Machan Taylor: Touring with Pink Floyd, Sting, and Surviving the 80s

Whereabouts Tales | Stories of Belonging and Immigrant Experiences · Jun 10, 2026 · 1h 6m

Machan Taylor sang for Pink Floyd and Sting. But behind the stadium lights of the 1980s rock scene, she was battling imposter syndrome and cultural displacement.

In this episode of Whereabouts Tales, we sit down with world-class vocalist Machan Taylor to dissect her memoir, Naked Out Loud. We explore her unique origin story—born in post-WWII Japan to an American military father and a Japanese singer mother—and how music became her only anchor while struggling to assimilate in the US.

From grinding through four-set nights in the gritty 1970s New York club scene to joining the Jackson Victory…