James Taylor Childhood — Chapel Hill and the Mental Hospital Years

James Taylor was born in Boston but grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where his father Isaac was dean of the UNC Medical School. The Southern childhood gave Taylor his connection to folk and country music; the family also spent summers on Martha's Vineyard, which became an equally significant geography in his imagination. At seventeen, Taylor voluntarily committed himself to McLean Hospital psychiatric facility in Massachusetts for nine months, being treated for depression — the experience that informed 'Fire and Rain' and that gave his music its particular quality of hard-won serenity.

Taylor was the first American artist signed to Apple Records, at Paul McCartney's recommendation, and his London recordings with the Beatles' label in 1968 introduced him to Peter Asher, who became his long-term producer. His Sweet Baby James album (1970) and Mud Slide Slim (1971) established him as the defining voice of the singer-songwriter moment — confessional, melodically elegant, emotionally direct without sentimentality. His friendship with Carole King, with whom he was romantically involved, put him at the heart of the Laurel Canyon scene.

Chapel Hill, home to the University of North Carolina, is a pleasant university town in the Research Triangle of central North Carolina. There is no specific Taylor landmark there, though the UNC campus reflects the academic environment he grew up in. Martha's Vineyard, where the Taylor family compound is located, is the more evocative geography for fans of his music.