My My, Hey Hey

Neil Young turns 64 today. He has always been one of - if not my favourite - singer/songwriter and I finally got to see him when he came to St.John’s in April of this year for two sold out shows. Had a blast. He’s a kitchen party favourite and iPod stardard and it seems everyone knows his songs and music. Considered a pioneer in Canadian music, he has set the standard for Canadian musicians - a bar that admittedly has been set very high. Here’s a biography from Sympatico. (although a bit dated)

Singer and songwriter, Neil Young, was born on this day at Toronto in 1945, the son of Globe and Mail sports columnist Scott Young. Young started playing garage rock and roll in 1960, and by 1963 had cut his first record with the Squires, a Group from Winnipeg.

In the mid 60s, he played with 4 To Go, and in 1965 cut 16 songs at Motown studios in Detroit with The Mynah Birds. In 1966 he helped found Buffalo Springfield - later CSNY (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young - and toured southern California with them, selling out at the Whiskey A Go Go in LA.

In 1968 he toured the US solo, then Canada solo and released the album Neil Young (1969). He toured U.S. east coast with Crazy Horse, then released After the Gold Rush (1969), then toured with CSNY and Friends.

In 1971 he recorded most of the album Harvest with The Stray Gators, released the album 4 Way Street, and the following year played the Mariposa Folk Festival in Toronto solo. In 1973 he toured with The Santa Monica Flyers, and started playing prison and Indian Community benefits.

In 1976 he played The Last Waltz Concert with The Band and Joni Mitchell. Other albums from this period include Zume (1975) Long May You Run (1976 - Stills Young Band), Decade (1977), Comes a Time (1978) and Rust Never Sleeps (1979). In 1980 Young played the Bread & Roses Festival with Friends, and released the album Hawks & Doves (1980), Re-Ac-Tor (1981), Trans (1982- Friends) , Everybody's Rockin' (1983- Shocking Pinks). In 1984 he played Austin City Limits with the International Harvesters.

In 1985 he helped record "Tears are Not Enough" with Northern Lights, and played Live Aid in Philadelphia, and Farm Aid with The Grey Riders. He has played other benefits for Vietnam Veterans, Greenpeace, Get Tough on Toxins, Hungerthon, Walden Woods and the Nelson Mandela Benefit. On June 27, 1987 he played with his old band The Squires in a concert in the Blue Note Cafe, Winnipeg, and in 1988 joined Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen on stage for several concerts. He played Saturday Night Live in 1989 and in the 1990s released Ragged Glory (1990), Arc (1991), Harvest Moon (1993) and Broken Arrow (1996).

He has toured with Crazy Horse and Friends, and played with Nicolette Larson, Nils Lofgren, the Grateful Dead, Warren Zevon, Brooker T. and the MGs, Willie Nelson, Led Zeppelin, Brendan O'Brien and Pearl Jam (MTV Video Music Awards). In 1994 he received the Canadian Governor-General's Performing Arts Award, and the following year was inducted into the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame, thirty albums after he began. For more Neil, check out The Neil Young Appreciation Society , founded in 1981, producers of Broken Arrow magazine.

Here he is with two standards recorded in 1971 at Massey Hall in Toronto.