- Taylor wrote songs for other Motown artists, including the Four Tops, the Temptations, and TV actor Paul Petersen ("A Little Bit For Sandy").
- Signed by Motown as a songwriter where he worked with the label's famed Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team.
- Was part of the Motown collective known as The Clan that teamed to write and produce songs including The Supremes, "Love Child" (a #1 single in 1968) and "I'm Living in Shame" (#8 in 1969).
- He established his own record company, Jane Records, in 1973.
- His first Rare Earth single, "Indiana Wants Me", became a No. 2 hit in his native Canada and No. 1 in Cash Box magazine in the US, the first Motown record by a white performer to reach that position. The song peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and at No. 2 in the UK. Later it was featured in the opening minutes of the 1980 American movie, The Ninth Configuration.
- He began his career in 1961, as a pianist and singer with several country music bands in Toronto.
- After Holland, Dozier and Holland left Motown, more success for Taylor came as a member of the Motown writing and production team known as "The Clan", together with Frank Wilson, Pam Sawyer and Deke Richards. This production group was briefly the prime creator of material for Diana Ross & the Supremes after the Holland / Dozier / Holland team left Motown. Among Taylor's successful co-compositions and co-productions during 1968 and 1969 as a member of The Clan were Diana Ross & the Supremes' No. 1 US hit "Love Child" and their Top 10 follow-up hit "I'm Livin' In Shame".
- As a singer, American audiences know Taylor best for his chart-topping 1970 hit "Indiana Wants Me", which hit No. 1 in Cash Box in the United States and was also No. 2 in Canada and No. 2 in the UK. It peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. He became well known in the United Kingdom for other hits, including "Gotta See Jane" and "There's a Ghost in My House".
- He was a Canadian musician, most notable as a singer, songwriter, and record producer for Motown during the 1960s and 1970s.
- He had been ill since contracting COVID-19 the previous year.
- Taylor also made his first recordings in 1961, for the Audiomaster record label. The next year, Taylor's "At The High School Dance", a single for Amy-Mala Records, was a minor success. His next single, "I'll Remember", on the Barry label, was a No. 23 success for Toronto rock and roll radio station CHUM, and the singer decided to relocate to Detroit, Michigan, to further his career.
- He built a recording studio at his home in Los Angeles, and worked on an unpublished memoir of his time at Motown.
- According to Jason Ankeny, Taylor was "one of the most underrated acts ever to record under the Motown aegis.".
- At the time of his death he had been married for 52 years to his wife Janee.
- Taylor attempted a comeback during the early 1980s, after which he had a hiatus from the music industry.
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