B.E. Taylor creates a holiday tradition

By John Benson

When contemporary Christian singer B.E. Taylor started performing Christmas shows in 1996, the Aliquippa, Pa., native had no idea what he stumbled upon.

“I figured after two or three years, people would be tired of seeing the show,” said Taylor, calling from his Wheeling, W.Va., home. “And to be honest, I couldn’t have planned this. When we did the first Christmas CD [‘B.E. Taylor Christmas’] in 1994, we said, ‘We’re just going to do the arrangements that we’re hearing and do whatever style of music we’re hearing. We’ll just do that, and if people love it, it’ll be great, and if they don’t love it, we have ourselves to blame.”

He added, “And now we get so many e-mails throughout the year asking, ‘When is the next Christmas show?’ It’ll be January, and they’re already wanting to know.”

Taylor and his band tour throughout the Midwest and beyond every holiday season, with this year’s set featuring material from his latest CD, “Give Thanks,” including new seasonal song “O Yeah, It’s Christmas,” as well as “Mary’s Boy Child,” “We Three Kings,” “I Saw Three Ships” and more. You can see this special rocking show locally Friday at the Victory Christian Center in Lowellville.

The Northeast Ohio area played a key role in Taylor’s career. In fact, he said he remembers great shows played at venues from yesteryear such as The Apartment and The Arcade. He started out roughly three decades ago in the B.E. Taylor Group, which was on three major labels and enjoyed regional success with singles “Karen” and “Vitamin L.” Today, the artist said he’s comfortable being labeled as a contemporary Christian singer.

“We fall under a lot of umbrellas,” Taylor said. “People like to categorize, ‘Oh, he’s this or that.’ And we’re under the Christian realm, the pop realm. We’re under the rock realm.

“I’m the type who doesn’t like to pound anybody over the head. It’s like if you never saw me at church or doing anything, that positive vibe would still come through. Our songs are about never holding back your love and standing up for your love. It’s a very positive love theme. So wherever you feel comfortable with putting us, that’s where we go, but a lot of people, when they come to see the show, they’re surprised.”

Taylor said there are plenty of reasons why he hopes Northeast Ohioans turn out to enjoy his upcoming nine-piece Christmas show.

“First of all, it celebrates Christmas, and the music is fun,” Taylor said. “We get e-mails that say, ‘Thanks for doing a show we can enjoy as a family.’ People walk out of the venue singing. People walk out of the venue excited about Christmas because we perform. When people come to the upcoming show, there will be something for them. And I don’t care what style of music they like. We have a drum corps. We have a gospel choir that comes in and does six songs with us. And the songs are not the versions you grew up on. The stuff is over the top. It doesn’t get any better than this.”