Early life Taylor, the eldest of three children, was born in
Brawley, California. Taylor's father, Roland Taylor, was a
Baptist minister. When Taylor was six years old, the family relocated to
Northglenn, Colorado, a suburb of
Denver. He graduated from
Northglenn High School in 1976. While there, he attempted to learn the bass guitar, piano and trombone. Upon graduation from high school, Taylor enrolled at
Biola University in California. During his first year, he was first of the 100 chosen, from 20,000 applicants, to spend the summer at
John Davidson's summer camp. At the camp, Taylor spent time learning from singers like
Tony Orlando,
Florence Henderson, and John Davidson. Taylor returned home and enrolled at the
University of Colorado Boulder, to study "serious music". He graduated there in 1980, but described his
Bachelor of Arts degree in music and theater as being worth "slightly more than the cash value of a
Pizza Hut coupon."
1980s In 1980, Taylor wrote and directed a pop musical comedy titled
Nothing to Lose based on the
parable of the Prodigal Son from the
Bible. It had a short run at a community theater in Denver. He also wrote and starred in a short film, ''Joe's Distributing'', a parody of
avant-garde films. Taylor wrote articles during this time that were published in
The Wittenburg Door and
CCM Magazine (for which he won an award from the
Evangelical Press Association). After recording a demo of original songs, Taylor began to write for the musical group the
Continental Singers. The Continental Singers' founder,
Cam Floria invited Taylor to join the group as assistant director on a tour to France, Italy, and Poland sponsored by
Solidarity. When he returned to the United States, he was asked to perform at the Christian Artists' 1982 Music Seminar in Denver.
Billy Ray Hearn, president of
Sparrow Records, was backstage and immediately signed Taylor to a
recording contract. He recorded his debut solo project
I Want to Be a Clone in 1982 and released it in January 1983. He quickly gained a reputation for writing songs that satirized beliefs and practices with which he disagreed. In 1983, Taylor recorded his first full-length album. Released in 1984,
Meltdown included some of the demo material that was not on
Clone along with some new material. His video single of the title track, "Meltdown (at
Madame Tussauds)" was played on
MTV, which was unusual for a
Christian artist at the time. The video featured an appearance by actress
Lisa Whelchel. The album also included "We Don't Need No Colour Code", which was critical of
Bob Jones University and its racial policies. Another track on
Meltdown, "Guilty By Association", one of the original demo songs, includes a jab with an impression in the
middle eight at
televangelist Jimmy Swaggart. The song "On the Fritz", the title track from Taylor's next studio album, was also targeted at Swaggart. Swaggart later struck back by devoting part of a chapter of ''Religious Rock 'N' Roll, a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing'' () to Taylor, whom he saw as playing evil rock music. During a performance at 1984's
Cornerstone Festival, Taylor fractured his ankle while jumping off the stage. He finished the summer's tour in an electric wheelchair. In 1985, Taylor received his first
Grammy nomination in the "Best Male Gospel Performance" category, while also being nominated for
Dove Awards as "Gospel Artist of the Year" and for
Meltdown as the "Best Contemporary Album of the Year". Taylor and "Some Band" performed at the Dove Awards ceremonies in
Nashville in April of that year, where they were introduced by
Pat Boone. Taylor followed that release with
On the Fritz, produced by
Foreigner's
Ian McDonald.
Fritz was Taylor's first album to use all studio musicians instead of his usual backing group. Some of the musicians who played on this album were George Small,
Tony DaVilio,
Hugh McCracken,
Carmine Rojas,
Larry Fast and
Allen Childs.
Fritz, keeping with Taylor tradition, took aim once again at religious leaders, such as
Bill Gothard ("I Manipulate"), greedy
TV evangelists (again) ("You Don't Owe Me Nothing"), politicians using religion or avoiding questions of morality in order to get votes ("It's a Personal Thing"), and public schools teaching "
values clarification" to children, asking them to determine who should be thrown overboard in an overcrowded lifeboat ("Lifeboat"). Taylor also recorded a duet with
Sheila Walsh, "Not Gonna Fall Away", a tune written and recorded in 1981 by David Edwards. This was released as a
12" single titled "Transatlantic Remixes". Taylor and Walsh embarked on the Transatlantic Tour which included dates in the United Kingdom and the United States. Taylor and Walsh also participated in the recording of "Do Something Now" in 1985, a collaborative effort, similar to "
We Are the World", to raise money for
Compassion International's famine relief programs in Africa. Other artists participating included
Amy Grant,
Larry Norman,
Russ Taff,
Randy Stonehill,
Mylon LeFevre,
Steve Camp,
Evie,
Phil Keaggy,
2nd Chapter of Acts,
Sandi Patty,
Bill Gaither and
Rick Cua. In between performing, recording and touring, Taylor met and married Debbie Butler of
Irvine, California. They were married by Taylor's father at a private ceremony in
Connecticut. Mrs. Taylor designed the album cover for a compilation on Sparrow,
The Best We Could Find (Plus 3 That Never Escaped) and Myrrh's
I Predict 1990, as well as some of Taylor's more colorful stage costumes. In 1987, Taylor once again lived up to his controversial reputation with a song called "I Blew Up the Clinic Real Good". The song criticizes anyone who claims to be an
anti-abortion activist who would blow up abortion clinics or kill doctors. The point of the song was lost on many and resulted in Taylor's album,
