James Taylor has a tremendously rich and beautiful voice, and he controls it so well. It's easy to get fooled by his understatement: As beautiful as James' voice is, there's nothing mellow about a performance like "Fire & Rain" — it's a song of great depth sung by a man who's experienced the highs and lows of life, and has the ability to convey them directly and honestly. It also doesn't hurt that he's up there as a songwriter alongside Lennon & McCartney, Dylan and Joni Mitchell — the best of the best. When you have a great writer writing for a great singer — himself — well, that's as good as it gets.

Ultimately, I think James' voice reflects the man. He's kind, lovely and very much a gentleman, but also a figure of great strength and determination. As an artist, James knows exactly what he wants to do, and exactly how to do it. He doesn't walk off the path too far, but what a path he's walked.

Singing with James is a dream. You might not know it from some of his work, but the man is a lot of fun. I remember when Graham and I were recording the backing vocals for "Mexico," James was cracking me up so much, it took many hours to get it done.

I could name so many of his vocal performances that I love, but some of my favorites are songs that I was on like "Mexico" and "Lighthouse," because I got to see those gems being made and because I got to sing with James. The other night on a radio show, Nash and I got to sing "You Can Close Your Eyes" with James, and that was just beautiful. The man's got everything he ever had — he hasn't lost one trick.

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• What Makes a Great Singer? By Jonathan Lethem
• Special Gallery: Legends at Work
• The Ballots: Our Panel's Handwritten Votes
• More From Issue 1066