Home > Baker's Student Encyclopedia of Music > Young, Neil

Canadian-born FOLK-ROCK singer, instrumentalist, and composer; b. Toronto, Nov. 12, 1945. After surviving childhood illnesses, Young learned to play banjo and guitar in his youth. Moving to Los Angeles in 1966, he joined Stephen Stills to form BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD, which produced Youngs hits Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing, Broken Arrow, Mr. Soul, and I Am a Child.

Young left Buffalo Springfield in 1967 to begin a solo career, which he continued while performing and recording with (David) Crosby, Stills, and (Graham) Nash and scoring hits with their albums Déjà Vu (1970) and Four-Way Street (1971). Among Young's many solo albums are Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (1969), After the Goldrush (with the backup group Crazy Horse; 1970), Harvest (his best-selling album; 1972), Tonight's the Night (1975), Zuma (1975), Comes a Time (1978), Rust Never Sleeps (1979), Re-ac-tor (1981), Old Ways (1985), and Freedom (1989).

In his songs Young created an effective marriage of folk, country music, and hard rock. Among his best songs are The Loner, Cinnamon Girl, Down By the River, Southern Man, Only Love Can Break Your Heart, Ohio, Like a Hurricane, Heart of Gold, Country Girl, Helpless, Cortez the Killer, Hey Hey My My, and Vampire Blues.