Another day, another damn obit. In the picture above, the big black guy is Ron Taylor, who unfortunately is now the late Ron Taylor. The photo is from the recent Broadway show, Ain't Nothin' But the Blues, which had Ron as a co-creator and one of the stars. He earned Tony nominations in two categories and won much acclaim — a nice thing, for Ron had done excellent work for years in jobs that left him largely unseen. Most notable was his voicing of the plant, Audrey II, in the original off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors, singing "Feed Me" with glorious abandon and treachery. That's Ron you hear on the cast album, and he functioned in that off-stage capacity for something like a thousand performances around the country, bringing more to the role than anyone thought possible.
He was also much in-demand as a studio singer and you heard him countless times in commercials and doing back-up duties in your favorite songs. (One of many where he stands out: Ron provided the deep bass voice on Billy Joel's a cappela hit, "For the Longest Time.") Ron also did cartoon voices, which is how I came to work with him. He was a lovely man with a glorious voice.