Neil Young

Musician

• Born: November 12, 1945
• Place of Birth: Toronto, Canada

Education: Kelvin High School in Winnipeg, Canada

Significance: Neil Young is an iconic musician who has had a major impact on folk rock, rock and roll, and grunge rock.

Background

Neil Young was born to Scott Alexander Young and Edna Blow Ragland "Rassy" Young. Scott was a prominent journalist. The family lived in various locations in and near Toronto until Scott’s extramarital affairs led to a divorce. After his parents’ divorce, Young and his mother moved to Winnipeg while his brother Bob stayed with his father, Scott.

Young’s interest in music began during his junior high school and high school years. He started up two bands, the Jades and the Squires. He then dropped out of high school to pursue his musical interests, playing at venues in Fort William (now a part of Thunder Bay, Ontario). In Fort William, Young met up with a young Stephen Stills who later became a member of the legendary band Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.

Young—who would become known for quickly changing interests—dropped out of the Squires and moved to Winnipeg. There, as a solo artist, he met with significant success. He also crossed paths with Joni Mitchell, who was inspired by his song "Sugar Mountain." Later, touring Canada as a solo act, Young joined a band called the Mynah Birds. Motown Records signed the group, but drug issues led to the band breaking up before they cut their first album. Young and bass player Bruce Palmer headed for Los Angeles in 1966.

Life’s Work

Young’s most significant contributions started with the creation of the band Buffalo Springfield, which included Palmer, Stills, Richie Furay, and Dewey Martin. The band developed a new sound, folk rock, which incorporated both the poetic lyricism of folk music and the hard driving rhythms and guitar of rock and roll. Buffalo Springfield played as a group for only two years; by the time the group cut its second album, Young was already playing as a solo act.

After Buffalo Springfield broke up, Young worked on his own briefly before forming a new band, Crazy Horse. Crazy Horse included a guitarist (Danny Whitten), a drummer (Ralph Molina) and a bass guitarist (Billy Talbot); all three had been part of a group called the Rockets. Young wrote and recorded some of his best-known songs with Crazy Horse in just a few weeks, cutting an album that included such classics as "Cowgirl in the Sand" and "Cinnamon Girl."

A high point in Young’s career occurred in 1969 when Young joined up with the band Crosby, Stills, and Nash, which included David Crosby and Graham Nash along with Young's old friend Stills. Young's name was added to the group's moniker, and in just one year of collaboration the band won a Grammy Award; wrote, and recorded several iconic and groundbreaking songs (including "Ohio," in response to the Kent State massacre); and headlined at the legendary Woodstock concert in upstate New York. The group argued over artistic vision, however, and almost immediately broke up.

For several years during the early 1970s, Young once again became a solo act. During this period, he produced several well-regarded albums including Harvest. He worked off and on with a number of individuals and groups for the next decade, including Crazy Horse. Among his most notable releases was the acclaimed live album Rust Never Sleeps (1979). During the 1980s, Young’s career was patchy, though he did help found Farm Aid, an organization holding annual concerts to benefit small-scale farmers. He spent much of his time focused on his family, and, in particular, on his son Ben, who was born with cerebral palsy. However, Freedom, released in 1989, marked a return to success. A song from that album, "Rockin’ in the Free World," is considered by many to be a pioneer of the grunge rock genre due to its distorted guitar sound. That song, along with other related projects, earned Young the nickname "the Godfather of Grunge."

By the 1990s, Young was back on the music scene. His projects ranged from the acoustic, country-oriented Harvest Moon (1992) to a collaboration with grunge rockers Pearl Jam on Mirror Ball (1995) to new work with Crazy Horse and Buffalo Springfield. He also became increasingly involved with political and environmental activism into the twenty-first century. He continued to be involved with the Farm Aid concert series, and released several politically oriented albums, including Living With War (2006) and The Monsanto Years (2015, with backing band Promise of the Real). Other later albums include Le Noise (2010), the covers collection A Letter Home (2014), and Colorado (2019, with Crazy Horse).

Young was also involved with several projects chronicling his life and music. A biography, a memoir, and an extended multimedia project known as the Neil Young Archives all tell the story of his unique life and times. In 2019 the Neil Young Archives website launched a subscription service allowing online streaming access to high-fidelity audio of Young's entire catalog.

In January 2022 Young made headlines when he publicly criticized the audio streaming platform Spotify for spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic. Young specifically took issue with the platform's support for popular podcaster Joe Rogan, who often featured false and misleading information on his show. Young pulled his own music off of Spotify in protest, and his boycott was joined by several other prominent artists, such as Joni Mitchell, driving public debate over issues of misinformation and the limits of free speech. In 2023, Young played a set at the British Columbia legislature in support of protests against old-growth logging.

Impact

Widely regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Neil Young has been credited with helping to launch two rock and roll subgenres: folk rock and grunge. Several of his songs have become anthems for social change, and he was one of the original founders of the influential and long-running Farm Aid series. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: in 1995 for his solo work and in 1997 as a member of Buffalo Springfield. Young won many honors and awards, including several Juno awards and Grammy Awards in 2010 for his Archives boxed set and in 2011 for best song ("Angry World"). In addition to (and often in connection with) his music, Young also became a major voice in the environmental and antiwar movements.

Personal Life

Young was married to Susan Acevedo from 1968 to 1970 and to Pegi Morton from 1978 to 2014; he married actor Daryl Hannah in 2018. He had three children, one from a relationship with actor Carrie Snodgrass in the early 1970s and two with Morton. Ben, Young’s son by his second wife, Pegi, was born with severe cerebral palsy; Ben’s needs spurred Young and Pegi to fund the Bridge School in San Francisco. In addition, Young, who had always had a passion for model trains, created an extensive model train layout that his son could operate with a unique interface. Young later purchased the model train company Lionel.

Despite living primarily in California beginning in the 1960s, Young remained a Canadian citizen. In 2020 he gained dual citizenship in the United States.

Bibliography

Carr, David. "Neil Young Comes Clean." The New York Times Magazine, 19 Sept. 2012, www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/magazine/neil-young-comes-clean.html. Accessed 29 Sept. 2024.

Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Neil Young: Biography." AllMusic, www.allmusic.com/artist/neil-young-mn0000379125/biography. Accessed 29 Sept. 2024.

Goodman, Shalom. "Neil Young, Joe Rogan Podcast and Spotify: What to Know." The Wall Street Journal, 2 Feb. 2022, www.wsj.com/articles/joe-rogan-podcast-neil-young-spotify-what-to-know-11643663216. Accessed 29 Sept. 2024.

McDonough, Jimmy. Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography. New York: Anchor, 2003.

Meissner, Dirk. "Neil Young Makes Surprise Appearance at B.C. Old Growth Rally." The Canadian Press, 26 Feb. 2023, globalnews.ca/news/9512088/neil-young-makes-surprise-appearance-at-b-c-old-growth-rally/. Accessed 29 Sept. 2024.

"Neil Young." Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, www.rockhall.com/inductees/neil-young. Accessed 29 Sept. 2024.

"Neil Young." The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll. Simon, 2001.