Biographies

Taylor Olson is thrilled to be back with Cantus Youth Choirs! Some of you may have seen her perform here in 2011, when she was a guest artist as a member of BYU Noteworthy, the women’s a cappella group.

Taylor began singing at an early age. According to family lore, her first public performance was for her kindergarten show and tell, singing “Castle on a Cloud” from Les Miserables. Since then, she has had a life full of music. Much like the kids performing here today, Taylor’s early musical development was largely shaped by her participation in Salt Lake Children’s Choir. It was there that she gained her musical foundation and love of harmony that eventually led to a bachelor’s degree in Commercial Music from Brigham Young University.

In high school, Taylor performed in many theater productions and was chosen as a youngARTS scholarship winner and finalist in musical theater for the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts (NFAA), a foundation that helps nurture high school artists in a variety of disciplines. The youngARTS program Taylor attended has seen stars such as Timothée Chalamet, Vanessa Williams, and Nicki Minaj pass through its ranks.

While attending Brigham Young University, Taylor shifted focus, discovering what was once a casual hobby of songwriting, had become her main passion. Rather than performing in theatrical productions, she started performing in music venues around Utah with various bands, writing and producing music, and working as a session singer. She got hired as a staff writer, helping write, record, and produce youth music for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Eventually, she moved to Los Angeles and released music with her duo, June Cat, while working in the music industry. She worked in music licensing, placing music, including some of her own, in advertisements, TV shows, and films. While in LA, she was encouraged to audition for her first production since high school, and landed a part in Disneyland’s Mickey and the Magical Map. She performed at Disneyland for 4 years in the roles of Rapunzel and Pocahontas, which you will see her reprise tonight.

After undergoing vocal surgery to remove a polyp, Taylor has worked hard to get back her full voice. She released an EP of original music titled Out of Tears full of personal songs, including a subtle track about her vocal injury. When not focusing on her music, she does freelance interior design and enjoys cooking new recipes. Taylor now lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, and loves filling her home with music alongside her husband, James Egan, who is also a singer-songwriter. But her most meaningful accomplishment is becoming a mother. Her two-year-old son is a captive audience, at least when she sings “Wheels on the Bus.”

JP Laing. While still attending Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he attained his BFA in Musical Theatre, JP booked his first big-boy gig; performing at Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana. And that was only the beginning of his theme park circuit run. After graduating, JP spent a brief winter at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee in one of their seasonal Christmas shows before quickly moving out West to work the next 4 years at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. During his time in Southern California, JP continued to play roles out from under of the shadow of the mouse, including productions of 1776, Damn Yankees, Adam & Eve And Steve, and Monty Python’s Spamalot.  But tonight, you’re gonna get a taste of why Disney kept JP on the payroll so long as he reprises his roles of Flynn Rider from Tangled and Sebastian the crab from The Little Mermaid.

But being the free spirit he is, JP is more at home on the go. Through Norwegian Cruiselines, JP found the Caribbean suited him quite nicely; performing on board by night, strolling the beaches of Jamaica, Grand Cayman, or even Bermuda by day. Oceania Cruiselines introduced him to Baltic nations the likes of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland too. But JP was no stranger to travel. In high school, he would regularly spend his summers traveling abroad with a Christian show choir in California known as the New America Singers. This gave JP opportunities to perform around the world during his teenage years in countries like Thailand, Australia, Austria, Russia, China, the Philippines, and one of his favorites, Hong Kong.

These days however, JP has succumbed to the unavoidable juggernaut that is social media, reaching nominal success on TikTok. His musical duets have earned him nearly 165K followers but he’s recently shifted focus to posting more cerebral art. While pursuing a career as a local musician in his hometown of Sacramento, California, he has turned his online attention to the crafting of riddles. So if you deign to tease your brain during intermission, acquaint yourself with Theorekham the sphinx @JPLaingmusic on TikTok or Instagram.