Chip Taylor, the legendary songwriter behind rock anthem “Wild Thing” and the timeless ballad “Angel of the Morning,” has died at age 86. The Songwriters Hall of Fame member passed away Monday, March 23, in hospice care, just two days after celebrating his 86th birthday.
Taylor’s record label, Train Wreck Records, which he founded in 1997, confirmed his death in a statement on Tuesday. The label praised his “storied career and contributions to the music industry” that “have left an indelible mark on many generations of musicians and fans”. His close friend and songwriting mentee, Grammy-winning singer Billy Vera, first announced the news on social media, writing: “With great sadness, I announce the passing of my old friend and songwriting mentor, Chip Taylor, last night in hospice”.
Born James Wesley Voight in Yonkers, New York, in 1940, Taylor was the youngest of three brothers, including Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight, making him the uncle of Angelina Jolie and James Haven. He initially followed his father’s footsteps as a golfer, playing college golf in South Carolina, before abandoning the sport to pursue music in New York, adopting the stage name “Chip Taylor”.
His first major success came in 1966 with “Wild Thing,” recorded by British band The Troggs. The song shot to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became an instant rock classic. It was famously covered by Jimi Hendrix at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, where he set his guitar on fire mid-performance, a moment that became rock history.
Taylor followed with “Angel of the Morning,” a song about premarital love that first hit the charts in 1968 with Merrilee Rush (No. 7) and again in 1981 with Juice Newton (No. 4). Newton’s version sold more than a million copies and became the first country song to play on MTV. The song was later interpolated in Shaggy’s 2001 No. 1 hit “Angel”.
Taylor’s songwriting catalog spanned six decades and included work for Johnny Cash, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Willie Nelson, Tom Petty, Linda Ronstadt, Tina Turner, and Frank Sinatra . He wrote Janis Joplin’s “Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)” and recorded more than 30 albums of his own.
But music wasn’t his only pursuit. In the early 1980s, frustrated with the music industry, Taylor walked away to become a professional gambler. He became an expert card counter, earning enough to survive, and getting banned from multiple casinos in the process. “To say did I make a lot of money, could I have survived and just lived with that? Yeah, I could have,” he told CBS Sunday Morning in 2008.
He returned to music in 1995, launching Train Wreck Records and releasing a string of acclaimed Americana albums. In 2016, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, an honor he celebrated by performing “Wild Thing” onstage with his grandchildren.
Taylor’s wife of nearly six decades, Joan Carol Frey, his middle school sweetheart who inspired his first recorded song, “Little Joan”, died in June 2025. He is survived by his two children, Kristian and Kelly, and five grandchildren.
His children shared a tribute on social media: “His last days were peaceful. Chip loved the amazing blessing it was to connect with people through music and truly appreciated this community. He considered you all friends. We will miss him greatly”.
