Neil Young

Born; November 12, 1945: Neil Young is born in Toronto, Canada.

The multi talented Neil Young has performed vocals, guitar, banjo, keyboards and harmonica. He has produced solo albums but also worked with, among others, Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills and Nash fame. At different times in his long career he has leaned toward folk, country and rock. No two of his albums are the same. Harvest (1972) showed him as a gentle, laid back singer/songwriter, but Rust Never Sleeps (1979) was more like a loud unruly homage to Johnny Rotten of the sex pistols. Harvest (1972), a brilliantly polished and professional album was followed by Time Fades Away, which was uncommercial and with an almost raw feel to it.

For a while he joined the band The Mynah Birds and in 1966 the band Buffalo Springfield was formed as a result of collaboration between Neil Young and Stephen Stills. This relationship between Neil Young and Stephen Stills has endured the passage of time and resulted in several albums by Crosby, Stills, Nash AND Young. (1970’s Déjà vu, 1988’s American Dream, 1999’s Looking Forward) and with Stephen Stills (1976’s Long May You Run, credited to the Stills-Young Band).

From 1969 onwards he has maintained the same backing band, Crazy Horse, time and time again he has returned to this band as the perfect base for his unusual and distinctive vocals. Young is quoted as saying of his association with Crazy Horse “the essence of my musical life. This is the core, the smouldering thing I come back to over and over again....If I had never done anything else, the Crazy Horse stuff would just stand on its own.”

He has not always had an easy ride in his career, he survived the death by drug overdose of his friend and Crazy Horse member Danny Whitton in 1972; he also survived bitter arguments and lawsuits with his recording company Geffen records.

In 1985, Young performed at the Live Aid concert and then became one of the organizers and participants in Farm Aid, a yearly concert and consciousness-raising event. Young and his wife, Pegi, went on to become founder members of the San Francisco’s Bridge School, a learning centre for handicapped children with communication disabilities.

And for today, because it is a lovely song and because there is a harvest moon soon, Neil

Young singing Harvest Moon