With his warm baritone voice and distinctive guitar style, James Taylor has been touching people around the world for more than fifty years. The American has set an example with his music that countless young musicians aspire to. In the course of his much-acclaimed career as a songwriter and performer, James Taylor has sold more than 100 million albums and received numerous gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards since the release of his debut album in 1968. In 2015 he released _Before This World_, the very first #1 album of his impressive career. Taylor has won multiple GRAMMY Awards, is inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the prestigious Songwriters Hall of Fame and was in February 2006 by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences named MUSICARES Person of the Year. Additionally the singer was appointed by the French government as Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters and received in 2012 the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama.

In November 2015 James Taylor was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor of the United States, and in December 2016 he received the Kennedy Center Honors, which are awarded annually to persons who have enriched American culture with notable achievements in the performing arts. In early 2020 _Break Shot_ was released: a deeply personal and authentic audio memoir in which Taylor describes his first 21 years of life. In that same year his latest, nineteenth studio album called _American Standard_ also appeared, which in 2021 earned him the GRAMMY Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. With this album he also became the first artist ever to have a Top 10 album on the Billboard charts in each of the past six decades.