Stephen Crawford Young Jr. (born 11 December 1956) is an Australian musician, and the rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist for the Australian rock & roll band AC/DC. He joined the band in April 2014, to record the group's Rock or Bust album, but was not announced as an official member of the band until September of that year. He replaced his uncle, Malcolm Young, who retired due to dementia.[1][2] He had previously filled in for Malcolm on AC/DC's 1988 US tour.[3]
Stephen Crawford Young Jr was born 11 December 1956 in Glasgow, Scotland. Young is the son of Stephen Crawford Young Sr. (1933–1989), who was the eldest brother of Angus, Malcolm, George, and Alex Young.[4] He emigrated with his family from Scotland to Sydney in 1963. The family settled in Concord, New South Wales.[5][6] He returned to Scotland in 1970.[7]
Career
Early music career
After his first bands, The Stabbers, Prowler and Tantrum formed in the Scottish Borders town of Hawick in the late 1970s, Young made two albums in the 1980s with his rock band Starfighters, formed 1980 in Birmingham. Starfighters were chosen as support for AC/DC's Back in Black UK Tour in 1980.[8] Starfighters also opened several dates for Ozzy Osbourne in 1982.
Starfighters split in 1983 before coming back together in 1987 for another shot. When that did not work out, Young formed Little Big Horn whose demo tape was produced by Malcolm Young. They soon broke up after a lack of success in signing a record deal, although not before they had recorded a session for Tommy Vance's Friday Rock Show on BBC Radio 1. Young later formed Up Rising, a band that also split up. In 2009, Young was a member of Birmingham rock band Hellsarockin.[9][non-primary source needed]
When Starfighters bassist Doug Dennis died in 2011, the remaining Starfighters reformed to play at his wake with Young's son Angus on bass.[10]
From July 2013 Young and Pat Hambly from the Starfighters performed in a blues trio with singer Martin Wood called Blue Murda.[11][12][non-primary source needed] Blue Murda were later joined on guitar by Young's son, Angus, and John Malan on bass guitar. Angus is the grand-nephew of AC/DC's Angus Young and was briefly a member of AC/DC tribute band AC/DC UK.[13]
Career with AC/DC
The connection to AC/DC goes back to the 1960s where Young, Angus, and Malcolm attended the same school while growing up in Sydney.[14] Coincidentally, Starfighters was also the name of a Dutch band of AC/DC co-producer Harry Vanda, before his family moved to Australia.[15]
During the late 1970s Young and his brother Fraser occasionally travelled with AC/DC on tour; both were photographed with Angus and Malcolm backstage at Wembley in 1979 during the Highway to Hell Tour.[16][17]
During the 1988 US tour for AC/DC's album Blow Up Your Video, which started on 3 May 1988, Young filled in for Malcolm on rhythm guitar, while Malcolm left to deal with a growing alcohol dependency. Many fans were not even aware that Malcolm had been replaced, because Young bore a physical resemblance (at the time) to him.[18] Malcolm overcame his drinking problem and returned to the band, staying until his retirement in 2014.
