Exclusive: AC/DC, The Angels, Barnes pay tribute to legendary George Young

The Australian music industry has paid tribute to George Young, who was half of Australia’s best and most prolific (Harry) Vanda & Young songwriting and production team.

The death of the 70-year old – who initially emerged in The Easybeats –was announced yesterday but details are still sketchy.

After retiring from the music industry in the late 1990s, he and longtime wife Margaret resided mainly in Portugal. Young is also survived by a daughter.

AC/DC posted on their Facebook, “It is with pain in our heart that we have to announce the passing of our beloved brother and mentor George Young.

“Without his help and guidance there would not have been an AC/DC.

“As a musician, songwriter, producer, advisor and much, much more, you could not ask for a more dedicated and professional man.

“As a brother, you could not ask for a finer brother.

“For all he did and gave to us throughout his life, we will always remember him with gratitude and hold him close to our hearts.”

Producer Mark Opitz, best known for his work with The Angels, Rose Tattoo, Cold Chisel, Noiseworks and INXS told TMN, “[He was] a man who had the greatest strength of mind of any man I’ve known.

“He really did make a difference in Australian music culture – maybe even the biggest.”

Yesterday, Alberts CEO David Albert asserted in a statement, “George was a pioneer who, with close friends Harry Vanda and Ted Albert, created a new sound for the Australian music industry. “

“George was undeniably an amazing musician but he was much more than that,” Rick Brewster of The Angels related to TMN.

“He was a mentor to us and to many others. He had an instinctive ability to guide us with subtle suggestions, which inspired us and ultimately brought out the best in us.

“He encouraged originality and unlocked ideas in us.

“Feel was crucial to George, and when he picked up an acoustic guitar, it was like listening to a one-man band.

“His little finger became the snare drum, his thumb played a bass line, the other fingers played chords and he sang the melody.

“He used to say, “You can never fix it in the mix if the feel’s not there.”

Such was Young’s talent that Sydney-based international music journalist Glenn A. Baker – one of the very few media identities allowed into the Easybeats inner sanctum – reckons, “If George had remained in Glasgow and not migrated to Australia, he would have been regarded in the 1960s as great as Pete Townshend and Ray Davies.

“He was so respected. When David Bowie, Kiss, Meat Loaf and Debbie Harry arrived in Sydney, the first question they’d ask was, How do we meet George Young?”

When Young met a number of other teenagers from other parts of Europe at the Villawood migrant hostel in 1964 – in 2007, Australian Musician voted his meeting Vanda as the most significant event in Australian pop and rock music history – playing music was essential… if only because it kept them from having to go outside the hostel where Australian bogans waited to bash migrant kids with funny accents.

Coming from the UK, he had a psyche for what pop fans expected. Before long, The Easybeats were playing riots and ‘Friday On My Mind’ was a smash hit.

When APRA published its Top 30 Australian Songs of all time in 2001, ‘Friday’ was placed at the very top by a 100-strong panel of Australian writers, musicians and critics

Gems co-written by Young including ‘Good Times’, ‘Sorry’ and ‘Come In You’ll Get Pneumonia’ continue to be staples for garage bands in the US and Europe.

After The Easybeats disbanded in late 1969, Vanda-Young went on to produce AC/DC’s early albums (George played bass with them briefly) and write hits as ‘Love Is in the Air’, ‘Walking in the Rain’, ‘Evie’ and ‘Hey St. Peter’ which would be recorded by global stars including Rod Stewart, Grace Jones and Pat Travers.

In a tweet, Jimmy Barnes called Young “a great songwriter, producer and a great human being”.

Close friends remembered Young as humble (“he was a Glasgow boy who never forgot where he came from”, according to Baker), loyal with a great humour, and who never attended any music industry functions despite his massive success.

Harry Vanda bid farewell with: Rest in Peace my dear friend.”