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Reggie Young
Guitarist Reggie Young In Concert @ Back In Memphis Benefit For Myrna Smith, August 12th, 2010, Elvis Week, University of Memphis.JPG
Guitarist Reggie Young, in concert at the Back in Memphis benefit for Sweet Inspiration Myrna Smith, August 12th, 2010, Elvis Week, University of Memphis
Background information
Born (1936-12-12)December 12, 1936
Caruthersville, Missouri, U.S.
Died January 17, 2019(2019-01-17) (aged 82)
Leiper's Fork, Tennessee, U.S.
Occupation(s) Guitarist
Instruments Guitar, sitar
Years active 1954–2019
Associated acts The Highwaymen, The Memphis Boys, Eddie Bond & the Stompers, Johnny Horton, Bill Black, Elvis Presley

Reggie Grimes Young Jr. (December 12, 1936 – January 17, 2019) was an American musician who was lead guitarist in the American Sound Studio house band, The Memphis Boys, and was a leading session musician. He played on various recordings with artists such as Elvis Presley, Joe Cocker, Dobie Gray, Joe Tex, Merrilee Rush, B.J. Thomas, John Prine, Dusty Springfield, Herbie Mann, J.J. Cale, Jimmy Buffett, Dionne Warwick, Roy Hamilton, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, the Box Tops, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Merle Haggard, Joey Tempest, George Strait, and The Highwaymen. Young was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2019.

Early career

Born December 12, 1936, in Caruthersville, Missouri, and raised in Osceola, Arkansas, Young's first band was Eddie Bond & the Stompers, a rockabilly band from Memphis, Tennessee, that toured with Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Roy Orbison during the mid-'50s. By 1958, Young was with singer Johnny Horton, making several appearances on the popular Louisiana Hayride radio show in Shreveport.

He was an original member of Bill Black's Combo, which had several instrumental hits in the U.S. in 1959 and the early '60s, the most successful being "Smokie, Pts. 1 & 2", "White Silver Sands," and an instrumental version of "Don't Be Cruel," released on Hi Records. Billboard Magazine listed the Combo as the No. 1 instrumental band three years in a row, 1960–1962.

In February 1964, the Beatles requested that the Bill Black Combo open for them during their first U.S. tour. Subsequently, they invited the Combo over to England for another month-long tour. After the death of leader Bill Black (Elvis Presley's original bass player) in October 1965, Young concentrated on being a staff musician at Hi Studio in Memphis until 1967, winding up at American Sound Studio at the request of Chips Moman later that year.

The Memphis Boys were responsible for around 120 hit singles, pop, country, rock, or soul, between 1967 and 1971. Young played on the January/February 1969 Elvis Presley sessions that included "Suspicious Minds", "Kentucky Rain", "Don't Cry Daddy", and "In the Ghetto". When the studio closed in late 1971, Young moved to Nashville as an independent session player. He took part in the July 1973 Presley sessions at Stax Records in Memphis which produced the albums Raised On Rock and Good Times.

In the early 1970s, Young backed Jimmy Buffett as a member of the first three Coral Reefer Bands on "A White Sport Coat & a Pink Crustacean", Living and Dying in 3/4 Time and A1A. ..... After playing on the sessions for the Highwaymen (Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson) in 1984, Young joined their touring show for a five-year stretch (1990–1995). Young also played many sessions and concerts with Waylon Jennings, including his final tours featuring the Waymore Blues Band before Jennings' death in 2002.

Young was nominated for a Grammy, and also performed at the Kennedy Center in honor of Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. 2008 saw the Country Music Hall of Fame recognizing Young as a "Nashville Cat". That same year also saw the debut of Young's first solo album, the independently released, inspirational Be Still, a collaboration with wife and cellist Jenny Lynn Young.

August 2009 saw the Memphis Boys, along with Chips Moman, receive acknowledgement by the Memphis Grammy Chapter for their pioneering work on "Suspicious Minds" during a Graceland fan reception. After almost 45 years of playing together, this was their first award.

Personal life

Young met his wife, the classically trained cellist Jenny Lynn Hollowell, in 1999, during the formation of Waylon Jennings' Waymore Blues Band. They married in 2004. They resided in Leipers Fork in middle Tennessee, where Young spent much of his time composing in his home studio.

Young died during the evening of January 17, 2019 at his home in Leiper's Fork, Tennessee from heart failure.

Selected sessions

Songs

  • Bobby Bland - Touch of the Blues
  • The Box Tops - The Letter, (US charts, #1, R&B charts, #30), Cry Like a Baby (electric sitar) (US chart #2)
  • James Carr - I Got My Mind Messed Up (US R&B charts, #7)
  • James Carr - More Love
  • King Curtis - Memphis Soul Stew (studio album version)
  • Neil Diamond - Sweet Caroline (US charts #4)
  • Dobie Gray - Drift Away (US charts #5)
  • The Highwaymen - Highwayman and Desperados Waiting for a Train
  • James and Bobby Purify - Morning Glory
  • Jumpin' Gene Simmons - Haunted House (US charts #11)
  • Herbie Mann - Memphis Underground (#20 US Album charts), Reggae II, Mississippi Gambler
  • Delbert McClinton - Victim of Life's Circumstances
  • Willie Nelson - Always on My Mind (US charts #5, Country charts #1)
  • Danny O'Keefe - Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues (US charts, #9, Country charts, #63)
  • Sandy Posey - Born a Woman" (US charts #12) and "Single Girl (US charts #12)
  • Elvis Presley - Suspicious Minds, (US charts #1), Kentucky Rain, (US charts #16 Country charts #13) In the Ghetto, (US charts #3 Country charts #60) Don't Cry Daddy, Country charts #13, (US charts #6)’’ and I've Got A Thing About You Baby, Stranger In My Own Hometown
  • Billy Joe Royal - Down in the Boondocks (US charts #9)
  • Merrilee Rush - Angel Of The Morning (US charts #7)
  • Jackie DeShannon - I Wanna Roo You
  • Dusty Springfield - the Dusty in Memphis album, featuring the hit song Son of a Preacher Man (US charts #10)
  • Billy Swan - I Can Help, (US charts #1, Country charts, #1) Lover Please
  • Joe Tex - Chicken Crazy(1969)
  • Joe Tex - Skinny Legs and All(1967) (US charts #10)
  • B.J. Thomas - Hooked On A Feeling (electric sitar), (US chart #5), (Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song (US charts #1, Country charts #1)
  • Bobby Womack - More Than I Can Stand
  • Reggie Young - Memphis Grease
  • Rattlesnake Annie - Free The Children

Albums

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