56 Facts About Mick Taylor

Since leaving the Rolling Stones in December 1974, Mick Taylor has worked with numerous other artists and released several solo albums.

Mick Taylor was ranked 37th in Rolling Stone magazine's 2011 list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.

Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash states that Mick Taylor had the biggest influence on him.

Mick Taylor was born to a working-class family in Welwyn Garden City, but was raised in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England, where his father worked as a fitter for the De Havilland aircraft company.

Mick Taylor began playing guitar at age nine, learning to play from his mother's younger brother.

In 1965, at age 16, Mick Taylor went to see a John Mayall's Bluesbreakers performance at "The Hop" Woodhall Community Centre, Welwyn Garden City.

Mick Taylor made his debut with the Bluesbreakers at the Manor House, an old blues club in north London.

From 1966 to 1969, Mick Taylor developed a guitar style that is blues-based with Latin and jazz influences.

Mick Taylor is the guitarist on the Bluesbreaker albums Diary of a Band, Bare Wires, and Blues from Laurel Canyon.

Mick Taylor believed he was being called in to be a session musician at his first studio session with the Rolling Stones.

Between recording sessions, the band members were living in various countries as UK income tax exiles, and during this period Mick Taylor appeared on Herbie Mann's London Underground and on Mann's album Reggae.

In November 1973, Mick Taylor underwent surgery for acute sinusitis and missed some of the sessions when the band began working on the LP It's Only Rock 'n Roll at Musicland Studios in Munich.

When Mick Taylor resumed work with the band, he found it difficult to get along with Richards.

Not long after those recording sessions, Mick Taylor went on a six-week expedition to Brazil, to travel down the Amazon River in a boat and explore Latin music.

Just before the release of the album in October 1974, Mick Taylor told Nick Kent from the NME about the new LP and that he had co-written "Till the Next Goodbye" and "Time Waits for No One" with Jagger.

Kent told Mick Taylor he had seen the finished artwork for the sleeve, which revealed the absence of any songwriting credits for Mick Taylor.

Mick Taylor appears in the promotional video for "Ain't Too Proud to Beg".

In December 1974, Mick Taylor announced he was leaving the Rolling Stones.

The bandmates were at a party in London when Mick Taylor told Jagger he was quitting and walked out.

The Rolling Stones were due to start recording a new album in Munich, and the entire band was reportedly angry at Mick Taylor for leaving at such short notice.

Mick Taylor was a very fluent, melodic player, which we never had, and we don't have now.

Mick Taylor was exciting, and he was very pretty, and it gave me something to follow, to bang off.

Mick Taylor further stated that in order to stay alive and fight his own demons, he needed to escape the realm of the Stones.

Mick Taylor has worked with his former bandmates on various occasions since leaving the Rolling Stones.

Richards appeared on stage at a Mick Taylor show at the Lone Star Cafe in New York on 28 December 1986, jamming on "Key to the Highway" and "Can't You Hear Me Knocking"; and Taylor is featured on one track on Richards' 1988 album Talk is Cheap.

Mick Taylor worked with Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings in the early 1990s.

On 24 October 2012, the Rolling Stones announced, via their latest Rolling Stone magazine interview, that Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor were expected to join the Rolling Stones on stage at the upcoming November shows in London.

Mick Taylor worked on various side projects during his tenure with the Rolling Stones.

Mick Taylor was asked to take part in this project by Richard Branson as he felt Oldfield was unknown, having just been signed to Branson's fledgling label, Virgin Records.

Mick Taylor joined Oldfield once more for a BBC television broadcast in November 1973.

Mick Taylor appeared as a special guest of Little Feat at the Rainbow Theatre in London, 1977, sharing slide guitar with then-frontman Lowell George on "A Apolitical Blues": this song appears on Little Feat's critically acclaimed live album Waiting for Columbus.

Mick Taylor began writing new songs and recruiting musicians for a solo album and worked on projects with Miller Anderson, Alan Merrill and others.

Mick Taylor was present at many of the recording sessions for John Phillips' prospective second solo album.

In 1977, Mick Taylor signed a solo recording deal with Columbia Records.

The album, titled Mick Taylor, was finally released by Columbia Records in 1979 and reached No 119 on the Billboard charts in early August, with a stay of five weeks on the Billboard 200.

CBS advised Mick Taylor to promote the album through American radio stations but was unwilling to back him for any supporting tour.

Frustrated with this situation, Mick Taylor took a break from the music industry for about a year.

Mick Taylor spent most of 1982 and 1983 on the road with John Mayall, for the "Reunion Tour" with John McVie of Fleetwood Mac and Colin Allen.

In 1983, Mick Taylor joined Mark Knopfler and played on Dylan's Infidels album.

Mick Taylor appeared on Dylan's live album Real Live, as well as the follow-up studio album Empire Burlesque.

In 1984, Dylan asked Mick Taylor to assemble an experienced rock and roll band for a European tour he signed with Bill Graham.

Mick Taylor guested with the Grateful Dead on 24 September 1988 at the last show of that year's Madison Square Garden run in New York.

Mick Taylor battled with addiction problems before getting back on track in the second half of the 1980s and moving to Los Angeles in 1990.

Mick Taylor played on the Dramarama album Vinyl, a throwback to classic rock that Taylor was an important part of from the previous decade, playing all guitar tracks, which, ironically, included The Rolling Stones slide guitar song Memo From Turner.

Mick Taylor appeared on three songs from Reap The Whirlwind and then again on Olson's The Ring of Truth, on which he plays lead guitar on nine tracks, including a twelve-minute version of the song "Winter".

Mick Taylor went on to appear on Percy Sledge's Blue Night, along with Steve Cropper, Bobby Womack and Greg Leisz.

Mick Taylor released a new album in 1998 entitled A Stone's Throw.

In 2003, Mick Taylor reunited with John Mayall for his 70th Birthday Concert in Liverpool along with Eric Clapton.

Mick Taylor toured the US East Coast with the Experience Hendrix group during October 2007.

On 1 December 2010, Mick Taylor reunited with Ronnie Wood at a benefit gig arranged by blues guitarist Stephen Dale Petit to save the 100 Club in London.

Mick Taylor toured the UK with Petit, appearing as his special guest, featured on a Paul Jones BBC Radio 2 session with him and guested on Petit's 2010 Classic Rock magazine Album of the Year, The Crave.

Mick Taylor helped to promote the Boogie for Stu album, recorded by Ben Waters to honour Ian Stewart, by taking part in a concert to mark the CD's official launch at the Ambassadors Theatre, London on 9 March 2011.

Mick Taylor acquired his second Les Paul in 1967, not long after joining The Bluesbreakers: Taylor came to Olympic Studios to buy a Les Paul that Keith Richards wanted to sell.

Mick Taylor married Millar in 1975 after leaving the Stones, but the relationship was reportedly "on the rocks" before long and resulted in divorce only a few years later.

Mick Taylor's daughter, Emma, was born from a short relationship with an American woman, Susan McMinamin, who sang backing vocals with Mick Taylor's band on one occasion.

Mick Taylor played guitar on various songs, including "Hello Mary Lou" after developing ideas for the soundtrack with John Phillips.