In July 2014, AC/DC's Brian Johnson confirmed that Young had recorded with the band for their upcoming album Rock or Bust, again replacing his ill uncle Malcolm.[19] In September it was confirmed that Young would replace Malcolm on a permanent basis.[20] It was revealed in a Rolling Stone interview that Young had been recruited by Angus as far back as January 2014, before contact had been made with other band members.[21]
Young was involved with AC/DC's 2020 follow-up album, Power Up in which he once again performed rhythm guitar and backing vocals. When asked about the difficulties of having to arrange riffs that he had written with his brother, Angus admitted that Stevie was instrumental in helping with compiling all of the riffs for the record.[citation needed]
Equipment
Young has played a selection of Gretsch Jet Firebirds throughout his career. His first was a black, left-handed Firebird which was modified with an additional set of half-moon fret inlays on the fingerboard, and had the neck pick-up removed. It had an additional jack slot fitted, and a Burnstailpiece. This Firebird was inherited from Malcolm Young, and was used to record with Starfighters in the early 1980s.[22]
Young also inherited another Firebird from Malcolm Young; this one was almost exactly the same as Malcolm's main Gretsch, with the neck pick-up removed, a third pick-up cavity, and the finish removed to leave clear maple. It has a Burns tailpiece, and was Young's no. 1 guitar on AC/DC's Rock Or Bust World tour.[22]
Young uses 0.011 gauge strings for his high E string, although when playing AC/DC material he retains Malcolm's string gauge of 0.012" with a wound G string.[22]
For the Rock or Bust tour, Young used Marshall Amplifiers with Celestion Creamback and Classic Lead 80 speakers as part of his touring set-up.[23]
Family
Young has three children: Lewis, Angus, and Stevie (III). Stevie (III) has a reggae band called Young Culture which also features Young's brother Gus "Goose" on keyboards. Goose also plays in various tribute bands.[24]
AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in 1973 in Sydney. It was founded by brothers Malcolm Young on rhythm guitar and Angus Young on lead guitar. Their current line-up comprises Angus, bass guitarist Cliff Williams, drummer Phil Rudd, lead vocalist Brian Johnson and rhythm guitarist Stevie Young, nephew of Angus and Malcolm. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and heavy metal, but the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formative influence on the new wave of British heavy metal bands, such as Def Leppard and Saxon. AC/DC were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.
The Easybeats were an Australian rock band which formed in Sydney in late 1964. They are best known for their 1966 hit single "Friday on My Mind", which is regarded as the first Australian rock song to achieve international success; Rolling Stone described it as "the first international victory for Oz rock". One of the most popular and successful bands in the country, they were one of the few Australian bands of their time to foreground their original material; their first album Easy (1965) was one of the earliest Australian rock albums featuring all original songs.
Angus McKinnon Young is an Australian musician, best known as the co-founder, lead guitarist, songwriter, and the only continuous member of the hard rock band AC/DC. He is known for his energetic performances, schoolboy-uniform stage outfits and his own version of Chuck Berry's duckwalk. Young was ranked 38th in the 2023 edition of Rolling Stone's 250 greatest guitarists of all time list. In 2003, Young and the other members of AC/DC were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Malcolm Mitchell Young was an Australian musician who was the rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and a founding member of the hard rock band AC/DC. Except for a brief absence in 1988, he was a member of AC/DC from its inception in 1973 until retiring in 2014 for health reasons. As a member of AC/DC, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. Rolling Stone named Young as the 38th best guitarist of all time along with his younger brother and fellow AC/DC member Angus Young.
Blow Up Your Video is the eleventh studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, released on 1 February 1988. The album was re-released in 2003 as part of the AC/DC Remasters series.
Powerage is the fifth studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, released on 5 May 1978 in the United Kingdom and 20 May 1978 in the United States. This was the band's first album to feature Cliff Williams on bass guitar, and it was also the first AC/DC album not to have a title track and the first worldwide not to be released with a different album cover. Powerage was re-released in 2003 as part of the AC/DC Remasters series.
The Razors Edge is the twelfth studio album by Australian rock band AC/DC. Released on 24 September 1990, through Albert Productions/CBS Records International in Australasia and Atlantic Records in Europe, it was recorded in 1990 in Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver, Canada, and was mixed and engineered by Mike Fraser and produced by Bruce Fairbairn. It was a major comeback for the band, featuring the hits "Thunderstruck", "Are You Ready" and "Moneytalks". This is the only studio album to feature Welsh drummer Chris Slade, who was the drummer for AC/DC from 1989 to his dismissal in 1994.
Johannes Hendrikus Jacob van den Berg, better known as his stage name Harry Vanda, is an Australian musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as lead guitarist of the 1960s Australian rock band the Easybeats who with fellow member George Young formed the 1970s and 1980s songwriting and record production duo Vanda & Young.
