Neil Young is a multi-talented musician best known for his folk-rock tracks. Neil Young has risen to become one of the most popular and financially successful performers of all time, with a career spanning decades and innumerable record releases.
Neil Young has received numerous Grammys and Juno Awards during his long career in the music industry. In addition, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, once as a solo artist and again as a member of Buffalo Springfield. Young’s record sales account for the great part of his net worth; it is estimated that he has sold over 75 million records throughout the years.
Early Years
Neil Percival Young was born in Toronto, Ontario, on November 12th, 1945. He grew up in Canada for the majority of his life and developed Polio in 1952. After his mother divorced Young’s father, he moved in with his mother when he was 12 years old. After listening to Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, and others in the mid-1950s, Neil Young became enamored with Rock n’ Roll. Young’s early musical experiences included playing the ukulele and banjo, among other stringed instruments.
Neil Young’s first band, the Jades, was established while he was still in high school. He was subsequently so engrossed in the music scene that he dropped out of school to pursue a full-time career as a musician, eventually joining The Squires, a steady instrumental rock band.
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Career
Young began writing songs for the first time after leaving The Squires, penning
“Sugar Mountain” and a slew of additional folk classics He also wrote The Guess Who’s “Flying on the Ground is Wrong,” which gave him his first taste of popular fame as a songwriter. He later joined the Mynah Birds, a Rick James-fronted band. Young and Bruce Palmer relocated to Los Angeles after the group disbanded in search of fresh chances.
After arriving in Los Angeles, Young and Palmer formed Buffalo Springfield with the help of a few other musicians. The short-lived band only lasted two years, yet they were able to release three albums during that time. The band was a critical hit, and their folk-infused psychedelic rock helped them gain a lot of popularity during the Peace Movement.
Neil Young debuted as a solo artist in 1969 with the release of his self-titled album, which received mixed reviews. After assisting in the formation of Crazy Horse and partnering with them on his second solo album, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, he fared better. Young dropped Crazy Horse for his third studio album, After the Gold Rush, and instead collaborated with other musicians.
Harvest was one of Young’s most commercially successful albums, with the single “Heart of Gold” reaching number one on the charts. Neil Young became a popular and successful figure during the next few years as a result of his newfound mainstream fame, and he published a slew of commercially successful albums. “Old Man” was one of his most well-known songs during this time.
Neil Young bounced back with “Rockin’ in the Free World” in 1989 after an experimental phase that made him less popular. Furthermore, early Grunge pioneers like Kurt Cobain frequently cited Neil Young as a key inspiration, boosting his reputation among younger generations. Young shifted his concentration to activism during the next few years, writing poems about environmental issues and other issues. Neil Young said in 2020 that his “long-lost” record, Harvest, will be released shortly.
Sale of Music Catalogues
Neil announced in January 2021 that he has sold a 50% ownership in his music repertoire for $150 million. To an investment entity named Hipgnosis, he sold half of the copyright and profits from around 1,120 songs.
Spotify Joe Rogan vs. Joe Rogan
Neil presented Spotify an ultimatum in January 2022, posting a letter to social media and his website in which he demanded that they either delete his music OR Joe Rogan’s podcast. He made the request because he feels Rogan’s show perpetuates vaccine disinformation, resulting in avoidable deaths. Spotfiy ultimately decided not to remove Rogan’s program, so Neil followed through on his threat.
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Surprisingly, Neil didn’t possess his master recordings at the time of the threat — the right that allows someone to control where music is licensed (for example, on Spotify). Warner Music owns his masters, and by forcing Spotify to take the music offline, they practically did him a favor. Hipgnosis, which had just paid $150 million for half of his royalties stream, is the real loser in this decision. Platforms like Spotify create royalty streams.
Personal Experiences
Susan Avecedo was Neil Young’s first wife, whom he married in 1968. She sought for divorce after the marriage lasted two years. Young was in a relationship with actress Carrie Snodgress for the next five years. They had one child together during their partnership. Young married Pegi Young in 1978, after meeting her while working as a waitress at a café near his property. Pegi and Neil split in 2014 after 36 years of marriage. Neil Young met actress Daryl Hannah not long after and married her four years later.
Neil Young is a vocal environmentalist who is particularly concerned about the plight of small farmers. He is also a proponent of electric vehicles and has gotten actively interested in the education of disabled youngsters.
Young was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm in 2005. He passed out two days later after bleeding extensively from a femoral artery, despite a successful neuroradiological surgery.
Business Partnerships
Lionel, LLC, a firm that specialized in model trains and related accessories, had Neil Young as a part-owner. Neil Young lost all of his shares in the company when it went bankrupt in 2008, but he is still on the board of directors. Young has been identified as a co-inventor on at least 7 patents connected to model trains, thus his status is far more than honorary.
Pono, an online music download and streaming service that promised to recreate high-quality, analog recordings straight from the studio, was also founded by Young. Pono was forced to close in 2017 after Apple purchased its operating firm, Omnifone.
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Purchasing Real Estate
Neil Young paid $350,000 cash for Broken Arrow Ranch, a 1,000-acre ranch near La Honda, California, in 1970. He went on to expand the property by purchasing hundreds of acres more. Neil advertised his longtime home in Hawaii for $24.5 million in November 2015. He eventually sold the house for $20 million in 2018.
Neil paid $3.6 million for a property in Malibu, California, from his girlfriend Darryl Hannah in 2016. Darryl paid $1.32 million for the 17.6-acre property in 2001. She had attempted to sell it for as high as $5 million at one point. The residence was burned in the Woolsey fire in November 2018.
Net Worth
Neil Young has a net worth of $200 million and is a Canadian singer-songwriter and musician.
