23 October 2017
George Young, guitarist in the Sixties band The Easybeats and co-producer on AC/DC‘s first five albums, has died at the age of 70.
Young was the older brother of AC/DC’s Angus and Malcolm Young.
After emigrating from Scotland to Australia with his family as a teenager, George Young formed The Easybeats with four other European musicians, including Dutch guitarist Harry Vanda.
After a string of successful singles down-under, The Easybeats were among the first Australian rock acts to have international impact as their single Friday on My Mind reached #13 on the Hot 100. David Bowie later covered the song on his Pin-Ups album.
With Harry Vanda, Young then became one of Australian pop’s best-known songwriters, creating Yesterday’s Hero and Love Is in the Air for John Paul Young, Evie for Stevie Wright and Hey, St Peter, which he and Vanda recorded as Flash and the Pan, among many others.
