Sarah Taylor grew up in a musical family near San Francisco and started playing violin when she was eight years old. She later attended San Jose State University, majoring in music and helped put herself through college by singing at local clubs. She moved to Los Angeles on a whim after a customer at one of those clubs encouraged her to follow her dreams. Soon after moving to L.A., she met several producers and found herself singing on movies, commercials and record dates. She toured and backed up artists Kenny Loggins, Olivia Newton-John, Joe Cocker, Tanya Tucker, Bruce Hornsby, Richard Page, David Crosby, Herbie Hancock, to name just a few. She formed the band, Pictures of Doreen, with Maggie Kortchmar and Victoria Levy. They had the unbelievable opportunity to work with Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty while signed to MCA Records.
After a telephone call from a friend looking for some help on a music project, Sarah began volunteering as a choir director with at risk youth. She discovered another passion and spent 15 years as Director of Creative and Performing Arts at The Help Group, the nation’s leading agency for children with special needs. Sarah worked directly with artists Chaka Khan, Smokey Robinson, Melissa Etheridge, Burt Bacharach, LL Cool J, Kenny G, Brian McKnight, and many others organizing and performing at the fundraisers for The Help Group’s many youth programs. She wrote and sang the theme song for Aids Project L.A. and helped to design and create the artwork for Los Angeles Child Abuse Prevention. Sarah continues to work with at-risk kids and families in-need through the Los Angeles non-profit, Friends of the Family.
All through the 90’s and 10’s, Sarah continued to perform and record with such diverse talents as Quincy Jones, Mark Mothersbaugh, Danny Kortchmar and Joe Cocker, as well as writing and recording theme songs for TV, film and commercials. When her job at The Help Group came to an end, she decided it was time to record an album of her own.
In 2008, she and her husband, recording engineer Paul Horabin, opened ReadyMix Music, a recording studio in North Hollywood. The studio, once called BrownesFeat, had belonged to Jackson Browne and Little Feat. Jackson wrote the iconic “The Pretender” there. They spent months renovating and restoring the groovy vibe to the studio’s burnt wood walls, original tie-dye acoustic panels, fabulous light fixtures and furniture, concert t-shirts, posters, etc. Once that was done, Paul added a vintage Wurly, a Stage Rhodes and an old 1961 Hammond. At last, they were ready to record!
Long time friends and collaborators, singer/songwriter Sarah Taylor and producer Bill Mumy decided to go into the studio and get to work on a collection of songs that would become Sarah’s first solo record, The Cure To Everything. And yes, that would be the same Bill Mumy who starred in the infamous Lost in Space, Babylon 5 and numerous iconic films and television shows.
They all wanted to cut the basic tracks live to keep a spontaneous and honest energy in the music. Sarah and Bill assembled a crack team of musicians for tracking at ReadyMix Music with Sarah’s husband and engineer Paul Horabin. The core rhythm section was blues/rock guitarist Doug Hamblin (Albert King, Johnny Rivers, Koko Taylor, Dr. John), bassist David Sutton (Lucinda Williams, Liz Phair, Ben Harper), with Fritz Lewak (Melissa Etheridge, Jackson Browne), and Chris Ross (Sam Moore, The Jenerators) on drums and percussion. Guest artists included Weird Al Yankovic, Gerry Beckley from America, and trombonist Steve Baxter. Guiding the process was producer and guitarist Bill Mumy, who played on every track and Paul Horabin who engineered and mixed the entire album at ReadyMix.
Making the album was a wonderful experience, on every level. During the process, Sarah and Paul encouraged their students, young songwriters, musicians and singers, to stop by and watch the recording experience first hand. Several of her students have participated in the Young Talent Night program with LAWiM.
Sarah and Paul also support young talent through their studio’s internship program, and nurture young musical talent as well. They recently invited 10 students from James Madison Middle School, a local North Hollywood school where Sarah volunteers, to come in and record a CD. Paul and Sarah hope to help promote the careers of up-and-coming young artists and engineers through their involvement with LAWiM. Sarah is playing live, writing and producing, and teaching voice and songwriting classes. She and her husband, Paul, continue to work with many of L.A.’s up and coming artists at ReadyMix.
