Kingsize Taylor

Vocalist Kingsize Taylor led one of the most exciting Liverpool beat groups during the early '60s, Kingsize Taylor & the Dominos, but approbation in their homeland was undermined by an almost perpetual residency in German clubs. Originally signed to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Philips+Records%22">Philips Records</a>, they completed several singles not issued in the U.K. before compounding this anonymity by agreeing to record for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Polydor+Records%22">Polydor Records</a> as the Shakers. Let's Do the Madison, Twist, Locomotion, Slop, Hully Gully, Monkey with the Shakers was a worthwhile resumé of R&B/soul staples, but the unit's complex series of recordings is best exemplified in their rendition of <a href="spotify:artist:4nts0oxMT67lVUoi5Kjxrb">Solomon Burke</a>'s "Stupidity." This compulsive release, credited to Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes, was one of the finest of the genre, but the band ceased recording later that year following a live EP culled from a set at Hamburg's Star Club. Taylor achieved notoriety during the '70s when his reel-to-reel tape of a <a href="spotify:artist:3WrFJ7ztbogyGnTHbHJFl2">Beatles</a> performance at the same venue formed the basis for several archival packages. A Dominoes set on the same spool -- the prime reason for its initial recording -- did not generate the same interest, although their version of "Hully Gully" has, erroneously, crept into several aforementioned <a href="spotify:artist:3WrFJ7ztbogyGnTHbHJFl2">Beatles</a> releases. Kingsize Taylor died on January 2, 2023, at the age of 83.