Neil Percival Young OC OM (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the beginning of his solo career, often backed by the band Crazy Horse, he released critically acclaimed albums such as Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (1969), After the Gold Rush (1970), Harvest (1972), On the Beach (1974), and Rust Never Sleeps (1979). He was also a part-time member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, with whom he recorded the chart-topping 1970 album Déjà Vu.
00:00Neil Young has been one of the most versatile and mercurial figures in rock music for over five decades.
00:10Young has recorded in a wide variety of styles, from hard rock, folk, and country, to grunge, a style of rock that he is credited with pioneering.
00:22Young is also one of the greatest songwriters of the rock era, rivaled only by Bob Dylan.
00:30Young was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1945.
00:34His father, Scott Young, was a Toronto sports writer.
00:39Young lived for a time in Winnipeg, Manitoba, before returning to Toronto, where he became involved in the city's Yorkville coffeehouse folk music scene of the 1960s.
00:54In the early 1960s, Young joined a surf-rock combo called the Squires.
01:00He later joined with bassist Bruce Palmer and future funk star Rick James in a band called the Minor Birds, which became the first racially integrated group to sign with Motown Records.
01:15In 1966, the band was set to release an album, when it was discovered that James had deserted the U.S. Navy.
01:27James was subsequently arrested, and the band quickly dissolved.
01:33Young bought a Pontiac hearse and drove from Toronto to Los Angeles with bassist Bruce Palmer.
01:44While driving down the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, Young spotted an old friend, who he had previously met in Thunder Bay, Ontario, driving in the opposite direction.
01:56It was Stephen Stills, the Texas-born guitarist.
02:04Young, Stills, Palmer, and Richie Furet, who was with Stills at the time, soon joined up with drummer Dewey Martin and formed the band Buffalo Springfield,
02:19which was quick to establish itself as one of the best folk-rock bands of the 1960s.
02:28Young contributed some of his best songs to the band, such as I Am a Child,
02:36Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing, Broken Arrow, and Expecting to Fly.
02:42Unfortunately, tensions between stills and Young led to the group breaking up after only two years.
02:53In early 1969, Young recorded his first solo album, Neil Young, which was a critical and commercial flop, but did contain the minor hit, The Loner.
03:08Young soon recruited a band, which would become known as Crazy Horse.
03:15Neil Young and Crazy Horse recorded their first album, Together, Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere, in 1969, and quickly garnered critical acclaim.
03:28The album contained the classic tracks, Cinnamon Girl, Cowboy in the Sand, and Down by the River.
03:36Young's next release, After the Gold Rush, from 1970, was a superb effort, and stands as perhaps his best album ever.
03:48The album contained the classic tracks, Southern Man, Only Love Can Break Your Heart,
03:54And When You Dance, I Can Really Love.
03:57Young and Stills came together again in 1970, when Young joined Still's new supergroup, Crosby, Still's, Nash & Young, for their Deja Vu album, a classic release of early 70s rock.
04:15Young contributed the songs, Helpless, Ohio, and Country Girl, to that album.
04:21In 1972, Young achieved singer-songwriter stardom, with the release of the superb folk-flavored album, Harvest,
04:32which contained his only number one single, Heart of Gold.
04:39Young's next album was a dark recollection of the trappings of the rock and roll lifestyle,
04:44called, Tonight's the Night, from 1975.
04:51This album was inspired by the drug-related deaths of Crazy Horse member Danny Witten and Rhodey Bruce Berry.
04:59On the Beach, from 1974, which dealt with Young's old drug issues, was recorded after Tonight's the Night,
05:10but would be released prior.
05:15Both albums stand today as superb works of 70s rock.
05:20The album Zuma, from 1975, continued Young's solid work from this period.
05:27Rust Never Sleeps, from 1979, was another superb release with one side of studio material
05:35and another side of live, driving, hard rock from the concert film of the same name.
05:44The album includes the rock anthem, Hey, Hey, My, My.
05:48Another live album, Live Rust, from 1979, contained more material from the aforementioned concert film.
06:00In 1981, Young recorded his first real flop since his debut, Reactor.
06:07This was followed by a failed attempt at electronic music, Trans, from 1982.
06:14For the remainder of the 1980s, Young was as prolific as ever, but the results were pretty spotty at times.
06:23Freedom, from 1989, was a return to his early 70s form,
06:28and an excellent release that contained the hard-rocking hit, Rockin' in the Free World.
06:35Young's return to his roots produced another outstanding effort,
06:39in the album Weld, from 1991, with his reunited backing band, Crazy Horse,
06:49father of grunge, in the 1990s, for his enormous influence on the Seattle grunge scene.
06:56And he appeared with Pearl Jam in an appearance on MTV.
07:01He later recorded an album with Pearl Jam, known as Mirrorball, in 1995.
07:12In 2005, Young recorded the country album Prairie Wind, in Nashville while postponing surgery for a brain aneurysm.
07:23Young went on to record the overtly political Living With War in 2006.
07:29Several excellent releases of Young's older material have appeared in recent years,
07:35including the superb Live at Massey Hall, 1971, from 2007.
07:45Other Neil Young albums of note include Time Fades Away, from 1973,
