Editing Derek Taylor (section)

==As a publicist in California==
In 1965, Taylor left the UK and moved with his growing family to California. There he started his own [[public relations]] company,<ref name="NYTobit">{{cite news|first=Allan |last=Kozinn |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/09/arts/derek-taylor-beatles-spokesman-dies-at-65.html |title=Derek Taylor, Beatles' Spokesman, Dies at 65 |work=[[The New York Times]]|date=9 September 1997 |access-date=10 March 2016}}</ref> providing publicity for groups such as [[the Byrds]], [[the Beach Boys]] and [[Paul Revere and the Raiders]],<ref name="Unterberger/AM" /> as well as [[the Mamas & the Papas]].<ref name="RBP">{{cite web|url=http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Writer/derek-taylor |title=Derek Taylor |publisher=[[Rock's Backpages]] |access-date=10 March 2016}}</ref> According to music critic [[Richie Unterberger]], through his time working in Hollywood, Taylor "became, probably, the most famous rock publicist of the mid-'60s".<ref name="Unterberger/AM" />

Among Taylor's strategies, he touted the Byrds as a new breed of American band with parallels to the Beatles.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Derek|last=Taylor|title=Derek Taylor Reports: The Byrds Fly High And It's Time To Crow |magazine=[[KRLA Beat]]|date=23 June 1965|page=3}} Available at [http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/derek-taylor-reports-the-byrds-fly-high-and-its-time-to-crow Rock's Backpages] (subscription required).</ref> He also encouraged nascent rock journalists to perceive Beach Boys founder [[Brian Wilson]] as a musical genius.{{sfn|Gaines|1995|pp=152, 169}}<ref>{{cite news|first=Barney|last=Hoskins|title='Brian Wilson is a Genius': The Birth of a Cult|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|date=1 September 1995}} Available at [http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/brian-wilson-is-a-genius-the-birth-of-a-cult Rock's Backpages] (subscription required).</ref> Using his connections in Britain, Taylor ensured that the Beach Boys' 1966 album ''[[Pet Sounds]]'' received a level of acclaim from UK music critics and Wilson's peers, including [[John Lennon]] and [[Paul McCartney]], that had not been forthcoming in the United States.{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=190–91, 201–02}}

In June 1967, Taylor helped organise the [[Monterey Pop Festival]], serving as the event's publicist and spokesman.<ref name="IndependentObituary">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-derek-taylor-1238372.html|title=Obituary: Derek Taylor|first=Chris|last=Welch|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|date=10 September 1997|access-date=8 November 2016}}</ref> For a few weeks in the autumn of 1967, Taylor hosted a Sunday-evening freeform radio program on Pasadena station [[KWVE (AM)|KRLA]]. Having contributed to the station's magazine, ''[[KRLA Beat]]'', since 1965,<ref name="RBP" /> he became editor in 1967, helping to guide the magazine's focus towards US [[Counterculture of the 1960s|countercultural issues]] and [[psychedelia]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://krlabeat.sakionline.net/history.html|title=KRLA Beat History: L.A.'s rock journalism starts here|publisher=krlabeat.sakionline.net|access-date=10 March 2016}}</ref>

George Harrison's song "[[Blue Jay Way]]" was written during Harrison's 1967 visit to California, on a foggy night waiting for Taylor and his wife Joan to arrive at his rented home in the [[Hollywood Hills]]. During the same visit, Taylor accompanied Harrison on his trip to the [[Haight-Ashbury]] district of [[San Francisco]].<ref name="BeatlesBible"/>

Taylor was a catalyst in [[Harry Nilsson]]'s musical career;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9529179/the-legacy-harry-nilsson|title=Deconstructing Harry|first=Sean|last=Fennessey|publisher=[[Grantland]]|date=2 August 2013|access-date=10 March 2016}}</ref> hearing Nilsson's song "1941" on a car radio, he bought a case (twenty-five copies) of his album ''[[Pandemonium Shadow Show]]'', sending copies to various members of the music-industry. Among the recipients were all four Beatles, who became enamoured of Nilsson's talent and invited him to London. Nilsson subsequently became a collaborator and good friend of both Lennon and [[Ringo Starr]]. In 1973, Taylor produced Nilsson's album ''[[A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night]]''.