A week ago, amid reports of his death but without confirmation, I asked aloud if Canadian born recording artist and songwriter R. Dean Taylor still walked among us or was a ghost in the house.
Sadly, R. Dean Taylor is no longer among the living as he succumbed to COVID on January 7th having been hospitalized for it in 2021. He was 82.
Best known for his 1970 hit, "Indiana Wants Me", Taylor also worked as a songwriter, arranger and producer at Motown and was among a very few white employees at the label co-writing songs such "All I Need" for The Temptations, "I'll Turn to Stone" by The Four Tops and "Love Child" and "I'm Living in Shame" for Diana Ross & The Supremes.
I leave you with Taylor performing "Indiana Wants Me" on American Bandstand with Dick Clark which featured a rare interview, perhaps the only surviving interview he ever did, in which he briefly talks about how he joined Motown in Detroit while on his way from Toronto to New York. He lived a fascinating life. I wish I knew more. I'll have to let his music do the rest. R.I.P.
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