Neil Young facts: Age, songs, bands, wife and children of the folkie turned Godfather of Grunge

25 June 2025, 10:01 | Updated: 28 June 2025, 12:11

Neil Young is a groundbreaking star who mashed up folk, country and rock to make something new (and noisy).

Artists come and artists go, but few have simply kept on keeping on with the same sheer force of will as Neil Young.

Between his first album with Buffalo Springfield and the present day, he's not gone longer than three years or so between studio albums.

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A trio of Buffalo Springfield albums. A trio of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young albums. Around 48 Neil Young solo albums, where he either went it along or was supported by one of his many of his backing groups.

All through his career he's ploughed his own furrow, doing things exactly his own way, regardless of the prevailing pop winds.

Below we round up the life and career of one of the all time greats.

How old is Neil Young and where did he grow up?

Neil Young was born on November 12, 1945. He celebrated his 79th birthday in 2024.

He was born in Toronto, Canada to journalist dad Scott Alexander Young and Daughter of the American Revolution mum Edna Blow Ragland Young.

The family moved to rural Omemee, Ontario. When he was five years old, Young contracted polio.

His experience battling the disease is one of the reasons he was so angered by Spotify giving millions of dollars to podcaster Joe Rogan, complaining that his show helped spread vaccine misinformation.

Neil Young - Old Man (Live) [Harvest 50th Anniversary Edition] (Official Music Video)

Young pulled his music from the platform, but grudgingly relented when Rogan's show ended up on all music streamers.

Young spent time in Florida in the hope that the warmer weather there would help him recover, and he briefly went to Faulkner Elementary School in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

After that, Young returned to Canada and rattled around a little. Omemee to Pickering to Winnipeg to Toronto. He studied at Earl Grey Junior High School and Kelvin High School and Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute.

Always a rabble-rouser, it's claimed that he was expelled from the latter for riding a motorbike down the hall.

After his parents divorced in 1960, Neil moved back to Winnipeg with his mum.

How did Neil Young get into music?

Neil Young was a child of the 1950s, which meant that as a kid he listened to the groundbreaking music the not only defined an era and a generation, but effectively invented the very concept of the teenager.

Rock 'n' roll, E&B, rockabilly, country and doo-wop. Elvis Presley was obviously a touchstone, as were the likes of Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino, and their many imitators.

He listened to Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and even Cliff Richard and the Shadows.

Neil Young's first instrument wasn't a guitar or harmonica, but a plastic ukulele, which he then upgraded to a banjo ukulele and baritone one.

Flying On The Ground Is Wrong

He formed his first band The Jades at junior high. Then came The Squires. It was playing with them that he met Stephen Stills, who was then a group called The Company.

Young absorbed the influence of Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs and met fellow folkie and Canadian Joni Mitchell. The Guess Who had a Canadian hit with Young's 'Flying on the Ground is Wrong'. He briefly joined the Rick James-fronted Mynah Birds.

Then, Young and fellow Mynah Bird Bruce Palmer travelled to LA, where they hooked up with Stephen Stills and Richie Furay, and together with Dewey Martin formed Buffalo Springfield.

The group released three albums. Between the first and second was the massive standalone single 'For What It's Worth', written by Stills.

When did Neil Young join (and leave and rejoin and leave and rejoin) Crosby, Stills and Nash?

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Helpless (Live at Farm Aid 2000)

Buffalo Springfield disintegrated by May 1968, actually before the release of their cobbled-together third album.

That same year Young did some session work for The Monkees (you can hear his guitar on 'Poll' on Head and 'You and I' on Instant Replay), and the same year launched his solo career with the Neil Young album.

The record wasn't a hit but it's certainly got its fans, and standout I've Been Waiting For You' was covered by David Bowie not just with Tin Machine, but also on his 2002 Heathen album.

At the same time he was establishing himself as a standalone star, Neil Young would dip in and out of work with a supergroup made up of The Byrds' David Crosby, The Hollies' Graham Nash, and his old Buffalo Springfield pal Stephen Stills.

Neil Young - Ohio [Live At Massey Hall 1971] (Video)

CSN (Crosby Stills and Nash) formed in 1968 and released their self-titled debut album the following year.

By the time of their second album Déjà Vu in 1970, they had become Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, with Neil contributing 'Helpless' and 'Country Girl' to the record (and co-writing 'Everybody I Love You' with Stills.

The same year CSNY release the stunning 'Ohio' as a standalone single, a powerful reaction to the Kent State shootings recorded less than three weeks after the killings.

Unsurprisingly, with all those rustling supergroup egos (and some heavy substances involved) things couldn't last, and the band dissolved that year, with live record 4 Way Street (featuring Young's 'On the Way Home', 'Cowgirl in the Sand' and 'Don't Let It Bring You Down') emerging after the split.

As the 1970s got going, all four members had their solo successes (more on Young's imminently), but they got back together in 1973 and played some amazing gigs despite serious lingering tensions.

Things fizzled out before they could finish off anything in the studio, though Crosby-Nash released a couple of records together and Stills-Young released Long May You Run in turn in 1976.

That was the same year CSN got back together properly to record the CSN album, without Young.

Health and drugs problems plagued Crosby over the years, but when he recovered, CSNY got back together as a foursome for 1988's American Dream album

It wasn't a classic by any stretch. Young contributed four and a half songs, including the title track. By the time of 1990's Live it Up, Young was out again.

Neil Young - Cowgirl in the Sand (Live at Farm Aid 2000)

The same was true of 1994's After the Storm, but Young was back in the fold by the time of the band's last album, Looking Forward, in 1999. Again he came up with four songs, including the title track.

