His first big hit, Fire and Rain, about the suicide of a friend, includes the themes that came to define his songwriting вЂ“ the precarity of our emotional lives, happiness as something to be treasured and the natural worldвЂ™s capacity for renewal. Fingerpicking became his vernacular as much as his lyrics. Taylor began playing guitar in his teens, strumming along to his parentsвЂ™ record collection: Harry Belafonte, Nina Simone, Judy Garland, Lead Belly. вЂњBut complacent happiness is not a gift of the gods, either.вЂќ Still, an unpredictable parent is rarely a recipe for a stable adulthood. But he was by no means an abusive or stumble-bum or knee-walking or ditch-sleeping drunk.вЂќ вЂњMy father was a remarkable and powerful and beautiful guy who self-medicated with alcohol. Was his dad abusive? вЂњNo,вЂќ he says firmly. Taylor being awarded the presidential medal of freedom by President Obama in 2015. вЂњItвЂ™s like when you take your report card home from school and you know that if you hand it to him before heвЂ™s had his first drink, youвЂ™re going to get one response and if you hand it to him after his first drink, youвЂ™ll get another.вЂќ вЂњThereвЂ™s a mysterious energy to someone who lives with a tragedy like this,вЂќ Taylor says of his father. He went to the bottom of the world and returned with a serious drinking problem. He spent two years on an expedition to the south pole, where he held the keys to the liquor cabinet of 100 men. Not long after moving the family to North Carolina, TaylorвЂ™s father was assigned to the navy. She saw the north-eastern state of Massachusetts as a вЂњlost EdenвЂќ and would spend her days doing sit-ins at segregated lunch counters, on protests, and hauling her five kids to MarthaвЂ™s Vineyard every summer to вЂњrestore our Yankee credentialsвЂќ. His father, a doctor, moved the family to the south when he became the dean of the medical school of the University of North Carolina his mother didnвЂ™t want to go, and fought against the politics she found there. ItвЂ™s a subtle exploration of the вЂњripplesвЂќ, as Taylor puts it.Д«orn in Boston in 1948, Taylor was, according to his memoir, вЂњbrought up devoted to progressive politics, self-improvement and the artsвЂќ. But the memoir is mostly about the shattering effect that early childhood trauma, addiction and grief can have generations later. It covers his fatherвЂ™s alcoholism and his brotherвЂ™s death from the disease, as well as his own drug addiction, all of which, he worries, could be sensationalised. He is anxious, he says, about how the memoir will be received. He has also released an audio memoir вЂ“ Break Shot вЂ“ which takes him back to his turbulent early years, finishing with that first London trip. ItвЂ™s what informed me as a songwriter, and others of my generation Lennon and McCartney, Randy Newman, Elton and Bernie, Paul Simon. It was sheet music, anyone would sing it, so the songs had to stand on their own. He says there was a period when his generation wanted to distance themselves from this music, but he now recognises it as вЂњthe pinnacle of American popular song. ItвЂ™s the personal stuff I like, for better or for worse.вЂќ He is here to promote his 19th album, American Standard a covers album of the old standards and Broadway show tunes he was raised on. Taylor is in a reflective mood when we meet, and says he is always like this. Before he sold 100m records, performed for the Obamas and the Clintons, and then, decades later, appeared on stage with one of the worldвЂ™s biggest pop stars, Taylor Swift, who is named after him. Before his marriage to Carly Simon, which opened up his personal life вЂ“ including his long battle with heroin addiction вЂ“ to public consciousness. Before he wrote his pivotal album Sweet Baby James during a stint in a psychiatric hospital. Before he met David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, Neil Young, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Carole King and Joni Mitchell. This was before he moved to Laurel Canyon with the rest of the denim-draped California dreamers who defined the sound of the late 60s and far beyond. вЂњThe moment.вЂќ He made his first trip here in 1968, playing for Paul McCartney and George Harrison and becoming the first artist signed to the BeatlesвЂ™ record label, Apple Records. J ames Taylor looks out at the sprawling London skyline.

Cat stevens album covers