Biography

Long blonde hair (in his youth times).

Gibson Les Paul guitar.

Guitar solos as "All Down the Line", "Can't you hear me Knocking", "Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)", "Love in vain", "Sway", etc.

Smooth, lyrical playing style.

Combined Blues, Country, Jazz, Latin & Rock to his guitarwork, especially on solos.

Generally regarded (by critics and musicians alike) as the greatest guitarist the Rolling Stones ever had.

Left the Rolling Stones in December, 1974, because of musical differences (such as not getting co-writing credits on particular songs) and as he later stated, to save his life because of the heavy drinking and drugs (although ironically, he also stated his drug habit increased after he left the band).

Played guitar on several Rolling Stones studio tracks (without guitarist Keith Richards performing guitar), including "Shine A Light", "Sway", "Moonlight Mile", "Hide You Love", "100 Years Ago", and "Winter".

Former guitarist for John Mayall's Bluesbreakers.

Former guitarist for the Jack Bruce Band (that never materialized past a few performances; Bruce had used several guitarists through the years for his titular jazz/blues band, and Taylor, after leaving The Rolling Stones, was simply one of them, but only for a few performances).

After moving to Los Angeles in 1990: I joined the line of junkies. I was a virtual down and out. My lowest time was in the clinic on Christmas Day. A nurse gave me a tumbler of methadone and said, "Have a nice Christmas." I told her there wasn't any Christmas for junkies. I decided to go back to England [in the mid 1990s] to find a cure, however painful.

After leaving the Rolling Stones: My father was dying of liver cancer and was in terrible pain in hospital. He said he knew I'd been using drugs and asked if I would ask the nurses for stronger painkillers. I did and they gave him morphine. I sat there trying to balance the irony of the situation.

When I left, they cut off my money for a year, just like that. But I had to leave because I was frustrated. I had a creative relationship with Mick, but I was also bored for a lot of the time. I wanted more and they wanted to remain the same. I also wanted to deal with my drug problems. I believed if I removed myself from that situation I would sort myself out.

I was a bit impulsive back then. I had a reputation on stage of being quiet, but off it I wasn't. We used to fight and argue all the time. And one of the things I got angry about was that Mick had promised to give me some credit for some of the songs - and he didn't. I believed I'd contributed enough. Let's put it this way - without my contribution those songs would not have existed. There's not many but enough, things like Sway and Moonlight Mile on Sticky Fingers and a couple of others.

My drug use began as an occasional recreational thing. I never thought I would get addicted. But by the time I returned to London in 1973, I'd become more and more dependent. I was using every day.