Neil Young has been a fixture on the music scene since the early 1960s. He first became widely known as a member of the band Buffalo Springfield, but it was after he left that group that his career really took off. Young released a series of extremely popular albums as a solo artist, and later hooked up with Crosby, Stills, and Nash to form one of the supergroups of the 1970s. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young's stirring appearance at the Woodstock music festival in 1969 rocketed the band, as well as each of its individual members, to international fame.

Since the beginning of his career Young has been a strong proponent of the harmonica, to the point that it's a trademark of the sound he's known for. He has featured it on many of his best-known songs including “Heart of Gold,” “Helpless,” “After the Gold Rush,” “My My Hey Hey,” and “Rockin' in the Free World.” The introductory harp melody to “Heart of Gold” is one of the bestknown harmonica lines in modern music. Young also played harmonica on the track “Furry Sings the Blues” on Joni Mitchell's popular 1976 album Hejira.

By his example Young has popularized the first-position major-key folk music approach to harmonica, and his harp parts are tabbed and studied often by those learning the instrument.

Young was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1945. He is still active on the music scene today.