Neil Percival Young,[2] OC,[3] OM[4] (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, film director and activist. Young began performing as a solo artist in Canada in 1960, before moving to California in 1966, where he co-founded the band Buffalo Springfield along with Stephen Stills, and later joined Crosby, Stills & Nash as a fourth member in 1969. He then forged a successful and acclaimed solo career, releasing his first album in 1968. His career has spanned 50 years and 33 studio albums, which have seen him explore a wide variety of musical styles.[5] The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website describes Young as "one of rock and roll’s greatest songwriters and performers".[6] He has been inducted into the Hall of Fame twice: first as a solo artist in 1995, and secondly as a member of Buffalo Springfield in 1997.[7] Young has been nominated for multiple Grammy Awards and has won once.

Young's work is characterized by his distinctive guitar work,[8][9][10] and signature falsetto/tenor singing voice.[11][12] Although he accompanies himself on several different instruments, including piano, harpsichord and harmonica, his clawhammer acoustic guitar and often idiosyncratic electric guitar playing are the defining characteristics of a sometimes ragged, sometimes polished sound. While Young has experimented with differing music styles, including swing and electronic music throughout a varied career, his best known work usually falls into two primary styles: either acoustic folk and country rock, or amplified hard rock in collaboration with the band Crazy Horse. Young has also adopted elements from newer styles such as alternative rock and grunge. His influence on the latter caused some to dub him the "Godfather of Grunge".[13]

Young has directed (or co-directed) a number of films using the pseudonym Bernard Shakey, including Journey Through the Past (1973), Rust Never Sleeps (1979), Human Highway (1982), Greendale (2003), and CSNY/Déjà Vu (2008). He is currently working on a documentary about electric car technology, tentatively titled Linc/Volt. The project involves a 1959 Lincoln Continental converted to hybrid technology, which Young plans to drive to Washington, D.C. as an environmentalist example to lawmakers there.[14]

Young is an outspoken advocate for environmental issues and the welfare of small farmers, having co-founded in 1985 the benefit concert Farm Aid. In 1986, Young helped found The Bridge School,[15] an educational organization for children with severe verbal and physical disabilities, and its annual supporting Bridge School Benefit concerts, together with his wife Pegi Young (née Morton). Young has three children: Sons Zeke (born during his relationship with actress Carrie Snodgress) and Ben who were diagnosed with cerebral palsy, and daughter Amber Jean, like Young himself, with epilepsy. Young lives on his ranch in La Honda, California. Although he has lived in northern California since the 1970s and sings as frequently about U.S. themes and subjects as he does about his native country, he retains Canadian citizenship, which he has never wanted to relinquish.[16] On July 14, 2006, Young was awarded the Order of Manitoba.[4] On December 30, 2009, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.[3]