Age, Biography, and Wiki
Neil Percival Young was born on November 12, 1945, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is best known for his work with bands like Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young as well as his solo career. Young's music has been a cornerstone of generations, with iconic hits like "Heart of Gold" and "Rockin' in the Free World".
| Occupation | Country Singer |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 12 November 1945 |
| Age | 79 Years |
| Birth Place | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Horoscope | Scorpio |
| Country | Canada |
Height, Weight & Measurements
Although specific details about Neil Young's height and weight are not widely documented, he is known for his tall stature. Physical measurements aside, Young's enduring legacy in music is a testament to his influence and success.
| Height | |
| Weight | |
| Body Measurements | |
| Eye Color | |
| Hair Color |
Dating & Relationship Status
Neil Young has been married twice, first to Susan Acevedo from 1968 to 1970, and then to Pegi Young from 1978 to 2014. He is currently married to Daryl Hannah, whom he wed in 2018.
His father, Scott Alexander Young (1918–2005), was a journalist and sportswriter who also wrote fiction. His mother, Edna Blow Ragland "Rassy" Young (1918–1990) was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Although Canadian, his mother had American and French ancestry.
When he was 12, his father, who had had several extramarital affairs, left his mother. She asked for a divorce, which was granted in 1960. She moved back to Winnipeg with Neil joining her there, while his brother, Bob, stayed with their father in Toronto.
Young and his mother settled in the working-class area of Fort Rouge, Winnipeg, where he enrolled in Earl Grey Junior High School. It was there that he formed his first band, the Jades, and met Ken Koblun. While attending Kelvin High School in Winnipeg, he played in several instrumental rock bands, eventually dropping out of school in favor of a musical career. Young's first stable band was the Squires, with Ken Koblun, Jeff Wuckert and Bill Edmondson on drums, who had a local hit called "The Sultan". Over three years, the band played hundreds of shows at community centers, dance halls, clubs and schools in Winnipeg and other parts of Manitoba. The band also played in Fort William (now part of the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario), where they recorded a series of demos produced by a local producer, Ray Dee, whom Young called "the original Briggs", referring to his later producer David Briggs. While playing at The Flamingo, Young met Stephen Stills, whose band the Company was playing at the same venue, and they became friends. The Squires primarily performed in Winnipeg and rural Manitoba in towns such as Selkirk, Neepawa, Brandon and Giroux (near Steinbach), with a few shows in northern Ontario.
Shortly after the release of Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Young reunited with Stephen Stills by joining Crosby, Stills & Nash, who had already released one album, Crosby, Stills & Nash, as a trio in May 1969. Young was originally offered a position as a sideman but agreed to join only if he received full membership, and the group – winners of the 1969 Best New Artist Grammy Award – was renamed Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The quartet debuted in Chicago on August 16, 1969, and later performed at the famous Woodstock Festival, during which Young skipped the majority of the acoustic set and refused to be filmed during the electric set, even telling the cameramen: "One of you fuckin' guys comes near me and I'm gonna fuckin' hit you with my guitar". During the making of their first album, Déjà Vu (March 11, 1970), the musicians frequently argued, particularly Young and Stills, who both fought for control. Stills continued throughout their lifelong relationship to criticize Young, saying that he "wanted to play folk music in a rock band".
After his success with CSNY, Young purchased a ranch in the rural hills above Woodside and Redwood City in Northern California ("Broken Arrow Ranch", where he lived until his divorce in 2014). He wrote the song "Old Man" in honor of the land's longtime caretaker, Louis Avila. The song "A Man Needs a Maid" was inspired by his relationship with actress Carrie Snodgress. "Heart of Gold" was released as the first single from Harvest, the only No. 1 hit in his career. "Old Man" was also popular, reaching No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, marking Young's third and final appearance in the chart's Top 40 as a solo artist.
| Parents | |
| Husband | Susan Acevedo (m. 1968-1970) Pegi Morton (m. 1978-2014) Daryl Hannah (m. 2018) |
| Sibling | |
| Children |
Net Worth and Salary
As of 2025, Neil Young's net worth is estimated at $200 million. This figure is largely due to his successful music career, record sales, touring, and business ventures, including the partial sale of his music catalog for $150 million in 2021.
