Machan Taylor is a multifaceted vocalist, composer, educator, and storyteller whose lifetime in music spans coffee-house beginnings to the giant arenas of rock, and now into the narrative realm of the written word. Her journey is one of reinvention, resilience and creative breadth.
Born to jazz-singer mother Ayako Sasaki in Tokyo and father Bernard Taylor, Machan moved into the New York metro area as a teen and by age 16 was performing in clubs and coffeehouses. A year later she co-led a swing/bebop group, Za Zu Zaz, and in 1979 relocated to NYC, where she secured a two-year residency as feature vocalist with the legendary Glenn Miller Orchestra.
Her big‐break as a touring vocalist came when she joined the Pink Floyd 1987-88 “A Momentary Lapse of Reason” tour, performing crucial backing-vocals and fronting the iconic female part for “The Great Gig in the Sky.”
Over the decades she has performed and recorded with a wide roster of artists including Sting, Pat Benatar, Foreigner, Aretha Franklin, George Benson, and many others.
A notable recent collaboration: she joined Gov’t Mule in their “Dark Side of the Mule” production for a re-imagining of Pink Floyd material — marrying her history with Floyd to Mule’s creative spin.
In parallel to her performance work, Machan established a robust academic and teaching career. She holds a B.S. in Arts–Contemporary Vocal Performance (SUNY/Empire State) and an M.A. in Music Theory–Composition (New York University). She is a Certified Vocologist (NCVS), and serves as adjunct instructor at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.
Her solo recordings include Machan (2004) — which reached #35 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz charts — and Motion of Love (2007).
Most recently, Machan has penned her story called “Naked Out Loud”h. In a 2025 interview she revealed she is finishing a memoir: “a braided memoir… about my career, my life as a Japanese American growing up in this country and how that intertwines with my career and lots of different things.”
Get your copy of “Naked Out Loud” By Machan Taylor on Amazon or Barnes and Noble here:
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/naked-out-loud-machan-taylor/1148736010?ean=9781915975287
The official website for Machan Taylor may be found at https://www.machantaylor.com