Stevie Young

Not to be confused with Steve Young (musician).
Stevie Young

Stevie Young performing with AC/DC in Tacoma, WA, Feb. 2nd, 2016
Background information
Birth name Stephen Crawford Young
Born (1956-12-11) 11 December 1956
Glasgow, Scotland
Genres Hard rock
Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter
Instruments Guitar, vocals
Years active 1979–present
Labels Columbia
Associated acts Starfighters
AC/DC
Website acdc.com

Stephen Crawford "Stevie" Young (born 11 December 1956) is a Scottish musician and the rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist for the Australian hard rock band, AC/DC. He officially joined the band in September 2014, replacing his uncle, Malcolm Young who retired due to dementia.[1][2] He had previously filled in for Malcolm on AC/DC's 1988 U.S. tour.[3]

In addition to Malcolm, Stevie is the nephew of Angus Young, George Young and Alex Young, and the son of their eldest brother Stephen Crawford Young (1933-1989). He emigrated with his family from Scotland to Sydney, Australia in 1963. The family settled in Concord, New South Wales. [4][5]

Career

After his first bands, The Stabbers, Prowler and Tantrum formed in the Scottish Borders town of Hawick in the late 70s, 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.

Starfighters split in 1983 before coming back together in 1987 for another shot. When that did not work out, Stevie 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. Stevie later formed Up Rising, a band that also split up. Starfighters are mentioned in the book Get Your Jumbo Jet Out of My Airport (Random Notes for AC/DC Obsessives) and also feature in the 2007 rare record guide.

In 1988 Stevie produced a demo for thrash metal band Cancer titled No Fuckin' Cover.[6]

In 2009 Young was a member of Birmingham rock band Hellsarockin.[7]

From July 2013 Stevie and Pat Hambly from the Starfighters performed in a blues trio with singer Martin Wood called Blue Murda.[8][9] Blue Murda were later joined on guitar by Stevie's son, Angus (Gus), and John Malan on bass guitar. Gus is thus the grand-nephew of AC/DC's Angus Young.[10]

Career with AC/DC

The connection to AC/DC goes back to the 1960s where Stevie, Angus and Malcolm attended the same school and played guitar together while growing up in Sydney.[11] Coincidentally, Starfighters was also the name of a Dutch band of AC/DC co-producer Harry Vanda, before his family moved to Australia.[12]

During the late 1970s Stevie 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.[13]

During the 1988 U.S. tour for AC/DC's album Blow Up Your Video, which started on 3 May 1988, Stevie 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 Stevie bore a physical resemblance (at the time) to him.[14] 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 Stevie had recorded with the band for their upcoming album Rock or Bust, again replacing his ill uncle Malcolm.[15] In September it was confirmed that Stevie would replace Malcolm on a permanent basis.[16] It was revealed in a Rolling Stone interview that Stevie had been recruited by Angus as far back as January 2014, before contact had been made with other band members.[17]

Equipment

In the Rock or Bust and Play Ball music videos from AC/DC's Rock or Bust album, 2014, Stevie played a red Gretsch double cutaway Jet Firebird, like that played by his uncle Malcolm. In the videos, it can be seen that the rhythm pickup has been removed, possibly to emulate the sound of his uncle's heavily modified Gretsch Jet Firebird.

When the band opened at the 2015 Grammy Awards ceremony, Stevie used a heavily modified Gretsch double cutaway Jet Firebird similar to the one commonly used by Malcolm.

For the Rock or Bust tour Stevie uses Marshall Amplifiers with Celestion Creamback and Classic Lead 80 speakers as part of his touring set-up [18]

Family

As of July 2014 Stevie's son Angus (known as Goose or Gus) also plays guitar for Birmingham reggae band Young Culture Collective alongside his younger brother Stevie.[19][20]

Stevie has a girlfriend named Helen and has two other sons, Lewis and Stevie, who both work in the music industry.

Discography

Starfighters

AC/DC

Notes

  1. 1 2 "AC/DC Rock Or Bust". Alberts.
  2. ↑ "AC/DC Finish New Album, Detail Malcolm Young Health Update". Rolling Stone.
  3. ↑ http://ultimateclassicrock.com/ac-dc-stevie-young/
  4. ↑ Fink, Jesse (01/11/2013). The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC. Ebury Australia. ISBN 9781742759791. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ↑ "Vanda and Young". google.com.
  6. ↑ "MusicMight :: Artists :: CANCER". rockdetector.com.
  7. ↑ HELLSAROCKIN | Listen and Stream Free Music, Albums, New Releases, Photos, Videos
  8. ↑ "Blue Murda / Bio". ReverbNation. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  9. ↑ "Blue Murda". Facebook. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  10. ↑ "All in family for tribute kings". Nottingham Post. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  11. ↑ http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/acdc-malcolm-young-phil-rudd-rock-or-bust-20141114
  12. ↑ "Vanda and Young". google.co.uk.
  13. ↑ http://s1109.photobucket.com/user/malyoungrocks/media/Band%20Backstage/MalcolmAngusSteviePhilbackstage79.jpg.html
  14. ↑ Yves Vranckx & Ver髇ica Mart韓ez. "AC/DC - Bedlam In Belgium - English version". ac-dc.cc.
  15. ↑ "Johnson reveals new AC/DC album details". Classic Rock.
  16. ↑ "AC/DC ‘ROCK OR BUST’". Alberts Management. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  17. ↑ "'Rock or Bust' for Real: Inside the Making of AC/DC's Defiant New LP - Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone.
  18. ↑ http://celestion.com/speakerworld/artists/1/145/Stevie_Young/
  19. ↑ "1EYE". Facebook.
  20. ↑ "Tribute band get a helping hand from the AC/DC family". Derby Telegraph.
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