Stevie Young

Not to be confused with Steve Young (musician).

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]

Stevie Young
Young live for the Rock or Bust World Tour in Tacoma, Washington, 2016
Background information
Birth name	Stephen Crawford Young Jr.
Born	(1956-12-11) 11 December 1956 (age 67) Glasgow, Scotland
Genres	Hard rock
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instrument(s)	Guitar
Years active	1979–present
Labels	Columbia
Member of	AC/DC
Formerly of	Starfighters
Website	acdc.com

Early life

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]

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 Burns tailpiece. 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]

Discography

Starfighters

• Starfighters (1981) Jive Records
• In-Flight Movie (1983) Jive Records

AC/DC

• Rock or Bust (2014)^[1]
• Power Up (2020)

Notes

1. "AC/DC Rock Or Bust". Alberts.
2. "AC/DC Finish New Album, Detail Malcolm Young Health Update". Rolling Stone.
3. "Stevie Young Spotted with AC/DC in Vancouver?". Ultimate Classic Rock. 2 May 2014.
4. "AC/DC's ANGUS YOUNG Says STEVIE YOUNG Was 'The Logical Choice' To Step in For MALCOLM YOUNG". BLABBERMOUTH.NET. 24 November 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
5. Fink, Jesse (1 November 2013). The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC. Ebury Australia. ISBN 9781742759791.
6. Tait, John (October 2010). Vanda and Young. NewSouth. ISBN 9781742240107.
7. "Malcolm Young Exits AC/DC Permanently, Suffering Dementia". noise11.com. 26 September 2014.
8. The Guinness who's who of heavy metal. Enfield : Guinness Publishing. 1995. p. 339. ISBN 978-0-85112-656-2. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
9. "HELLSAROCKIN | Listen and Stream Free Music, Albums, New Releases, Photos, Videos". Myspace. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
10. [1]^{[dead link]}
11. "Blue Murda / Bio". ReverbNation. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
12. "Blue Murda". Facebook. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
13. . Nottingham Post. Archived from the original on 14 October 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
14. "Hard Rock, Harder Times: AC/DC Return Without Two Members". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
15. Tait, John (October 2010). Vanda and Young. NewSouth. ISBN 9781742240107.
16. . Photobucket. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
17. "1979 / 10 / 27 – SCO, Glasgow, Apollo". acdc-fusebox.forumactif.org. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
18. Vranckx, Yves; Martínez, Verónica. . ac-dc.cc. Archived from the original on 14 July 2006.
19. . Classic Rock. Archived from the original on 12 July 2014.
20. . Alberts Management. 23 September 2014. Archived from the original on 26 September 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
21. Fricke, David (2 December 2014). . Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 5 December 2014.
22. Premier Guitar (13 September 2016), Rig Rundown – AC/DC's Angus Young & Stevie Young, archived from the original on 21 December 2021, retrieved 7 October 2016
23. Speakers, Celestion. "Stevie Young/". Celestion Speakers. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
24. . Derby Telegraph. Archived from the original on 27 July 2014.

External links

•   Media related to Stevie Young at Wikimedia Commons