Jeff Young

For other people with this name, see Jeffrey Young (disambiguation).

Jeffrey "Jeff" Young (born March 31, 1962) 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! (Capitol Records). In 1998, Young co-wrote, produced and played on the world-fusion album Chameleon by Badi Assad. In addition to his subsequent music projects, he served as a writer for Guitar for the Practicing Musician.

Jeff Young
Young in 2023
Background information
Born	(1962-03-31) March 31, 1962 Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.
Genres	Thrash metal, heavy metal, speed metal, blues, classical
Occupation	Guitarist
Years active	1986–present

Early life

Young was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In 1980, he graduated from Fairmont High School in Kettering, Ohio, and moved to Hollywood to attend The Guitar Institute of Technology in 1984. He graduated from the Institute in 1985 and began his career as a guitar teacher.

Career

Megadeth

Newly hired Megadeth's guitarist Jay Reynolds (of Malice) had commissioned guitar teacher 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. Reynolds was one of Young's guitar students. However, after witnessing Young decipher previous guitarist Chris Poland's solos from Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? note-for-note in less than 30 minutes, frontman Dave Mustaine decided instead to hire Young. Young joined the band with only two weeks left in the recording schedule and contributed half of the guitar solos and multiple electric and acoustic rhythm parts to the album.

Young's career with Megadeth was spent recording and touring in support of their 1988 platinum selling album, So Far, So Good... So What! His first performance with the band appeared in The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years as a member of Megadeth.

In 1989, Young was fired from Megadeth due to reportedly "contemplating putting the moves on Diana" (Mustaine's fiancé) Young said he told Mustaine that this was untrue but Mustaine fired him anyway.

Author and jazz & world fusion excursions

Following his time in Megadeth, Young wrote the cult-classic Fingerprints column in Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazine. He also began intensive study of the blues with guitarist, Steve Hunter (Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Jason Becker).

For a portion of the 1990s, Young 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 and wife, Badi Assad. Together, the duo crafted exotic soundscapes for Verve/PolyGram records collaboration entitled, Badi Assad's Chameleon. The album (co-written, arranged, and produced by Young), climbed to the top of the world music charts in Germany & Holland also topping JAZZIZ magazine's Readers Poll: "Best Brazilian Albums of the Year."

Opening concerts for renowned artists including Joe Cocker and Cassandra Wilson, as well as performances on 1999's Lilith Fair and Farm Aid 2000, Young's association with the Assad family also spawned songwriting collaborations with guitar luminary Sérgio Assad and two pieces on Badi's Verde album.

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

In late-October 2009, his debut solo album, Equilibrium, was released on CD worldwide, as well as cdbaby. Young began working on the album in 2000. Stylistically, the album features flamenco, classic, 6 & 12 steel-string guitar styles as well as the electric guitar. Equilibrium features guest performances by Debby Holiday, Twinkle, Gilli Moon, Lenine, Matt Chamberlain, Hilary Jones, Tony Franklin and Viviana Guzman.

Current projects

Young is the host of the Internet radio show Music Without Boundaries on the Spreaker broadcast network.

Young is currently writing, producing & releasing solo, instrumental music on the High-Tone Eleven Records label. His first, all instrumental album, Revolutions, is being released track by track with the singles, "Monsoon" – "In the Flesh" & "Slow Burn" available now via his official website & most digital distribution sources. Revolutions features performances from some of the world's top players: Tina Guo, Ric Fierrabracci, James LoMenzo, Brian Tichy, Jeff Bowders & Shane Gaalaas.

In 2022 Young reunited with former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson to form Kings of Thrash in order to perform old Megadeth songs live. The band have so far completed tours in North America, Australia, the UK and Europe, with one live album released. Some shows have featured fellow former Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland on a few songs.

Personal life

Young overcame testicular cancer in 2006; he was treated by Dr. Lawrence Einhorn, the same physician who treated Lance Armstrong.

Discography

• 1988, Megadeth – So Far, So Good... So What!.
• 1998, Badi Assad – Chameleon
• 2003, It Runs in the Family (Soundtrack)
• 2010, Jeff Young – Equilibrium (Solo)
• 2013, Jeff Young – "Monsoon" (Solo single from Revolutions album)
• 2020, Jeff Young – "In the Flesh" (Solo single from Revolutions album)
• 2020, Jeff Young – "Slow Burn" (Solo single from Revolutions album)