George Redburn Young was an Australian musician, songwriter and record producer. He was a founding member of the bands The Easybeats and Flash and the Pan, and was one-half of the songwriting and production duo Vanda & Young with his long-time musical collaborator Harry Vanda, with whom he co-wrote the international hits "Friday on My Mind" and "Love Is in the Air", the latter recorded by John Paul Young.
Starfighters are an English heavy metal band from the new wave of British heavy metal movement founded in Birmingham, England, in 1980. They attracted a strong British cult following but were not able to translate this into any lasting success, producing just two full studio albums in the early 1980s. Ex-member Stevie Young brought in some attention to the group after he joined the hard rock band AC/DC in 2014..
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap is the third studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, originally released only in Europe, Australia and New Zealand in 1976. The album was not released in the United States until 1981, more than one year after lead singer Bon Scott's death. This was also AC/DC's first album in its entirety to be recorded with the same lineup, rather than including at least one track recorded with a different bassist or drummer.
Vanda & Young were an Australian songwriting and producing duo composed of Harry Vanda and George Young. They performed as members of 1960s Australian rock group the Easybeats where Vanda was their lead guitarist and backing singer and Young was their rhythm guitarist and backing singer. Vanda & Young co-wrote all of the Easybeats' later songs including their international hit "Friday on My Mind" and they produced themselves from 1967. Young was the older brother of Malcolm and Angus Young of the hard rock band AC/DC and younger brother of Alexander Young of the English band Grapefruit.
High Voltage is the first internationally released album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It contains tracks completed from their first two previous Australia-only issued albums, High Voltage and T.N.T..
High Voltage is the debut studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, released only in Australia and New Zealand, on 17 February 1975. Their first international release in 1976 would also be named High Voltage, though with a radically different track list.
The Blow Up Your Video World Tour was a concert tour played by the hard rock band AC/DC, which had 5 legs spreading over the course of 10 months starting on 1 February 1988 in Perth, Australia, finishing on 13 November 1988 in Inglewood, California.
Marcus Hook Roll Band were a studio group formed in London in 1972, by Harry Vanda and George Young as a session band to record their songwriting efforts. The group had two versions from London and Sydney – formed in mid-1973, when Vanda and Young returned to Australia. They issued three singles – "Natural Man" (1972), "Louisiana Lady" (1973) and "Can't Stand the Heat" (1974) – and one album – Tales of Old Grand-Daddy (1974). It is noted for being the first recording experience for Malcolm and Angus Young prior to forming AC/DC.
Rock or Bust is the sixteenth studio album by Australian rock band AC/DC, released on 28 November 2014. Rock or Bust is the group's first album to feature rhythm guitarist Stevie Young, replacing founding member Malcolm Young, who had retired from the band earlier in the year due to health concerns. It is the shortest studio album ever released by the band. At approximately 35 minutes, it is two minutes shorter than their previous shortest album, Flick of the Switch, which was released in 1983. It sold 2.8 million copies worldwide.
The Rock or Bust World Tour was a 2015–2016 concert tour by Australian rock band AC/DC, in support of their sixteenth studio album Rock or Bust, which was released on 28 November 2014. This tour had 7 legs around the world lasting more than 17 months starting on 10 April 2015 in Indio, California and finishing on 20 September 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Power Up is the seventeenth studio album by Australian rock band AC/DC, released on 13 November 2020 through Columbia Records. Power Up marks the return of vocalist Brian Johnson, drummer Phil Rudd and bassist Cliff Williams to AC/DC. This is also the band's first album since the death of co-founder and rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young in 2017, Malcolm received posthumous songwriting credits for all of the album's songs, as they were never-before released tracks written by him and his brother, Angus. The album is dedicated and serves as tribute to Malcolm according to his brother.
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