ANGELIC UPSTART
He looked like butter wouldn’t melt, but when the Stones in mid-’69, he was already a guitarist of rare style, scope and confidence, writes MICK TAYLOR joined MARK BLAKE.
MICK TAYLOR spent the first part of his career filling some very big shoes: namely those of Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Brian Jones.
Raised in Hatfield where his father worked for aircraft maker De Havilland, Taylor started playing guitar aged nine and bounced between local groups The Strangers and The Juniors and labouring and engraving jobs. Then he was discovered by John Mayall, whose Bluesbreakers offered a berth/ apprenticeship to some of the finest rock
musicians of the ’60s.