When a girl gets named for a movie and song favorite by her talented singer-father and concert pianist-mother, she has a right to consider it her favorite song, and the genius lyricist, Johnny Mercer one of her favorites as well. Johnny captured the mood and imagery of “Laura” without having seen the movie itself. Laura… Though never having recorded Laura, this Laura’s haunting version was worth waiting for. When the World Was Young… Laura’s intriguing vocal poignantly captured Johnny’s dreams of a simpler time in his native Savannah. On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe… Seeing recently the great Midwestern rail yards of Omaha and Kansas City, Laura couldn’t resist taking some poetic license with the lyrics. Glow Worm… shows Mercer’s wit, humor and creativity with this old German song and gives Laura a chance to swing! Skylark… After hours of studying Fred’s beautiful flute track, Laura re-worked her vocal and soared in the air with the skylark. Midnight Sun… Laura and her close friend Bobby Rozario combined arranging skills to create a moving version of this great standard…simply incredible! Personally, I could listen to this cut a few hundred times! Johnny left a comfortable life in the South to seek a career in acting in NYC and later Hollywood, but found more success writing lyrics with the many talented songwriters, especially Harold Arlen, Harry Warren, Henry Mancini and Hoagy Carmichael. He had a more outdoor viewpoint than those raised in the eastern urban areas, and that is reflected in his songs of birds, apple blossoms, rivers, leaves and a hive of bees. Laura’s impeccable intonation and beautiful voice seem perfectly suited for such visual beauty. Laura’s “roadmaps,” as she called her charts, provided the form, modulations, beginnings and endings to these standards, but as she so sincerely expressed, it was the talent and creativity of the musicians involved in this project that provided the beautiful interplay found on these tracks. 　　Singer, songwriter, pianist and arranger Laura Taylor is a Las Vegas resident whose recordings are being heard on jazz stations around the world and around the country. Her latest release, (September 17, 2010), is a collection of Johnny Mercer songs titled “Have Mercer on Me”…Laura Taylor Sings Johnny Mercer, featuring a fine quartet and special guests. Her release, “My Funny Valentine…Memories of Chet Baker,” was recorded with legendary jazz greats Eddie Gomez, Steve Kuhn, and Lewis Nash, and reached Top 10 play-list status. On September 25th, 2010, Laura will appear as featured vocalist with The Nevada Pops Orchestra in The Performing Arts Center of UNLV and is planning a quintet concert for the Las Vegas Jazz Society in the spring of 2011. 　　Laura appeared as The Laura Taylor Trio at the famed Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, for eight consecutive years, and did a special concert at Carnegie Recital Hall. She also opened for Don Rickles at The Golden Nugget Hotel in Atlantic City, and The Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, prompting an offer to appear at “The Starlight Theater” of The Desert Inn Hotel in Las Vegas where she appeared for eighteen months. 　　Laura received a platinum album for writing the song “Think I’m In Love” for Diana Ross. This resulted in her first appearance on the Merv Griffin Show. Merv announced that Ms. Ross’s Album “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” had gone platinum, and that Laura’s song was picked by the New York Times as one of the outstanding songs on the album. Laura’s other special appearances include Midnight Special, The Dinah Shore Show, The Arthur Godfrey Radio Show and singing the National Anthem for the Miami Dolphins several times in the Orange Bowl. Studio credits include national jingles “Fly the Friendly Skies of United”, “Wouldn’t You Really Rather Have a Buick”; a top ten disco album, “Dancin’ In My Feet”; a platinum album for her background vocal work on Firefall’s “Elan”, and background vocal work for famed Beattle’s producer George Martin.