Jesse Colin Young, the former Youngbloods frontman known for the hit song “Get Together,” has died at his home in Aiken, South Carolina. He was 83.
Young died Sunday, according to a statement from Young’s wife and manager, Connie Young, provided to USA TODAY Tuesday.
Young “left a unique mark on the intersecting worlds of folk, blues, jazz, country, and rock & roll,” the statement read. He “immortalized the ideals of the Woodstock generation with ‘Get Together,’ an international hit that called for peace and brotherhood during the turbulent 1960s.”
The New York City-born singer and guitarist – with Jerry Corbitt, Lowell “Banana” Levinger and Joe Bauer – fronted the 1960s-70s era rock band. “Get Together,” the iconic call for love and peace written by Chet Powers, was the group’s only hit.
The group disbanded in 1972, with Young moving on with a solo career that “mixed socially conscious lyrics with top-tier guitar skills and gorgeous vocals,” according to the statement. He briefly retired in 2012 due to his diagnosis with chronic Lyme disease.
That year, the bassist told Wicked Local, part of the USA TODAY Network, about the “struggle” he felt after going undiagnosed for two decades, saying at the time that his health goes “up and down.”
“I lived in the (San Francisco) Bay Area, on the edge of Point Reyes National Seashore, so I had a 150,000-acre backyard,” he said. “I used to walk it every day – full of ticks. The Lyme disease wasn’t discovered for another 20-some years after that. From 1967 on, I was walking in the woods all the time. It’s been treated for only the last two years.”
Young emerged out of retirement to release a live project and one final album, “Dreamers,” in 2019.
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