Rockapaedia Obituaries
George Young
Bands: The Easybeats, AC-DC.
George Young died aged seventy on 22nd Octobe
r 2017. The cause of his death has yet to be disclosed.
George was born
George Redburn Young on 6th November 1946 in Glasgow, Scotland, U.K.
George began his music career in Sydney, where on rhythm guitar he formed a beat pop band, the Easybeats, in late 1964 alongside Dick Diamonde on bass guitar, Gordon Fleet on drums),on lead guitar and Stevie Wright on lead vocals. They all had a connection with Villawood Migrant Hostel and their early rehearsals were held in its laundry room.
Aside from performing and recording, George Young co-wrote nearly all of their tracks. Early top 10 hits on the Australian singles chart for the Easybeats were co-written by George Young with band mate Wright. Later top 10 hits were written with Vanda including "Friday on My Mind" a number 1 in 1966. The Easybeats relocated to the UK to record and perform, but the group disbanded in late 1969.
After the Easybeats dissolved George Young formed a production and song writing duo with Vanda, as Vanda & Young in 1970, initially living in London. They provided pop and rock songs for other recording artists, and for themselves under various stage names: Paintbox, Tramp, Eddie Avana, Moondance, Haffy's Whiskey Sour, and Band of Hope. The pair worked with George Young's elder brother Alex in Grapefruit. George Young and Vanda returned to Sydney in 1973 where they worked for Ted Albert, at his Albert Productions recording studio to become the in house producers.
One studio-based group, Marcus Hook Roll Band, was joined in 1974 by George Young's brothers, Malcolm and Angus. The brothers had already formed a hard rock group, AC/DC, in 1973. George Young helped them with AC/DC, which went on to become a success internationally. He declared to his brothers "that he didn't believe a band can ever call itself a band until it's done at least 200 gigs". With Vanda he co-produced AC/DC's early albums, High Voltage and T.N.T. in 1975), Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap in 1976, Let There Be Rock in 1977 and Powerage in 1978. George Young briefly played as AC/DC's bass guitarist for a short stint, early in their career. He produced AC/DC's 2000 album, Stiff Upper Lip. Malcolm was replaced in the group by their nephew, Stevie Young, in 2014.
In mid-1976 George Young formed Flash and the Pan, initially as a studio-based duo with himself on guitar, keyboards and vocals, and Vanda on guitar and keyboards. They had local top 10 hits on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart with "Hey, St. Peter" in September 1976 and "Down Among the Dead Men" in 1978. The group's ninth single, "Waiting for a Train" in 1982 had lead vocals by their former bandmate, Stevie Wright. When the single was issued in Europe in April 1983 it peaked at number 7 in the UK, number 15 in Belgium and num
ber 26 in the Netherlands.
Vanda & George Young also co-produced work for Wright, John Paul Young (no relation), the Angels and Rose Tattoo. As songwriters they provided "Evie" in April 1974 for Wright, which was a number-one hit in Australia. They co-wrote, "Love Is in the Air" in December 1977, for John Paul Young, which reached number 3 in Australia.
After retiring from the music industry in the late 1990s, George Young resided mainly in Portugal with his family.
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