Chip Taylor, the Man Who Wrote "Wild Thing," Dies at 86
You know the song. Everybody knows the song.
Chip Taylor wrote "Wild Thing" in 1966 and watched the Troggs take it to number one. Then Jimi Hendrix covered it live at Monterey that same year right before setting his guitar on fire. Not a bad run for something Taylor knocked out as a demo.
He died Monday in hospice care at the age of 86. His kids confirmed it on Facebook Tuesday. No cause was given. They said his last days were peaceful and that he considered his fans friends.
86 is a pretty good run, especially considering the life he led.
The Songs You Know Without Knowing His Name
That's the songwriter's life — your work is everywhere and your name is nowhere. "Angel of the Morning" is a perfect example. Juice Newton took it platinum in 1981. It reportedly became the first country song ever played on MTV. Most people who love that song couldn't tell you who wrote it.
Taylor could. He wrote that one too.
Frank Sinatra covered his songs. So did Waylon Jennings, Linda Ronstadt, and Dusty Springfield. He got into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2016 and brought his grandkids on stage to sing "Wild Thing" at the ceremony. Six decades in the business, and that's still the one he wanted to share with them.
Behind the scenes he was just as sharp. He signed both Billy Vera and a young James Taylor to April Blackwood Music — the same James Taylor who ended up with six Grammys and a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The Stuff That Made Him Interesting
Many people do not know he was born James Wesley Voight in Yonkers. Yes, Jon Voight's little brother and Angelina Jolie's uncle. He changed his last name early because label executives thought Voight was too hard to pronounce and then spent sixty years making Chip Taylor mean something on its own.
He tried professional golf first. That didn't stick. He fell into a rockabilly band in Yonkers instead and never looked back.
He also got himself banned from multiple casinos for card counting. He told CBS Sunday Morning in 2008 he made serious money doing it and could have lived off those earnings. He kept writing songs anyway because that's just what he did.
His own take on "Wild Thing" never changed.
"To me it was the start of punk," he said once. Simple as that.
He is survived by his kids, grandkids, and siblings. And to his fans, he is survived by songs that left a legacy.
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