I Predict 1990, being pulled from the shelves at some Christian record stores. Taylor himself would occasionally call those stores to explain the song to them. With
1990, Taylor's targets included mainstream universities ("Since I Gave Up Hope I Feel a Lot Better", featuring fiddle work from
Papa John Creach of
Jefferson Airplane and
Hot Tuna). Other tracks included "Jim Morrison's Grave", which once again brought Taylor some
MTV exposure, and the
Flannery O'Connor-inspired "Harder to Believe Than Not To". Some stores also pulled the album as they thought the cover looked like a
tarot card. The album also included the song "Cash Cow", which takes a jab at yet another
televangelist,
Robert Tilton, as well as "Bannerman", which is a tribute to American football fans who hold up "
John 3:16" banners behind the goalposts. A
tribute to Taylor entitled
I Predict a Clone: A Steve Taylor Tribute was released in 1994 that featured performances by
Sixpence None the Richer,
Fleming and John,
Starflyer 59,
Circle of Dust, and others. In the years following those releases, Taylor focused his efforts on running
Squint Entertainment and producing projects for other artists, including Sixpence None the Richer's self-titled 1997 release that featured the hit singles "
Kiss Me" and a cover of
The La's "There She Goes". He would be most noted for his work with
Newsboys, co-producing five of the band's albums while making contributions to the band's songwriting. During this time, Taylor also directed and produced the Newsboys' 1996 movie
Down Under the Big Top in which the band stars. Taylor began working as a full-time film maker, directing
music videos for
Fleming and John,
Rich Mullins, Sixpence None the Richer, Newsboys,
Guardian,
Twila Paris,
Dakoda Motor Co.,
Out of the Grey, and two video albums for himself.
2000s While still running Squint, Taylor had begun a film project called
St. Gimp, co-written with Ben Pearson and
Willie Williams. That film was abandoned in 2001 when Squint Entertainment lost its financial backing and Taylor was forced out of the company. Taylor co-wrote and directed the feature film
The Second Chance starring
Michael W. Smith, released February 17, 2006. He also appeared in the documentary film
Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music? (released on DVD in 2006), in interview segments and performing part of "We Don't Need No Colour Code". New music was scarce, but Taylor did contribute one song, "Shortstop", to Squint's 2000 compilation
Roaring Lambs. He also recorded "Yo Ho Hero", a collaborative track for the 2008
VeggieTales movie ''
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything''.
2010s In 2010, Taylor began working on a
film adaptation of Donald Miller's book
Blue Like Jazz. Kickstarter donations helped finish the project, and the film was released theatrically on April 13, 2012, and on DVD/Blu-ray on August 7, 2012. June 2011 saw the release of "Closer" (featuring Steve Taylor and Some Other Band), a collaboration with
Peter Furler on his first solo album,
On Fire. The group consisted of Taylor on vocals,
Jimmy Abegg on guitar,
John Mark Painter on bass, and Furler on drums. According to Furler, an entire album was recorded from these sessions, the material consisting of Taylor/Furler songs unused by the Newsboys. One track from the group, "A Life Preserved", was released August 7, 2012 on the
Blue Like Jazz Motion Picture Soundtrack album and credited to Steve Taylor & The Perfect Foil. An "official remix" of "A Life Preserved" also surfaced at , and Taylor returned to the stage for Creation 2013 festival. A 2013 Kickstarter drive funded the band in studio and on the road. A February 2014 Kickstarter update revealed previously completed studio work to be an album by tour co-headliner Peter Furler Band (released March 2014), with the four members of the Perfect Foil as producers. Soon after, Steve Taylor & The Perfect Foil announced via Kickstarter that their own new album
Goliath was completed August 23, 2014. This marked Taylor's first studio album in twenty years. "Only a Ride", the debut single from the album, was released via streaming and mp3 download on September 16, 2014, only to Kickstarter campaign supporters. The music video for "Only a Ride" featured scenes from the film trailer for
Stunt Rock, a 1980 film by director
Brian Trenchard-Smith. Music videos for "Standing in Line" and the title track to
Goliath followed. The album, distributed independently, through Taylor's own Splint Entertainment, was released on November 18, 2014. Plans for extensive touring were announced. In June 2015, Taylor and the Perfect Foil entered
Electrical Audio in Chicago with Daniel Smith of
Danielson and engineer
Steve Albini. In December 2015, Taylor announced (via Kickstarter) that the resulting EP,
Wow to the Deadness, was released in January 2016, under the name Steve Taylor & The Danielson Foil. Along with new music making, Taylor also had the honor of becoming filmmaker-in-residence at
Lipscomb University's cinematic arts program. His roles would include assistant professor of film & creative media and director of the School of Theatre and Cinematic Arts. He would also begin development on another feature film, a political comedy:
The Independent.
2020s On August 1, 2020, a live crowdfunding campaign was launched for the release of
The Last Amen, the long-delayed Chagall Guevara live album. It was to be accompanied by a collection,
Halcyon Days, to include rare and unreleased CG material as well as new recordings with Taylor's former band. The latter nine-track release was made available to Kickstarter backers in mid-May 2022, and was released to the public in June of that year. The band played one show together on July 2, 2022, to celebrate the release of the new album. CG would also support long-term collaborator Russ Taff in concert in June 2025. == Discography ==