10 Artists With Incredible Gaps Between Studio Albums

An astonishingly talented man, Harry Taussig, born in 1941, Los Angeles, achieved success as a recording artist, biochemist, physicist, author, artist and photographer. He studied music history alongside physics at the University of California, Berkeley and, inspired by legendary blues musician Elizabeth Cotten, took up the 12-string guitar and banjo. In 1965, while working for the Ford-Aeronutronics Corporation, Taussig released his debut album, Fate Is Only Once. Prized by fans of fingerstyle guitar, this semi-improvised album was recorded in a single, 45-minute take.

Over the following decades, Taussig spent time at UCLA (at the Brain Research Institute), while pursuing an interest in photography, working alongside such famed masters of the camera as Ansel Adams, Paul Caponigro and Oliver Gagliani. Taussig achieved his Masters degree in biochemistry and a doctorate in biophysics, writing and publishing books on both science and guitar playing.

As if that wasn't enough, Taussig exhibited his photography internationally, became a successful film analyst, had his art exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum, and illustrated reissues of classic works by Dante, Shakespeare and James Joyce. In 2006 Tompkins Square Records reissued Fate Is 0nly Once. Six years later, 47 years since his last album, Taussig recorded a follow-up, Fate Is Only Twice, at home on his laptop.