Widely regarded as a preeminent musician and storyteller, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Taylor's career began in the mid-1960s, but he found his audience in the early 1970s, singing sensitive and gentle acoustic songs. He was part of a wave of singer-songwriters of the time that also included Joni Mitchell, Tom Rush, Cat Stevens, Carole King, John Denver, Jim Croce, Don McLean, and Jackson Browne, as well as Carly Simon, whom Taylor later married.

His 1976 album Greatest Hits was certified diamond and has sold more than 11 million copies. He has retained a large audience well into the 1990s and early 2000s, when some of his best-selling and most-awarded albums were released.