Youngbloods frontman Jesse Colin Young has passed away aged 83

Jesse Colin Young, the frontman and co-founder of the rock band The Youngbloods, has died aged 83, his wife and manager Connie Young announced, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

With The Youngbloods, the singer immortalised the ideals of the Woodstock generation – specifically through the band's version of Chet Powers’ ‘Get Together’, where he called for peace and brotherhood.

The track came off their debut album in 1967, and peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 two years later.

Young went on to pursue a solo career that lasted over five decades, following the band’s separation in 1972, and was known for records that mixed intricate guitar performances with socially conscious lyrics, on other well-known tunes such as ‘Four in the Morning’, ‘Sunlight’, ‘Darkness, Darkness’, ‘Quick Sand’ and ‘Peace Song’.

Born Perry Miller in 1941, the Queens native attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, Ohio State University and New York University before kicking off his full-time career as a performer in the early 1960s.

He released his debut album, The Soul of a City Boy, in 1964 and the follow-up Young Blood the following year, before forming the rock band duo known as The Youngbloods alongside folk guitarist Jerry Corbitt in 1965.

After a diagnosis with chronic Lyme disease in 2012, Young retired, but began making music again in 2016 and continued to perform up until 2023.

Young is survived by his wife Connie and his four children.