Born in Brantford Ontario, Neil’s country music roots were nurtured growing up on the family farm near Burford, Ontario. Neil began singing as a young boy in the choir in the small rural church that he attended with his family in nearby Mount Vernon. He began writing songs and playing guitar as a teenager going to high school during the legendary 1950’s Country rockabilly era and the dawning of Rock and Roll.

Living now in Paris Ontario only a few short miles from where he was born and grew up, Neil found it the perfect place to follow his heart and embark on his life-long dream to record an album of his original material and to begin penning his long-postponed novel which he has recently finished writing and which has not yet been published.

When asked about the turning point in his life resulting in his going into the recording studio he offered the following account:

“One morning a few summers ago … well, actually several summers ago now,” Neil said reflectively, “I found myself at that place characterized by the great New York Yankees catcher,
Yogi Berra: ‘When you come to the fork in the road, take it’.

“I did … and I took it,” he said, matter-of-factly.

“It was obviously my lucky day,” he added. “In a round-about way it led me back to my country roots, back to the sweet memories of my teen years, and thankfully, back to my music that I had left behind years earlier.

“In the early 1960’s,” Neil continued, with thoughts of what might have been, “I ‘temporarily’ put on hold an opportunity to seriously pursue a music career. At the time, I was studying under the mentorship of Gerry Risser at his Counterpoint School of Music and Recording Studio. Gerry was a product of the birth of rock ’n roll in the 1950’s getting his start playing guitar in 'The Mel-O-Denes', a rock band in his hometown of London Ontario. From that start, Gerry performed with The Capers - a London group that included drummer Garth Hudson (later with The Band). The Capers had their own TV show on CFPL Channel 10 London. Gerry landed a recording contract in Detroit and had personal appearances with such artists as The Everly Brothers, Paul Anka, Jimmy Rogers, Bill Haley & The Comets, Johnny Cash and others. Gerry was a good friend of Chet Atkins and traveled often to Nashville to further hone his craft under the watchful eye and tutorship of the master himself, "Mister Guitar".

"In addition to studying classical guitar with Julian Bream at the Bream Masters Class, Gerry was also a good friend of Chet Atkins and often traveled to Nashville to further hone his craft under the watchful eye and tutorship of the master himself, 'Mister Guitar'.

“It truly was a privilege to have had that early training with Gerry and to have been so close to being in the company of legends at the time.

“Other pressing priorities and realities in my life though,” Neil added pensively, “kept the stars out of my eyes and my feet on the ground. Continuing to pursue a future in music during those formidable early years was just not a viable option. As it turned out, much water passed under the bridge so to speak before I was able to return and devote serious time to my love for music. That’s how life goes and we do what we have to do.

“Through those years though, all of those early influences and inspirations kept my passion for music and my life-long dream burning inside of me. It really was only a matter of time before that fork in the road appeared in my life.”

He attributes this life-changing event to being in the right place at the right time that led to the propitious opportunity in the summer of 2005 to meet Ray Lyell, an accomplished musician, Juno nominee, international recording artist and vocal instructor in Hamilton Ontario.

“Ray played a major role in making my life-long dream come true,” Neil said.

Neil's roots are deep country, proudly reflecting his early years growing up on the family farm in part of the now slowly disappearing tobacco heartland of southwestern Ontario, Canada. Strengthening his country roots was time spent during his pre and early teen years working after school and on weekends and during summer months on the family owned general and tobacco farm near the village of Burford, Ontario, and in the John Deere Farm Equipment Dealership, Neil Young & Sons, in Colborne Village near the town of Simcoe. Years later he operated and managed the business with his father.

“Farming and John Deere's," he began to say pensively, "you don’t get much more country than that."

From tumbleweeds drifting along old Route 66 and flashy 1950’s convertibles to rusted-out flatbed trucks and walking down railway tracks, it is hard not to picture Johnny Cash here. Even more so with Neil’s self-effacing western lilt and a soft southern drawl influenced in part during his teens while toiling in summer sun-baked Southern Ontario tobacco fields alongside his co-workers from the Carolina’s and Georgia.

A nominee at the 2012 Hamilton Music Awards for Alt/Country Recording of the Year for his second CD album What Difference Will It Make released in 2012, and at the 2008 Hamilton Music Awards for New Country Recording of the Year for his debut CD album No Looking Back released in 2007, Neil was also a recipient of the Golden Kayak award for Best Country Song 2007 – “The Cowboy Song” at the 2008 IAIA (International Academy of Independent Artists) Awards.

Neil’s debut CD album No Looking Back included two songs that he had written while in high school in 1959 – “Got Nothin’ To Lose” and “There’s Just The One And Only You.”

“The Restless Wind” and “The Cowboy Song” on his debut CD album reached # 1 on the CASHBOX Country chart.

