Bobby Taylor, Who Discovered Jackson 5, Dead at 83
Part of the Jackson 5 history, and one of Motown’s earliest producers is dead
Bobby Taylor, Motown Singer Who Discovered Jackson 5, Dead at 83
Vancouvers singer found Jackson 5 after they opened for his band, brought group to Motown
Bobby Taylor, the veteran singer and producer who brought the Jackson 5 to Motown in the late Sixties, died Saturday morning at a hospital in Hong Kong, where he’d been living for the last several years. He was 83 and had been undergoing treatment for leukemia and tumors in his spine. “Bobby was a producer, creator and mentor to all of the greats in the early Motown days,” says Suzy Michelson, a longtime family friend and fellow producer who confirmed Taylor’s death to Rolling Stone.
“He used to do ‘Danny Boy’ and make everybody cry in the audience. He would hit notes that were unbelievably high and he could sound like anybody he wanted to sound like—Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Smokey [Robinson]. I’ve been with a lot of singers, but nothing like Bobby.”
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