Jeff Young

Infobox Musical artist


Img_size = 150
Name = Jeff Young
Img_capt =
Landscape =
Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth_name =
Alias =
Born = birth date and age|1962|3|31|
Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.
Died =
Instrument = Guitar
Genre = Thrash metal, Heavy metal, Speed metal, Classical
Occupation = Musician, songwriter
Years_active = 1986 - present
Label =
Associated_acts = Megadeth, Equilibrium
URL =
Notable_instruments =

Jeff Young 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!".

Career

Megadeth

Jeff Young (born March 31, 1962) was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and after graduating high school, he moved to Hollywood, California to attend Musician's Institute. After graduating in 1985, Young began his career in music as a guitar teacher. Less than four years after arriving in California, Capitol Records act Megadeth inadvertently discovered Jeff. Megadeth's new guitarist, Jay Reynolds (of Malice), had commissioned 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. However, after witnessing Young decipher Poland's solos from "Wake Up Dead" note-for-note in less than 30 minutes, frontman Dave Mustaine decided to cut out the middleman and enlist Young into the fold. Young joined the band after all music was written, and contributed half of the guitar solos to the album.

Jeff's entire career with Megadeth was spent recording and touring in support of their 1988 platinum selling album, So Far, So Good...So What! While Young had joined a popular thrash metal band with a rabid fanbase, his own musical tastes were more commercial than Megadeth's technical style.

A classically trained musician from age six, Young was known to wear his guitar high (like a jazz player), stand very still, staring intensely at his guitar while he played while the rest of the band acted much like other 1980s thrash metal bands at the time. Young also had no drug habit, instantly making him both a newcomer and somewhat of an outsider to the nucleus of Megadeth.

After Megadeth

Following his stint with Megadeth, Jeff began contributing the Fingerprints column for Guitar Magazine. 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 their first collaboration entitled, Badi Assad - Chameleon. The album (co-written, arranged, and produced by Jeff), climbed to #1 in Europe while touring introduced their acoustic-world-fusion sounds to diverse audiences worldwide. Opening concerts for renowned artists including Joe Cocker and Cassandra Wilson, as well as performances on 1999's Lilith Fair and Farm Aid 2000 are testament to the considerable cross-over appeal of Badi and Jeff's "new world music" explorations. 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

Since 2000, Young has been engaged in the creation of his debut release, Equilibrium while overcoming testicular cancer in the process. For the project, Young draws on flamenco, classic, 6 & 12 steel-string guitar styles as well as the electric guitar. The album features performances by Debby Holiday, Gilli Moon, Lenine, Matt Chamberlain, Hilary Jones, Tony Franklin, Carlos Malta and Viviana Guzman.

External links

* [http://web.mac.com/zenguitarist/iWeb/jeffyoung/Intro.html Official web site]
* [http://www.megadeth.com/index.php?section=biography# Megadeth Biography]
* [http://www.megadeth.com/index.php?section=history#1987 Megadeth career description]