Perry Miller (November 22, 1941 – March 16, 2025), known professionally as Jesse Colin Young, was an American singer and songwriter. He was a founding member and lead singer of the 1960s group the Youngbloods. His mother, Doryce (Van Sciver), was a violinist and singer with perfect pitch, while his father, Fredrick Miller, was a Harvard-educated accountant. Both of his parents had a passion for classical music and he learned piano from a young age. After a semester, Young returned to his parents' home in Pennsylvania, During this period, Young switched from performing guitar to performing bass, as the band already had two guitar players. Signing to RCA Records, the band released their debut single "Grizzly Bear" in 1966, and their debut album The Youngbloods in 1967. The group's first album contained the song "Get Together", written by Chet Powers, and was released as a single in 1967 to moderate success; however, after its use in a 1969 public service commercial for the National Council of Christians and Jews, it became an international hit. Few of the band's early songs were : only "Tears Are Falling" and "Foolin' Around (The Waltz)" from their debut album, and four on their Felix Pappalardi-produced follow up album Earth Music (1967) (however, the B-sides of both issues of "Get Together" featured songs written by Young).
During the production stages of the band's third album, the Charlie Daniels-produced Elephant Mountain (1969) when the band moved from New York to California, Corbitt left the band, and Young became the group's main songwriter. Young's third Warner album, Songbird (1975), was (reaching number 26 in the U.S. and number 20 in Canada), and his further Warner releases, the live album On the Road (1976) and Love on the Wing (1977), all charted on the Billboard top 200 albums chart.
In 1978, Young switched labels to Elektra Records, releasing American Dreams (1978), Young's follow up on Elektra, The Perfect Stranger (1982), and a further album on Cypress Records titled The Highway Is for Heroes (1987) did not meet with as much commercial success as his previous works. after which the family relocated to the Kona Coffee Belt of the Big Island of Hawaii, moving into a coffee farm that Young had purchased in 1987. followed by Songs for Christmas in 2002, released as a part of a CD re-release project with Liquid 8 Records. Young's song "Darkness, Darkness" was covered by Robert Plant in 2002, which received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. In 2004, Young released the Hawaii-influenced album Living in Paradise with Artemis Records.
Young reduced touring in 2012 so he and his wife could do more recreational traveling. He was inspired to start performing again in 2016, after being impressed by the musicians at his son's graduation recital at the Berklee College of Music, Dreamers, which was released in February 2019 on BMG. In 2020 Young released what would be his final album, the solo acoustic studio-live Highway Troubadour, also on BMG. The 11 tracks feature a pair of songs from Dreamers and reworked arrangements on eight classics including Ridgetop, Euphoria, Quicksand, and Darkness, Darkness. During the COVID-19 pandemic Young created a YouTube video series titled One Song at a Time. On each episode he would play a single track featuring new arrangements and no overdubs. Although his voice showed the wear of time on some tracks on these last releases, Young's guitar work is stellar. He continued to perform live as late as 2023.
Influences
Young was influenced musically by country blues musicians Mississippi John Hurt and Lightnin' Hopkins, blues musician T-Bone Walker, and folk singer Pete Seeger. and in 1971 he built a house on a ridgetop in Inverness, California. and is currently used as a recording studio by his son Cheyenne's band Beso Negro. Together they had two children, Tristan and Jazzie. Tristan graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 2016. He toured with his father as a member of his back-up band, and co-produced Young's album Dreamers (2019).) is a musician who began releasing music independently in 2017. He died at his home there on March 16, 2025, at the age of 83.