R.I.P. R. Dean Taylor (11 May 1937 - 7 Jan 2022)

Having just done an end of year roundup of soul related artists who left us in 2021 I'm sad to say that the first departure of 2022 is being reported on Soulful Detroit yesterday that R. Dean Taylor has passed away aged 82. His death was announced by Rare Earth group Rustix vocalist Chuck Brucato (who co-produced his final single in 1981) on his facebook page.

R. (Richard) Dean Taylor is a name synonymous with most Northern Soul followers for "There's A Ghost In My House" (co-written with Holland, Dozier, Holland) recorded on Motown's V.I.P. imprint in 1967 which became a monster NS tune in the early 70s. The song was originally titled "The End Was Destined To Come" and was intended for the Four Tops but was reworked and released by R. Dean Taylor as the Tops were busy on other material. It was originally played off a 1973, UK only release, budget album "Indiana Wants Me" on Sounds Superb. So popular was it that Tamla Motown in the UK reissued it in 1974 and it reached #3 on the UK pop chart on it's fifth week on the chart and stayed on the chart for a total of  twelve weeks. It was one of the earliest NS tunes to cross over to the pop charts along with Robert Knight's "Love On A Mountain Top" which had a sixteen week run from the end of 1973 to the Spring of 1974 peaking at #10.

To a wider audience he is probably best known for his 1971 #1 hit "Indiana Wants Me" and had another UK Top 20 hit earlier, in 1968, with "Gotta See Jane".

After three unsuccessful recordings in the very early 60s on Audio Master, Mala and  Barry, he was signed as an artist and  songwriter to Motown's V.I.P. label in 1964. His first single for V.I. P. was recorded in March 1964 but was unreleased. He had to wait until Oct 1965 to release his first single for the label "Let's Go Somewhere" (which would be used as the flip side to the Tamla Motown 1974 reissue of "There's A Ghost In My House" as it also had received plays on the NS scene).

That single did well locally but not nationally and his next single was "There's A Ghost In My House" in March 1967 followed by "Gotta See Jane" in April 1968, neither of which registered in the US but "Gotta See Jane" reached #17 in UK.

In 1970 he was switched to Motown's white artist imprint Rare Earth where he had his only US hit "Indiana Wants Me" which peaked at #5 on hot 100 but reached #1 in Canada and #2 in UK.

Whilst at Motown he was also involved in writing numerous hits including "Love Child" and "I'm Living In Shame" for Diana Ross & The Supremes, "I'll Turn To Stone" Four Tops and "All I Need"  The Temptations. "Just Look What You've Done", Brenda Holloway

He set up his own label 'Jane' in 1973 which released around a dozen singles up until 1977, most sung by himself. He released two further singles, the first in 1979 on Raggamuffin and a final one on 20th Century-Fox in 1981 and then seemed to go into retirement.

I'm not going to do a full discography, as to be honest much of his material was pop, rock and country music, but he is a name that most of us growing up with Northern Soul will associate with as part of our youth. R.I.P. R. Dean Taylor.