Real Estate Investments
- Broken Arrow Ranch: Purchased in 1970, this 1,000-acre estate in La Honda, California, serves as a creative hub and private retreat.
- Hawaiian Villa: Young previously owned a villa in Hawaii, which he listed for sale in 2015.
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American 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.
Young's guitar work, deeply personal lyrics and signature high tenor singing voice define his long career. He also plays piano and harmonica on many albums, which frequently combine folk, rock, country and other musical genres. His often distorted electric guitar playing, especially with Crazy Horse, earned him the nickname "Godfather of Grunge" and led to his 1995 album Mirror Ball with Pearl Jam. More recently, he has been backed by Promise of the Real.
After completing On the Beach, Young reunited with Harvest producer Elliot Mazer to record another acoustic album, Homegrown. Most of the songs were written after Young's breakup with Carrie Snodgress, and thus the tone of the album was somewhat dark. Though Homegrown was reportedly entirely complete, Young decided, not for the first or last time in his career, to drop it and release something else instead, in this case, Tonight's the Night, at the suggestion of Band bassist Rick Danko. Young further explained his move by saying: "It was a little too personal ... it scared me". Most of the songs from Homegrown were later incorporated into other Young albums while the original album was not released until 2020. Tonight's the Night, when finally released in 1975, sold poorly, as had the previous albums of the "ditch" trilogy, and received mixed reviews at the time, but is now regarded as a landmark album. In Young's own opinion, it was the closest he ever came to art.
Social Network
Neil Young is not particularly active on traditional social media platforms but maintains a strong presence through his music and public appearances. His official website and fan forums are popular channels for updates and engagement.
In the autumn of 1970, Young began a solo acoustic tour of North America, during which he played a variety of his Buffalo Springfield and CSNY songs on guitar and piano, along with material from his solo albums and several new songs. Some songs premiered by Young on the tour, like "Journey through the Past", would never find a home on a studio album, while other songs, like "See the Sky About to Rain", would only be released in coming years. Many gigs were sold out, including concerts at Carnegie Hall and a pair of acclaimed hometown shows at Toronto's Massey Hall, which were taped for a planned live album. The shows became legendary among Young fans, with Live at Massey Hall 1971 being released in 2007, and other shows as official bootlegs in 2021 and 2022, as a part of Young's Archive series.
In the second half of 1973, Young formed The Santa Monica Flyers, with Crazy Horse's rhythm section augmented by Nils Lofgren on guitar and piano and Harvest/Time Fades Away veteran Ben Keith on pedal steel guitar. Deeply affected by the drug-induced deaths of Whitten and roadie Bruce Berry, Young recorded an album specifically inspired by the incidents, Tonight's the Night (June 20, 1975). The album's dark tone and rawness led Reprise to delay its release and Young had to pressure them for two years before they would do so. While his record company was stalling, Young recorded another album, On the Beach (July 16, 1974), which presented a more melodic, acoustic sound at times, including a recording of the older song "See the Sky About to Rain", but dealt with similarly dark themes such as the collapse of 1960s folk ideals, the downside of success and the underbelly of the Californian lifestyle. Like Time Fades Away, it sold poorly but eventually became a critical favorite, presenting some of Young's most original work. A review of the 2003 re-release on CD of On the Beach described the music as "mesmerizing, harrowing, lucid, and bleary".
Education
Young attended Earl Grey Junior High School in Winnipeg and later Kelvin High School, though he did not graduate. His early education laid the groundwork for his self-taught music skills.
Shortly after Young's birth in 1945, the family moved to rural Omemee, Ontario, which Young later described fondly as a "sleepy little place". Young contracted polio in the late summer of 1951 during the last major outbreak of the disease in Ontario, and as a result, became partially paralyzed on his left side. After the conclusion of his hospitalization, the Young family wintered in Florida because they believed its mild weather would help Neil's convalescence. During that period, Young briefly attended Faulkner Elementary School in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. In 1952, upon returning to Canada, Young moved from Omemee to Pickering (1956) and then lived for a year in Winnipeg (where he would later return) before relocating to Toronto (1957–1960). While in Toronto, he briefly attended Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute as a first-year student in 1959. According to rumor, he was expelled for riding a motorcycle down the hall of the school. He also became interested in the popular music he heard on the radio.