Neil was honoured to be named on the front cover of the July 1, 2007 CASHBOX Magazine as one of the “awesome Indies gracing our Independent Charts every week”.

In speaking about recording his debut CD album No Looking Back, Neil commented:

"I was most fortunate and honoured to have a multi-talented line-up of musicians, fondly dubbed The Legendary Bear Creek Band working with me during the recording of the album," he said referring to his mentor, Juno nominee and international recording artist Ray Lyell on acoustic and bass guitar, keyboard, harmonica and backing vocals, ex Helix member Gary Borden on lead guitar, Ken Baird on piano and Steve Petrie on pedal steel guitar and fiddle. Steve performed for a number of years with legendary Canadian Country Recording Stars Stompin’ Tom Conners and Tommy Hunter.

Sharing lead vocals with Neil on one of the track on the album, “You Just Turned My Life Around”, was the talented Paula Tessaro.

"Paula brought that special touch and charm that I was hoping for right from the very first session in the recording studio," Neil added. "I was fortunate to have Paula grace my album with her beautiful voice."

Joining the band in the studio on Neil’s second CD album What Difference Will It Make were Roger Banks on drums and Mike DeBenedictis on bass guitar.

In his review of Neil’s CD album What Difference Will It Make in the Winter 2012/13 issue #99 of Blue Suede News, co-editor and publisher Marc Bristol writes “Neil is joined by some well traveled and much lauded musicians on the CD” … Gary Ashthorpe – piano, Randal Hill – banjo and mandolin, Glenn Higgins – Tenor sax, Anne Lindsay – fiddle, David Rodenburg – Tenor sax.

Both of Neil’s CD albums No Looking Back released in 2007 and What Difference Will It Make released in 2012 as well as his Christmas mp3 single “That’s What Christmas Means To Me” released in December 2010 were recorded at Rayne Records in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are available at CDBaby.com and iTunes and at other digital download sites. They are available in Canada at HMV.ca and Amazon.ca as well as at other retail outlets serviced by Indie Pool in Toronto. Type Neil w Young in the respective Search fields.

Neil's CD's can also be purchased in his home town of Paris Ontario at Green Heron Books and in nearby Burford at the Burford Times office.

Neil is a member of the Canadian Country Music Association, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and the Nashville Songwriters Association International. His music accomplishments have been reviewed and written about in local newspapers as well as in Blue Suede News Issue #83 (Summer 2008) and Issue #99 (Winter 2012/13) published in Duvall, Washington, U.S.A., and in CountryHome – Germany’s Premier Country Music Magazine.

Glen Striemer, GS Radio Sales, Brantford Ontario, calls Neil “Canada’s cross between Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson.”

Bobby Lawson, Rockabilly Hall of Fame member, says this about "No Looking Back", Neil’s debut CD album: “NO LOOKING BACK is packed with some great songs written and sung by Neil w Young. It is that rare album that is as artistic as it is accessible. Neil combines a lyrical complexity that audiences appear to be craving with bright, radio friendly arrangements. It is the sort of album that could shake up mainstream radio and possibly send country music spinning off in a whole new direction, and in my opinion this album represents true country music in its purest form. If you like your songs, your music played and sung country then this album is for you. Neil is an award winning artist with songs on CASHBOX Magazine at number one, and song of the year with The Cowboy Song. Keep up the great work Neil, keep it Country."

Christian Lamitschka, Country Home, Germany’s Premier Country Music Magazine writes of Neil’s debut CD album ‘No Looking Back’: “Some dreams come thru really late, but then when it happens, the joy is much bigger. Neil w Young is not a young boy anymore, but he always had the dream to publish his own CD … better late than never. And even the man is over 50, he has the energy of a 25 year old. His songs have an honesty that hasn’t been heard in a long time.”

Upon graduating from university and prior to joining his father in the farm equipment dealership business, Neil spent several years as Property Accountant at the manufacturing operations of Massey-Ferguson’s North American Combine Plant.

After the implement business was sold, Neil continued farming for several more years in addition to serving in various management positions with the Ponderosa Steak House Chain of Restaurants including breaking opening store sales records as manager of the new Ponderosa Steak House in Sault Ste. Marie in Northern Ontario.

During this period he continued to lay the groundwork for the beginning of his entrepreneurial career in real estate development, investment and management with projects in Ontario and Las Vegas Nevada. Locally, Neil developed the Royal Highland Estates subdivision just a few miles south of where he now lives in Paris, Ontario. He received recognition for saving and restoring two architecturally and historically significant heritage buildings that he owned in Brantford Ontario - 'The Commercial Buildings' that he later renamed Royal Victoria Place and 'Park Baptist Church'. Both buildings built in the late 1800's were designed by renowned architect John Turner.

