Pegi Young, singer/songwriter, activist and musician, whose career includes solo work as well as being frontwoman of Pegi Young & The Survivors, has died following a yearlong battle with cancer. She was 66.
Young's death was confirmed via her official social-media accounts. She died surrounded by family and friends in California, where she was born.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">With great sadness, we confirm that on Jan 1st, after a yearlong battle with cancer, Pegi Young- mother, grandmother, sister, auntie, musician, activist and co-founder of the Bridge School- passed away surrounded by her friends and family in her native CA. <a href="https://t.co/14bElPjCsI">https://t.co/14bElPjCsI</a></p>— Pegi Young (@pegiyoung) <a href="https://twitter.com/pegiyoung/status/1080628008287944705?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Young released five albums both as a solo artist and with Pegi Young & The Survivors. Her last tour was in the fall of 2017.
The musician's last album, Raw, released in 2017, addresses her separation from Neil Young, to whom she was married for 36 years. They share two children. The album is a deeply emotional account of their relationship.
"As we were making [Raw], I was encouraging her to write self-affirming songs," bandmate Phil Jones said. "And I believe she did that."
Pegi and Neil met in 1974 and were married in the late ‘70s. They began to perform together in the 1990s; Pegi was Neil's backup singer.
Neil recalls how they met in "Unknown Legend."
In 1987, Pegi and Neil opened the Bridge School which serves children with physical and speech impairments. They were inspired to do so by their son, Ben, who has cerebral palsy.
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Years before becoming a musician, Young, who was born in San Mateo, Calif., taught herself folk covers on an acoustic guitar. She wrote poetry in grade school and studied it in college.
Young saw herself as a survivor. "Although we named the band The Survivors after Ben Keith died, we didn’t have any idea some 10 years ago, what an apt name it would turn out to be! I’ve gone through a lot of good stuff and scary stuff, and I will keep going forward," she said on her site.
"I’d like to be remembered for the good I tried to do in my life and for the world. I’m just a human being who tried to be a good person, despite my failings," Pegi Young told Thread MB.
Young leaves behind her son, Ben, and daughter, Amber.
