Mike Taylor Memory Book Launched, ‘Celebration of Life’ Sydney Details Confirmed

Michael Taylor’s friends, associates and extended family are invited to upload their memories of the music man for a special keepsake.

Taylor’s life and career in music will remembered at a Celebration of Life ceremony in Sydney, from 5.30pm on March 27.

Organisers of the tribute invite those who knew Taylor to add photos, videos, comments and lessons learned into the website, a digital scrapbook to be presented later this year for his son Charlie.

The late, U.S.-born executive’s wife Jenny will be in attendance at the event, details of which can be found at michaeltaylor.love/sydney/.

Guest are invited to RSVP for the gathering and upload memories on the website.

Following a battle with cancer, Taylor died peacefully Jan. 11 in Brewster, New York, surrounded by his family and loved ones. He was 54.

One of Australia’s most successful A&R executives, who for many years was the highest-flying American-born and raised professional in the national music industry, Taylor succumbed to his health problems following a return to his homeland.

His DNA was on some Australia’s biggest records. It was Taylor who A&R’d Delta Goodrem’s 2003 Sony Music release Innocent Eyes, one of the best-selling homegrown albums in Australian recorded music history.

The late executive enjoyed a 15-year tenure with Universal Music Australia, which included stints as executive VP, A&R and founding general manager and head of UMA imprint, Island Records Australia, and was instrumental in growing the music major’s domestic roster, signing a long list of homegrown stars including Hilltop Hoods, Havana Brown, Baker Boy, Briggs, Clare Bowditch, Shane Nicholson, The McClymonts and Dean Lewis.

During a time in Sydney, Taylor served as managing director of UMA from June 2014 to September 2022, at which time he stepped aside to launch his own endeavours as an executive music consultant, A&R and artist manager, through his venture Shoot True.

“It’s still about great songs and exciting, true talent,” Taylor said of contemporary A&R, during an interview with this reporter in 2013. “Personally, I don’t chase trends as you’re then behind the curve. Rather, I look at what really excites me and what seems to be exciting those around me.”

Taylor was saluted Stateside with a ceremony Jan. 20 at St Lawrence O’Toole Church, in Brewster, NY.

In lieu of flowers or other gifts, donations can be made to Charlie’s 529 plan, a U.S. tax-advantaged savings plan designed to help pay for further education.

Donate via GoFundMe.