JP
Stevie Young (born 12 November 1956) is a Scottish-born
musician and the current rhythm guitarist/background vocalist for the
Australian hard rock band, AC/DC. He joined the band in September 2014, replacing his uncle Malcolm Young who left for health reasons.
He is the nephew of AC/DC guitarists Angus and Malcolm Young as well as the nephew of George Young and Alex Young.
He is the son of their eldest brother Stephen and emigrated to
Australia with the rest of the Young Family in 1963 but returned to
Scotland at some point in the 1970s.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 in 1980. 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 2009 Young was a member of Birmingham rock band Hellsarockin.
who played the 1st kiss rally
From July 2013 Stevie and Pat Hambly from the Starfighters performed in a blues trio with singer Martin Wood called Blue Murda.
Blue Murda were later joined on guitar by Stevie's son, Angus (Gus),
and John Malan on bass guitar. Gus is thus the great nephew of AC/DC's
Angus Young.
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. Also, Starfighters took their name from an early
band of AC/DC co producer Harry Vanda.
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, as Stevie bears a physical resemblance to him.
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.
In September it was confirmed that Stevie would replace Malcolm on a permanent basis.
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.
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 Malcolm Young.
In the videos, it can be seen that the rhythm pickup has been removed,
possibly to emulate the sound of his uncle's same heavily modified Gretsch Jet Firebird.
Family
As of July 2014 Stevie's son Angus (known as Goose) plays guitar for Birmingham reggae band 1Eye.
Stevie has two other sons, Lewis and Stevie, who both work in the music industry.
Deleted Member
The piccy on p3 is of a guy with dark hair.
A red herring.
I got AC/DC, so you could have said 'close, but no cigar'.