Sojourns in his life during these years led to wanderings and ponderings around San Bernardino, Palm Springs and Palm Desert in California, and as far up the Golden State as Mendocino, as well as through the mountains in Colorado and into the desert in Arizona - all part of what he fondly remembers calling 'Paradise Country'.

He reminisces often of the spell, mystery and solitude of his times in the Arizona desert. "It is an inspirational place," he muses fondly. "I know that in a way it silently spurred my return to songwriting after a prolonged absence.

"There is just something about the desert," Neil says wistfully, "that inspires the mind. It has a magical, mystical ambience - a way of reaching into the heart and touching the soul that results in feelings and emotions that become words that become lyrics that become a melody and then a song."

Never one to let the grass grow under his feet, in 1985 Neil founded “Rhapsody On Ice”, an International Ice Skating Show comprised of Ontario based figure skating stars and world professional championship skaters.

One of the first major events that Neil organized with “Rhapsody On Ice” was "Skate For Life" on May 26, 1986 in Edmonton Alberta Canada, an official event for Bob Geldof's worldwide Sport Aid event held on the same day in support of famine relief in Africa. Neil received corporate sponsorship from Air Canada for "Skate For Life". The airline sponsored the round trip flight of Neil's thirty-member contingent from Toronto to Edmonton in western Canada where Neil had arranged with the owners of the huge West Edmonton Mall to host the event on the skating rink inside the mall. The event had the blessing of Otto Jelinek, Canada's Minister of State for Fitness and Amateur Sport. A former figure skater himself having achieved prominence in 1962 when he and his sister Maria won the gold medal at the World Figure Skating Championships, Otto donned a pair of skates and opened the event in Edmonton. Neil also arranged for several members of the NHL's Edmonton Oilers hockey team to participate in the event.

Following the success of "Skate For Life", Neil took Rhapsody On Ice around the world for seven years under the banner of the motto that he trademarked for the troupe: '… hold on tight to your dream ...'

The troupe performed in places such as Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, England, Spain and Denmark, and in Florida, Arizona, California and Hawaii in the U.S., as well as at shows in Ontario and Alberta Canada – with stops along the way in South Korea, China, Macau, France and the Fiji Islands.

Neil produced and directed "Stairway To The Stars", Rhapsody's spectacular ice extravaganza, a show that featured at times such special guests as World & U.S. Professional Pair Champions Anita Hartshorn and Frank Sweiding and French Champion & World Silver Medalist Fernand Fedronic. His plans to take the show on tour to both Yugoslavia and to Dubai in the U.A.E. (United Arab Emirates) were scuttled when the Foreign Affairs Department of the Canadian government reined in travel plans to Yugoslavia during the Bosnian War and to the Middle East at the outbreak of the Gulf War.

Following Rhapsody's performance in Aalborg Denmark in 1992 as special guests at that city's second 650 years anniversary celebrations, and always reaching for the stars, Neil began making plans to produce and direct "Cotton Club Express", Rhapsody's follow-up show to "Stairway To The Stars". Unfortunately, as a result of his efforts to begin the world tour of "Cotton Club Express" in New Zealand not materializing as intended, coupled with new demands on his time and resources, Neil reluctantly put his plans for the new show figuratively 'on ice' as his focus was shifted away from the world arena stage.

The crowning moment though for Rhapsody On Ice for Neil came when the troupe received a standing ovation from the audience after a performance at “Skate Asia” held in the Hong Kong Coliseum in 1989. “Rhapsody On Ice” was featured at in the show along with Ice Follies stars Richard Dwyer - "Mr. Debonair", and Gertie Desjardines.

“There is no way to describe the feeling and exhilaration of that one complete and so very special moment,” Neil remarked. "It has a very special place in my box of treasured memories."

While managing and directing “Rhapsody On Ice”, Neil had the opportunity to promote several "Oldies" concerts in Ontario featuring 1950’s and 1960’s recording stars Jan and Dean and Bobby Vinton.

In addition to his long-standing interest in music and song writing, it was not uncommon for Neil to be balancing several of his various entrepreneurial projects at the same time, such as an art print and poster publishing company, Southwind Editions - The Fine Art Of Living, that he formed and managed with his youngest daughter during the 1990's.

Following the sale of his real estate interests, Neil considers it another stroke of good luck that he was asked to become involved in an administrative capacity in the production of the documentary film, "Piaf … Her Story, Her Songs", about the life of the fabled wartime French songstress, Edith Piaf.

That involvement took him to Lucas Film Studio located at George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch in California. Neil was given a credit in the film as Special Consultant. The film is available on DVD at Amazon.com.

Neil considers himself to be one of the 'lucky ones', having lived and loved his teen years through the legendary 1950's Country Rockabilly era and the dawning of Rock 'n Roll when Elvis took the stage and the world by storm with his hit record "Heartbreak Hotel".

