 "Photo: John Taylor")
At the Season Six finale of "American Idol," Jordin Sparks belted out "This Is My Now," the latest all-original tune to become the "Idol's" first single once the competition ended. "This Is My Now" was the winner of a nation-wide songwriter competition, yielding 40,000 entries.
John "Iggy" Taylor, a Hockessin resident who entered his own song into the competition, thought his tune was seemingly lost in the musical abyss of "American Idol." However, little did he know that "Idol" producers had plans for his musical genius and that of several more of the overlooked entries.
"I kind of forgot about it," Taylor says, "but then several months later I was contacted by a publisher in Hollywood that they heard my music and wanted to put it on an album, and I said, 'Sure.' "
The 10-song album titled Hits They Missed! was released early this winter, featuring Taylor's foot-tapping tune, "My Turn This Time," a country-sounding song about pushing forward in "a world that often says no."
Taylor, who is in his 50s, has been playing piano, organ and bass guitar since he was a teenager, when he attended Claymont High School. Since then, he has made five albums under the one-man band of Bad Betsy.
Taylor says many people think Bad Betsy is a multi-person band when, in fact, it's just him. The band name is the result of a sudden inspiration.
"I had this stupid little doll sitting next to my amplifier so I named her Betsy," Taylor says. "Every time I would hit a note she would fall over for some reason, so I just yelled at her one day. I yelled, 'Bad Betsy!' and then I was like, 'Whoa, I need to name my band this.' "
Even more interesting, the origins for his nickname, "Iggy," go back to when he was a baby.
"My father named me Iggy before I was even born," Taylor says. "He didn't like everyone referring to me as 'it' so he named me Iggy."
Taylor's parents were especially influential to his music career. He first started writing music because they were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Taylor says dealing with their illnesses was difficult and to cope with his frustration and grief he turned to his high school love of music.
"To put it bluntly, I was going crazy dealing with different stuff every single day," Taylor says.
During this time, a friend decided to upload Taylor's music to the Internet, where his songs became popular and "the phone started ringing." Taylor says in the beginning, he was hesitant to distribute his music.
"I was surprised and embarrassed at first," he says. "I didn't want to share my music because it was more personal. I was like, pouring my heart out, and I had never written a song before."
When his parents passed away, Taylor was starting to make money off Internet sales of his music. He decided to donate all of it to the Alzheimer's Association, but problems arose after he spoke publicly against nursing homes.
"Everything was going good until I went on the radio and said that nursing homes were like prisons," Taylor says. "As soon as I said that, they didn't want to talk to me anymore."
He says Bad Betsy has received considerable recognition in the area and nationally, and chuckles while describing his most popular song.
"The one that has made me the most money, it's kind of amazing, is this stupid song called 'I Like Beer,' " Taylor says. "It's all over the Internet, and I get paid off the different downloads. It's crazy, of all the songs, that's the one that's making me the most money."
For now, Taylor is busy rocking out in Too Little Time, a band that plays in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania.
Taylor says they are selective about what venues they play - for now they are only playing at concert-type venues where they play all original rock 'n' roll. He says Too Little Time is "definitely not a cover band." Currently, Bad Betsy is on the backburner.
"Bad Betsy is kind of my alter ego," Taylor says. "I doubt I'll go back because this band is keeping me busy."
Taylor also cooks hamburgers at several local hamburger restaurants and enjoys driving his sports car around Hockessin.
"I like to race it every now and then," he says. "You'll see me terrorizing the neighborhood."
He also is a fan of American Idol, the show that plunged him into national recognition.
Taylor says he lives by a single philosophy - "if it's to be, it's up to me," which he clarifies to mean basically anything one wants in life, go out and get it.
"Here I am, 50 years old and out playing in a rock 'n' roll band," he says. "Who would figure?"
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