Growing up in North Carolina, James Taylor's first instrument was the cello, but
he was hooked by guitar in the early 1960s. He wrote his first song at the age
of 14 and teamed up with fellow young guitarist Danny Kortchmar playing coffee
houses under the name Jamie & Kootch. Suffering from depression, in 1965 Taylor
admitted himself into a psychiatric hospital in Massachusetts, an experience
which later fuelled some of his most successful songs, such as 'Fire & Rain'. He
then moved to New York where he formed the band Flying Machine, which played
around Greenwich Village. When t...