwell Street. Two singles from the early 60s underlined the vitality of his music, especially the high-energy 'Take Five'. Taylor and his band the HouseRockers (featuring second guitarist Brewer Phillips and drummer Ted Harvey), won a following among young blues fans and toured Europe as well as North America. In the early 70s, Taylor and the HouseRockers made two explosive studio albums for Alligator Records which helped establish a reputation for intense bottleneck guitar blues and R&B. Sadly Taylor did not live long enough to exploit this reputation, dying of cancer in 1975. Numerous live albums and odd and ends compilations have been released posthumously.
