NEW YORK—On March 23, James Wesley Voight, professionally known as songwriter “Chip Taylor,” passed away from cancer in a New York hospital. Taylor, a 2016 Hall of Fame inductee, brought many of the classics still listened to today, beginning with the 1966 hit that was brought to life by Jimi Hendrix, Wild Thing. He was 86.
Some of Taylor’s other top hits were, Angel in the Morning sung by both Merrilee Rush and Juice Newton, and also in 1966, I Can’t Let Go, covered by Evie Sands and Linda Ronstadt. He also wrote Janis Joplin’s 1969 hit, Try (Just a Little Bit Harder), and dozens of others.
The following came directly from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
…”His songs have also been recorded by such luminaries as Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, and Frank Sinatra, with Norway’s premier folk singer, Paal Flaata, recording an entire album of Taylor songs, Wait by the Fire, and taking it to his country’s Top 10 and a Norwegian GRAMMY nomination.
Taylor was born James Wesley Voight in Yonkers, N.Y., on March 21, 1940. His older brother is the Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight (Voight’s Oscar-winning daughter Angelina Jolie is Taylor’s niece), and a second older brother, Barry Voight, is an award-winning volcanologist and engineer in his own right. After a failed attempt as a professional golfer.”
Taylor’s talent was in music, writing songs on his own and with others, such as Al Gorgoni, a Brill Building session player, who produced I Can’t Grow Peaches on a Cherry Tree with Taylor in 1966.
Some of his other joint work included Billy Vera, Jerry Ragovoy, Johnny Tillotson, Barbara Lewis, The Fleetwoods, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, and Anne Murray, among others.
Taylor was preceded in death by his wife, who was also his middle school sweetheart, Joan Carole Frey, who passed away in 2025.
He is survived by his children, Kristian and Kelly Taylor, five grandchildren, his brother, actor Jon Voight, and his niece, Angelina Jolie.
