If you’re gonna start with James Taylor then the next artist almost has to be Carole King, right? The story goes that Taylor was performing at the Troubador in LA in 1970 and Carole was playing piano for him when he insisted she take the spotlight and sing a couple of her Brill Building songs others had made famous; that was her first live performance.
Here’s “Carol of the Bells,” from her 2011 A Holiday Carole album.
OK, as a singer (and one who performed this song at least 3 times last weekend), I have to protest. This is clearly a studio recording BECAUSE – I only heard her inhale once on that entire recording. NOBODY can sing more that about two staves of that song without taking a breath. For the non-singer, two staves is “Hark, how the bells, sweet silver bells, all seem to say, throw cares away.” Certainly no more than 3 staves.