Jeff Young
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Jeff Young | |
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| Born | March 31, 1962 Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S. |
| Genres | Thrash metal, heavy metal, speed metal, Blues, classical |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, record producer |
| Instrument | Guitar |
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Website | http://www.jeffyoungjams.com |
Jeff Young (born March 31, 1962) is an American guitarist. He graduated from Musicians Institute in 1985, and is best known for his time with the thrash metal band Megadeth, appearing on the 1988 album So Far, So Good... So What!. In addition to his subsequent music projects, he served as an author in Guitar for the Practicing Musician.
Early life
Young was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In 1980, he graduated from Fairmont High School in Kettering, Ohio, and moved to Hollywood to attend Musicians Institute/GIT in 1984. He graduated from the Institute in 1985 and began his career as a guitar teacher.
Megadeth
Newly hired Megadeth's guitarist Jay Reynolds (of Malice) had commissioned guitar teacher Young to play all of his solos on the new album, transcribe the previous Megadeth releases, and teach him everything in time for the pending tours. Reynolds was one of Youngs guitar students. However, after witnessing Young decipher previous guitarist Chris Poland's solos from Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? note-for-note in less than 30 minutes, frontman Dave Mustaine decided instead to hire Young. Young joined the band with only two weeks left in the recording schedule and contributed half of the guitar solos and multiple electric and acoustic rhythm parts to the album.[citation needed]
Jeff's career with Megadeth was spent recording and touring in support of their 1988 platinum selling album, So Far, So Good... So What! His first performance with the band appeared in The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years as a member of Megadeth.[citation needed]
In 2009, Young issued an online reply to comments made by Dave Mustaine that he (Mustaine) "sang" Jeff's guitar solos to him. He called out, Mustaine as a blatant liar, confirming Mustaine never sang a solo to him nor was he even in the recording studio when Young wrote and/or improvised his leads parts during the recording process.[1]
Author and Jazz & World Fusion Excursions
Following his time in Megadeth, Jeff wrote the cult-classic Fingerprints column in Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazine. He also began intensive study of the blues with legendary guitarist, Steve Hunter (Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Jason Becker).
For a portion of the 1990s, Jeff stepped away from his career to deal with the untimely deaths of first his father and later his mother while immersing himself in the further study of classical, flamenco, gypsy jazz and other world music varieties
In 1998, he resurfaced with new Brazilian musical partner, Badi Assad. Together, the duo crafted exotic soundscapes for Verve/PolyGram records collaboration entitled, Badi Assad's Chameleon. The album (co-written, arranged, and produced by Jeff), climbed to the top of the world music charts in Germany & Holland also topping JAZZIZ magazine's Readers Poll: "Best Brazilian Albums of the Year."
Opening concerts for renowned artists including Joe Cocker and Cassandra Wilson, as well as performances on 1999's Lilith Fair and Farm Aid 2000, Jeff's association with the Assad family also spawned songwriting collaborations with guitar luminary Sergio Assad and two pieces on Badi's Verde album.
In 2003, the track "Waves" from Chameleon was featured in the Michael and Kirk Douglas film It Runs in the Family, as well as on the movie's soundtrack.
Equilibrium
In late-October 2009, his debut solo album, Equilibrium, was released on CDBaby.com. Young began working on the album in 2000. Stylistically, the album features flamenco, classic, 6 & 12 steel-string guitar styles as well as the electric guitar. Equilibrium features guest performances by Debby Holiday, Twinkle, Gilli Moon, Lenine, Matt Chamberlain, Hilary Jones, Tony Franklin and Viviana Guzman.[2]
Personal life
Young overcame testicular cancer in 2003.[citation needed]
Other projects
Young is the host of the Internet radio show Music Without Boundaries.[3]
Jeff's new project is a modern funk, rock, soul duo/band, Jeff Young & Sherri. The duo's first single, a re-imagining of The Rolling Stones, "Wild Horses" to be released September 2013. A Stageit impromptu performance video garnered 2,000 plays in two days on YouTube.
Discography
- 1988, Megadeth – So Far, So Good... So What!.
- 1998, Badi Assad – Chameleon
- 2003, It Runs in the Family (Soundtrack)
- 2010, Jeff Young – Equilibrium (Solo)
References
External links
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