Jesse Colin Young, whose voice as leader of the Folk The Youngbloods band gave voice to the counterculture of the 1960s, died Sunday at home in Aiken, SC
Young's publicist Michael Jensen confirmed to Times on Monday that the 83 -year -old musician died of a heart attack.
Young had just written his autobiography, he was in the process of writing a children's book and had finished working in a song for future youth records, Jensen said.
“He was an incredibly active guy,” said Jensen. “He was a client for many, many years, but most importantly, he was one of the most pleasant people on the entire planet. He was a great human being and I am disconsolate.”
Young was born on November 22, 1941 and began in the New England music scene in the 60s, taking out their first solo album, “the soul of a city boy.” He began playing concerts at Club 47, which at that time was known as the center of the folk music revival, an advance of the race that attributed to a DJ playing his song “Four in the Morning” and attracting some attention.
While playing the Boston Club scene, he met guitarist Jerry Corbitt and the two decided to start a band, The Youngbloods.
In 1967, The Youngbloods launched its homonym album, which reached its maximum point at number 131 in Billboard 200. Two years later, the single “Get Together” reached number 5 after it appeared in a public service announcement by the National Conference of Christians and Jews.
Young told The Arts Fuse in an interview in 2018 that he knew he had to record “Get Together” after he heard the artist and composer Buzzy Linhart sing him during a microphone open in Café Au Go Go in Greenwich Village.
“Gugar together” asked peace and unity with the choir: “Come on, people now / smile at your brother / Everyone comes to love us at this time,” which became a popular chorus during the turbulent era.
“I hurried to the backstage and said: 'Oh, man, I need the lyrics. I love that song. I want to take it to the trial with the young people. And the rest is history,” Young told The Outlet.
The hopeful message of the song has suffered during the decades. It was presented at the movie “Forrest Gump”, in the television show “The Simpsons” and even in a Walmart commercial.
While Young did not write “Get Together”, he played a role in the writing of many of the other songs by Youngbloods, including “Sugar Babe”, “Quicksand” and “Darkness Darkness”, which was later covered by the main singer of Led Zeppelin Robert Plant.
The young people moved from New York in northern California in 1967 and Young finally settled in Marin County, where he lived until 1995, when his house in Point Reyes burned in a fire that crossed the region. Young wrote the popular song “Ridgetop” about his beloved house.
In 2023, the young documentary “High on a Ridgetop”, which was filmed in the early 1970s in the Bay area, was projected at the Grammy Museum.
When the Youngbloods separated in 1972, Young launched a solo race and then recorded more than 15 albums. He stopped acting in 2012 while fighting against Lyme's disease, but finally returned to the stage. His last album, “Dreamers”, was released in 2019.
He told The Peninsula Daily News in an interview in 2018 that his desire to act was revived when he traveled to Boston to see the senior recital of his son Tristan in Berklee College of Music.
“It simply flew me,” he told the newspaper. “Any light that came out in my heart came back. I thought: 'Before leaving the planet, I have to play with some of these young people'”.
Young survives his wife and manager, Connie Darden-Young, and the children Tristan Young, Jazzie Young, Juli Young and Cheyenne Young.
