Taylor

PITTSBURGH — B.E. Taylor, a Western Pennsylvania music legend and nationally-known recording artist, died Sunday from complications due to an inoperable brain tumor, according to his family.

In a news release, family members remembered Taylor as a fixture in the Pittsburgh music scene, and a tireless musician and singer who spent years helping to raise money for charities with his performances.

“B.E. Taylor was defined by love and it was his life's mission to spread joy through music,” the family said in its news release.

Taylor was the oldest of three sons, and was born in Aliquippa. At age 11 he was diagnosed with a serious kidney disease and was housebound for a year, developing a passion for the Beatles and Motown music and learning to play a guitar his parents bought him.

After forming his first band, B.E. Taylor and The Establishment, in high school, he went on to find national notoriety in the 1980s, when The B.E. Taylor Group were a top draw at clubs in the Pittsburgh region.

In 2007 Taylor was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, but continued to record and perform. Particularly successful were his Christmas records and tours, which included performances in Butler County.

Taylor last performed in Butler County in December 2015, when he was at a Christmas concert at the Community Alliance Church on Mercer Road to benefit VNA Western Pennsylvania's home health and hospice programs.

Funeral arrangements are pending and will be private, the family said in their release.

Taylor is survived by his wife of 34 years, Veronica, and their two children.