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Neil Percival Young,  (born November 12, 1945), is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, producer, director and screenwriter. After embarking on a music career in the 1960s, he moved to Los Angeles, where he formed [Springfield|Buffalo Springfield] with [Stills|Stephen Stills], [Furay|Richie Furay] and others. Young had released two solo albums by the time he joined [Stills, Nash & Young|Crosby, Stills & Nash] in 1969, in addition to three as a member of Buffalo Springfield. From his early solo albums and those with his backing band [Horse (band)|Crazy Horse], Young has recorded a steady stream of studio and live albums, sometimes warring with his recording company along the way.

Young's guitar work, deeply personal lyrics  and signature [|tenor] singing voice  transcend his long career. Young also plays piano and harmonica on many albums, which frequently combine [music|folk], [music|rock], [music|country] and other musical styles. His often distorted electric guitar playing, especially with Crazy Horse, earned him the nickname "Godfather of [|Grunge]" and led to his 1995 album [Ball (Neil Young album)|Mirror Ball] with [Jam|Pearl Jam]. More recently Young has been backed by [Nelson & Promise of the Real|Promise of the Real].

Young directed (or co-directed) films using the pseudonym Bernard Shakey, including [Through the Past (film)|Journey Through the Past] (1973), [Never Sleeps|Rust Never Sleeps] (1979), [Highway|Human Highway] (1982), [(album)|Greendale] (2003), and [Vu|CSNY/Déjà Vu] (2008). He also contributed to the soundtracks of the films [(film)|Philadelphia] (1993) and [Man|Dead Man] (1995).

Young has received several [|Grammy] and [Awards|Juno] awards. The [and Roll Hall of Fame|Rock and Roll Hall of Fame] inducted him twice: as a solo artist in 1995 and in 1997 as a member of [Springfield|Buffalo Springfield]. In 2000, [Stone|Rolling Stone] named Young the 34th greatest rock 'n roll artist.

He has lived in California since the 1960s but retains Canadian citizenship. He was awarded the [of Manitoba|Order of Manitoba] on July 14, 2006, and was made an Officer of the [of Canada|Order of Canada] on December 30, 2009.

Early years (1945–1966)
Neil Young was born on November 12, 1945, in [|Toronto], Ontario. His father, [Young (writer)|Scott Alexander Young] (1918–2005), was a journalist and sportswriter who also wrote fiction. His mother, Edna Blow Ragland "Rassy" Young (1918–1990) was a member of the [of the American Revolution|Daughters of the American Revolution]. Although Canadian, his mother had American and French ancestry. Young's parents married in 1940 in [|Winnipeg], Manitoba, and their first son, Robert "Bob" Young, was born in 1942. Shortly after Young's birth in 1945, his family moved to rural [Ontario|Omemee, Ontario], which Young later described fondly as a "sleepy little place". Young suffered from [|polio] in 1951 during the last major outbreak of the disease in Ontario (the Canadian singer-songwriter [Mitchell|Joni Mitchell], then aged nine, also contracted the virus during this epidemic). After his recovery, the Young family vacationed in Florida. During that period, Young briefly attended Chisolm Elementary School in [Smyrna Beach, Florida|New Smyrna Beach, Florida]. In 1952, upon returning to Canada, Young moved from Omemee to Winnipeg for a year, before relocating to Toronto and [Ontario|Pickering]. Young became interested in popular music he heard on the radio. When Young was twelve, his father, who had had several extramarital affairs, left his mother. His mother asked for a divorce, which was granted in 1960. Young went to live with his mother, who moved back to Winnipeg, while his brother Bob stayed with his father in Toronto.

During the mid-1950s, Young listened to [and roll|rock 'n roll], [|rockabilly], [|doo-wop], [and blues|R&B], [music|country], and western pop. He idolized [Presley|Elvis Presley] and later referred to him in a number of his songs. Other early musical influences included [Wray|Link Wray], Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs, The Ventures, Cliff Richard and the Shadows, [Berry|Chuck Berry], [Marvin|Hank Marvin], [Richard|Little Richard], [Domino|Fats Domino], [Chantels|The Chantels], [Monotones|The Monotones], [Self|Ronnie Self], the [Fleetwoods|Fleetwoods], [Lee Lewis|Jerry Lee Lewis], [Cash|Johnny Cash], [Orbison|Roy Orbison] and [Grant|Gogi Grant]. Young first began to play music himself on a plastic [|ukulele], before, as he would later relate, going on to "a better ukulele to a banjo ukulele to a baritone ukulele – everything but a guitar".

Young and his mother settled into the working-class area of [Rouge, Winnipeg|Fort Rouge, Winnipeg], where the shy, dry-humoured youth enrolled at Earl Grey Junior High School. It was there that he formed his first band, the Jades, and met [Koblun|Ken Koblun]. While attending [High School|Kelvin High School] in Winnipeg, he played in several instrumental rock bands, eventually dropping out of school in favour of a musical career. Young's first stable band was [Squires|the Squires], with Ken Koblun, Jeff Wuckert and Bill Edmondson on drums, who had a local hit called "The Sultan". The band played in [William, Ontario|Fort William] (now part of the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario), where they recorded a series of demos produced by a local producer, Ray Dee, who Young called "the original Briggs". While playing at The Flamingo, Young met [Stills|Stephen Stills], whose band the Company were playing the same venue, and they became friends. The Squires played in several dance halls and clubs in Winnipeg and Ontario.

After leaving the Squires, Young worked folk clubs in Winnipeg, where he first met Joni Mitchell. Mitchell recalls Young as having been highly influenced by [Dylan|Bob Dylan] at the time. Here he wrote some of his earliest and most enduring folk songs such as "[Mountain (song)|Sugar Mountain]", about lost youth. Mitchell wrote "The Circle Game" in response. The Winnipeg band [Guess Who|The Guess Who] (with [Bachman|Randy Bachman] as lead guitarist) had a Canadian Top 40 hit with Young's "Flying on the Ground is Wrong", which was Young's first major success as a songwriter.

In 1965 Young toured Canada as a solo artist. In 1966, while in Toronto, he joined the Rick James-fronted Mynah Birds. The band managed to secure a record deal with the [|Motown] label, but as their first album was being recorded, James was arrested for being [|AWOL] from the Navy Reserve. After the Mynah Birds disbanded, Young and the bass player [Palmer|Bruce Palmer] relocated to Los Angeles. Young admitted in a 2009 interview that he was in the United States illegally until he received a "green card" ([residence (United States)|permanent residency permit]) in 1970.