Larry Taylor

Samuel Lawrence Taylor (June 26, 1942 – August 19, 2019) was an American bass guitarist, best known for his work as a member of the blues rock band Canned Heat. Before joining Canned Heat, he had been a session bassist for the Monkees and Jerry Lee Lewis. He was the younger brother of Mel Taylor, longtime drummer of The Ventures.

Taylor was born in New York City. His mother was Jewish and his father was a "WASP" from Tennessee. Taylor was the younger brother to Mel Taylor (1933-1996), drummer for The Ventures. As a boy, Taylor's family moved back and forth from Brooklyn and Tennessee. They also lived in Texas and California. While living in California, Taylor was sent by his mother back to Tennessee to join a mandatory Reserve Officers' Training Corps to punish him and teach him discipline as he was an "incorrigible" child.

In an interview, Taylor said he went to school for only a year before dropping out:

His first exposure to music was through brother Mel, who was a bluegrass guitarist at the time as opposed to the surf rock drummer he became known as. Like his brother, Larry originally played guitar. He switched to bass guitar after seeing local California musician Wesley Reynolds at the Sea Witch club. Taylor would later run away from home with Reynolds, and drove in his car to Oklahoma.

Taylor played bass guitar in the Gamblers, one of the first rock groups to play instrumental surf music. Its personnel also included Elliot Ingber, a future member of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention, Fraternity of Man and Captain Beefheart's the Magic Band; Bruce Johnston, half of the Bruce and Terry duo with Terry Melcher from 1962–66 and longtime "sixth" member of the Beach Boys, for a time brother Mel Taylor, and guitarist-songwriter-bandleader Derry Weaver, who would record and perform in several capacities during the early 1960s. The Gamblers had a local hit in the Los Angeles area with "Moon Dawg" and Taylor played on the recording.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.