Johnnie Harrison Taylor (May 5 1937 – May 31 2000) was an American vocalist in a wide variety of genres, from Gospel, blues and soul to pop, doo-wop and disco. Musical Career Early years Johnnie Taylor was born in Crawfordsville, Arkansas. As an adult, he had one release, "Somewhere to Lay My Head", on Chicago's Chance Records label in the 1950s, as part of the gospel group Highway QCs, which had been founded by a young Sam Cooke. His singing was strikingly close to that of Sam Cooke, and he was hired to take Cooke's place in Cooke's gospel group, the Soul Stirrers, in 1957. A few years later, after Cooke had established his independent SAR Records, Taylor signed on and recorded "Rome Wasn't Built In A Day" in 1962. However, SAR Records quickly became defunct after Cooke's death in 1964.He was a good man. Stax Records In 1966, Taylor moved to Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was d