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What happens when a search for identity across continents ends in healing an old childhood wound? In episode 274, singer-songwriter and educator Machan Taylor shares how a culture-straddling upbringing fueled a music career alongside Sting, Pink Floyd, and Foreigner—and became the seed of her memoir, Naked Out Loud. For Machan, it's the journey from never belonging to finally feeling whole.
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
(03:54) Machan's unconventional path into sharing her story with the world
(04:05) Her birth in Japan, her musical family roots, and the move to America
(06:30) Growing up an outsider in 1960s New Jersey
(08:54) Discovering her voice as a source of identity and power
(12:40) Childhood trauma and the drive it gave her toward independence
(15:25) From local bands to the Glenn Miller Orchestra and life on the road
(20:31) The catalyst for her memoir: psychedelic-assisted therapy
(25:15) Turning subconscious pain into conscious healing and liberation
(33:24) How journaling became her memoir, Naked Out Loud
(35:10) Teaching at NYU and what's next: speaking, healing, and service
Machan Taylor is a vocalist, songwriter, composer, and educator whose four-decade career has included stadium tours with Pink Floyd, Sting, and Foreigner, three years fronting the acclaimed jazz ensemble Hiroshima, and television appearances on Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show. She has released two solo albums, contributed to film and TV projects including American Beauty and Boyhood, and shared stages with artists from Aretha Franklin to Billy Joel. She holds a master's in Theory and Composition from NYU, where she now teaches at the Clive Davis Institute, and is the author of the memoir Naked Out Loud.
In this episode, Machan Taylor shares her cross-cultural upbringing between Japan and a New Jersey town where she often felt like she didn't belong, and how music became her anchor through a difficult childhood. She traces her path from teenage gigs and the Glenn Miller Orchestra into decades of touring, and opens up about the unglamorous realities of life on the road. She describes how psychedelic-assisted therapy became the catalyst for her memoir, transforming a childhood wound into conscious healing, and reflects on returning to school in her fifties to pursue teaching. She closes by sharing her hope to expand into speaking engagements that help others do the same healing work.
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