Valerie Carter

If you want to learn the facts about Valerie Carter's considerable success as a solo performer, background vocalist and songwriter, don't ask her. Oh, sure, she'll tell you that she's worked with James Taylor as a background singer dating back to 1975. She'll probably admit that she's recorded and toured over the years with a sparkling list of artists, among them Jackson Browne, Lowell George, Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles, to name but a few. If you ask, she might own up, rather reluctantly, to having written Judy Collins's 1973 hit "Cook With Honey" and to her association as a songwriter with Browne, George and others. But Valerie Carter, who's probably one of the most congenial -- and modest -- people you'll ever meet, really prefers to direct attention away from herself. Refreshingly lacking an oversized ego in a business where divas are a dime a dozen, she marvels at how everything that's happened professionally has been "completely mind-blowing" to her.

Valerie's career began when she was a teenager, and success came early. With friends Jon Lind and Richard Hovey, she formed a group called Howdy Moon. The trio signed with A&M, which released their 1974 recording, Howdy Moon, produced by Lowell George (Little Feat). After Howdy Moon disbanded, Lowell George co-produced (with George Massenburg and Bob Irwin) Valerie's first solo album, Just A Stone's Throw Away (Columbia, 1977). Stone's Throw featured an all-star line-up of supporting players, including George, Linda Ronstadt, Earth, Wind and Fire's Maurice White, the Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian and singer Deniece Williams on backing vocals, Jackson Browne on piano and guitar, Toto's Jeff Porcaro on drums, and Little Feat's (and one-time James Taylor band member) Billy Payne on keyboards. The LP also contained three of Valerie's compositions, two of which were written with Lowell George.

A similarly stellar set of musicians joined Valerie on Wild Child, her second album (Columbia, 1978, produced by James Newton Howard) including Jeff Porcaro again on drums, singer/songwriter David Lasley on background vocals, Steve Lukather on guitar, Jim Horn on horn, and Steve Porcaro on synthesizer. Wild Child featured five of Valerie's songs (co-written with Newton Howard, Lukather, and Richard Bell).

In 1996, Valerie issued another solo recording, The Way It Is (Pony Canyon, produced by Mark Goldenberg and Eddie Offord), which featured backgrounds by James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, Lyle Lovett, Phoebe Snow and her current fellow James Taylor backing vocalists David Lasley, Arnold McCuller and Kate Markowitz. The CD's songs were equally impressive and included "Love Needs a Heart," written by Valerie, Jackson Browne and Lowell George (a song that Browne performed on his Running on Empty record), and collaborations by Valerie with Goldenberg, Kevin Hunter, Tom Snow and Kathy Kurasch. Her last solo recording to date is Find A River (Pony Canyon, 1998), a superb five-song CD produced and arranged by Goldenberg.

Known for her powerfully soulful, smoky and sultry voice -- with a range that switches from childlike innocence to a bluesy wail, often all in the same song -- she has performed and/or recorded as a background singer with Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Don Henley, Nicolette Larson, Randy Newman, Neil Diamond, Aaron Neville, Diana Ross, Ringo Starr, Shawn Colvin, Glenn Frey, Jimmy Webb, Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Anne Murray, Christopher Cross, Eddie Money, Al Kooper, Hoyt Axton, and Jimmy Webb, among many others.

In 1975, Valerie met James Taylor, and she sang on Gorilla's "Angry Blues" and In the Pocket's "Family Man" and "Money Machine." (That's Valerie intoning the distinctive "money" in the middle of the latter song.) She has toured steadily with JT since 1990 and has also been featured on his last three albums (New Moon Shine, James Taylor Live and Hourglass). Show less