Post 265 - Jo Beth Taylor - A Prayer For Jane / Chances

Jo Beth Taylor born Joanne Guilfoyle on May 29th, 1971 in Perth, Australia. She began singing when she was 5 years old, and at the age of 13 began performing professionally when she started her career with the television program Perth's Young Entertainers. When she was 17 she joined a band named Street Cafe and played regularly around Perth. Band member Alan Laguda was originally from Melbourne and talked Jo and the band and crew into moving to Melbourne. Where Jo recorded a demo tape, which found its way into the hands of Molly Meldrum, who immediately signed her to Melodian records. In 1990 Taylor toured with Indecent Obsession as the support act for Debbie Gibson. The two became firm friends and Gibson invited Taylor to go to New York, where she then lived for a year. Gibson wrote and produced 5 tracks on her debut album 99 Reasons. Taylor began a pop career in the early 1990s, releasing the single 99 Reasons in 1991. The song hit the Australian Top 40, peaking at #31. Taylor's debut album was also titled "99 Reasons", but was not a chart success. "You Don't Own Me" was released as the 2nd single, whilst 1993 also saw the release of the song here for you to download, "A Prayer For Jane" b/w "Chances" (D12116). The lyrics of the song were about a friend of Taylor's who committed suicide. The song failed to make the Australian Top 50 charts, peaking at #61. The A side was written by Steve Kipner and John L. Parker and was produced by the two and recorded at Steve's studio. The B side was penned by Jo Beth and Jamie Jardine. Jo Beth was also known for hosting three weekly programs on the Nine Network at the same time between 1993 and 1997: Australia's Funniest Home Video Show, What's Up, Doc? and Hey Hey It's Saturday before suffering from a nervous breakdown and disappearing from television for more than two years. She returned to television in 2000 as the host of Star Struck, another Nine Network program, which was to be her last role until Dirty Jobs in 2007. She only released one album and four singles, all of which failed to crack the Top 30 ARIA Chart.