In 2006, Young joined forces with CSN once more for the Freedom of Speech tour, based around his own Living With War album and CSN's earlier, countercultural work, A live album Déjà Vu Live followed two years later.

CSN did their own thing without Young after that tour, and a one-off Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young acoustic set at the 27th Bridge School Benefit on October 27, 2013 was the last ever CSNY show.

Again CSN moved on without Young, with various ups and downs between the members until Crosby's death in 2023 at the age of 81.

What backing bands has Neil Young played with over the years?

neil young and the chrome hearts - Lets Roll Again (Official Music Video)

Beyond his early years, his time in Buffalo Springfield and his time in and out of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Neil Young did plenty of work – live and in the studio – with his name front and centre on the marquee.

But he often was happy to work with the same backing band(s) and to credit them on those tour posters and album covers. Both would flit between pure Neil Young solo and Neil Young and or with...

As early as 1969, his album Everybody Knows This is Nowhere was credited to Neil Young with Crazy Horse. Crazy Horse also got a shoutout on albums including Zuma, Re-Ac-Tor, Life, Ragged Glory, Barn, Chrome Dreams and many more.

Other groups he's been backed by include include The Shocking Pinks, The Bluetones, The Promise of the Real and The Chrome Hearts.

He also has recorded collaborative albums with Pearl Jam (1995's Mirror Ball) and Booker T. & the M.G.'s (2002'a Are You Passionate?)

What are Neil Young's biggest albums and songs?

Neil Young - Heart of Gold (Live) [Harvest 50th Anniversary Edition] (Official Music Video)

We've mentioned a fair few, but it's worth restating some of those massive Neil Young albums, be they solo or otherwise. Buffalo Springfield, Déjà Vu, After The Gold Rush, Harvest, Time Fades Away, On The Beach, Tonight's The Night... we could list nearly all of them.

But we can't not mention Rust Never Sleeps, Ragged Glory, Harvest Moon, Living With War or Chrome Dreams II.

Neil Young's biggest songs include:

• Expecting To Fly
• Down by the River
• Cowgirl in the Sand
• Cinnamon Girl
• Helpless
• Only Love Can Break Your Heart
• Southern Man
• Ohio
• The Needle and the Damage Done
• Old Man
• Heart of Gold
• A Man Needs A Maid
• Like a Hurricane
• Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)
• Rockin' in the Free World
• F**kin Up
• Mansion on the Hill
• From Hank to Hendrix
• Harvest Moon
• Let's Impeach the President
• Ordinary People

What was the Pono – Neil Young's answer to the iPod?

Neil Young's Pono Music Player Is Chocolate For Your Ears

As well as his beautifully melodic voice, twangy guitar sound and wailing harmonica, Neil Young is startlingly good at making a good old fashioned racket (the stunning Rust Never Sleeps shows off both sides of his personality, while live album Arc is mainly a joyful noise).

Young's flair with filthy feedback inspired a generation and earned him the title The Godfather of Grunge. He toured with Sonic Youth, played with Pearl Jam, and poor Kurt Cobain quoted 'My My Hey Hey' in his suicide note.

So it might surprise you that Neil Young has always been utterly obsessed with sound quality.

Even before downloads and then streaming served up poor quality sound, he was moaning about how digital reproduction wasn't doing what it should.

"One of the most important jobs of any musician is to provide quality sound to the people," Young said of the remastered version of his music on 2004's Greatest Hits.,

"Quality has taken a hit in recent years, but it's starting to come back thanks to DVD-stereo. There is just no comparison between DVD-stereo and a regular compact disc or even 5.1 sound.

"It's the difference between a true reflection of the music and a mere replica. I've always been a strong believer in analogue and this is about as close to the rewarding listening experience of vinyl as the real thing."

Hands-on with Neil Young's Pono music player

Then came downloads, and Neil wasn't happy with the compressed MP3s being squeezed onto the early iPods.

In response he founded PonoMusic in 2012 (pono is the Hawaiian word for "righteousness"). The PonoPlayer was released in 2014 and would play lossless FLAC files.

It flopped, not least because phones and other players capable of playing FLACs were also available, and both the PonoPlayer and associated services were discontinued by 2017.

Is Neil Young married and does he have any children?

Neil Young has been married three times. He married Susan Acevedo in December 1968 but she filed for divorce in October 1970.

He had a long-term relationship with Diary of a Mad Housewife actress Carrie Snodgradd form 1970 to 1975, and while they never wed they had a son together in 1972.

He married Pegi Morton in August 1978, and they had two children together, They stayed together until 2014, and were frequent musical collaborators during their 36-year marriage, Pegi died in 2019, aged 66.

After the divorce, Young started dating actress Daryl Hannah and they married in August 2018.

What's Neil Young's involvement in Farm Aid, the Bridge School and other activism?

As well as engaging with social issues in his work in songs like 'Pocahontas' and 'Ohio', Neil Young has been involved more directly in various forms of activism.

Much of this has centred around the issue of indigenous rights, as well as environmental issue like fossil fuel use and logging.

Neil converted his 1959 Lincoln Continental into a hybrid called the LincVolt, which even inspired his 2009 album Fork in the Road.

Neil Young - Hey Hey, My My (Live at Farm Aid 1985)

Together with his then-wife Pegi, Neil helped found the Bridge School for children with verbal and physical disabilities in 1986. Two of Young's children have been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and the third with epilepsy,

The annual Bridge School Benefit concerts are some of the starriest charity shows in history.

Neil was also a founder of Farm Aid in 1985, an annual event inspired by Bob Dylan's controversial Live Aid speech calling for some money to be set aside for struggling US farmers.