It should come as no great surprise then that Neil's music and lyrics are coloured and shaped by those wonderfully free and inspiring times and experiences.

"Perhaps in a way through my music," he reflects longingly, "I’m going back to the Fifties. Then again, maybe I never really left.

"Yes," he reminisces nostalgically after a brief silence. "Those really were the days.

"It was absolutely wonderful to be a part of that time and those days," Neil adds. It is hard not to notice the warm glow of nostalgia in his eyes.

That combination of early rock, gospel, blues and country rockabilly mystique was driven to simmering levels during sultry summer evenings on lake-blown breezes in places like the fondly remembered Summer Garden dance pavilion in Port Dover on the northern shore of Lake Erie.

The Arkansas rockabilly sounds of the then newly relocated Ronnie Hawkins, richly flavored and seasoned almost overnight by the unique musical style and sound brought to his band by new members from the nearby area in and around the tobacco fields of southern Ontario, still echo fondly in the memories of many who recall those electric charged performances by Hawkins - appropriately tagged "Mr. Dynamo", and his band The Hawks at the now long gone Summer Garden.

The fusion of those unique musical sounds greatly influenced Neil's own musical tastes and appetite.

They were shaped even further by his years working in sun-baked tobacco fields mingling with the traditions of Dixie and sounds of the deep South that were brought into his life by fellow workers from the Carolina's and Georgia.

The confluence of those early experiences eventually gave life to Neil's own hybrid sound and musical genre described by his many fans as Country Rockabilly with the 'Country' the way Country music should be - pure and honest and from the heart.

How, or why, he kept it all buried and tucked away neatly in the background of his life for so long remains a mystery, even to him, although it may be partly symptomatic of his somewhat private and complex nature and character.

Ask him now where the words and feelings for his music came from, Neil will tell you quite philosophically:

"Many of the words and feelings for the lyrics that I wrote in my late teens and early twenties came from a combination of the music I was listening to at that time and from some of my own experiences during those impressionable years.

"In later years and now, they come mostly from what I call my well of life - my inner self - from memories of those young emotions of romance, love, hopes and dreams, and from other times and roads that I have traveled along the way.

"Those memories and roads weave an endless tapestry of images and melody of sounds through the quiet, deep corners of my mind. I've had lots of time to reminisce over the depth and contents of that well, and have drawn words and feelings from it for my debut album"

One of Neil's most treasured memorabilia items is the hand written letter that he received in 1986 from Harriet Nelson, Rick Nelson's mother and one of the stars of their long-running television series in the 1950's, "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet", thanking him for the lyrics to the song that he had written in tribute and memory of Rick on the New Year's Eve that Rick was killed in the plane crash in Texas. The letter is framed and hanging in a place of honor in Neil's music room.

In addition to writing the lyrics and music for the songs on his debut CD album, Neil is constantly writing the songs for his “next” album as well as completing the editing and formatting his novel in preparation for it to be published. A university friend had planted the seed for the novel in Neil's mind during his graduation year. It sat waiting patiently on one of the many shelves in his mind for the right time to arrive to begin to put its words to paper.

Neil attributes the trigger that resulted in him finally putting pen to paper so to speak, to the special friendship that he developed with Rosie Hamlin of Rosie and The Originals. Rosie and her group topped the charts in 1961 with the hit single, "Angel Baby".

"Rosie's encouragement and confidence that I had a book in me just waiting to be written was the spark that finally set the novel in motion," Neil says appreciatively.

A couple of years into the writing, it turned out to be a propitious event that Neil happened to befriend Dee Dee Phelps of Dick and Dee Dee fame from their 1961 chart topping #1 hit “The Mountain’s High” at about the time that he was going through a period of discouragement and had been second guessing and doubting himself as to whether there was any merit in continuing the writing or if he should just pack it in and move on.

Pulling from her own experience as a successful writer and performer Dee Dee convinced Neil to stop judging his work and encouraged him to “just keep writing and let the story happen”. Neil feels honoured, blessed and privileged not only by the special friendship of Rosie and Dee Dee but also for the special part each played in his fulfilling the promise he had made to his university friend.

In his “Thank You” notes in his debut CD album No Looking Back Neil writes: "I think that now perhaps in a way, my music has allowed me to become the true messenger of my spirit and my soul in much the same way, so to speak, as "There's Just The One And Only You", after having its beginning as a song in one of my high school notebooks those many years ago, was destined not only to be one of the songs on my debut album decades later, but also to become the love theme woven through the pages of my novel."

Neil's words speak of his fulfillment about the life he has lived and the enjoyment that flows from the creative process of writing both his novel and and from songwriting as well as from performing.

"Having the opportunity to perform my music and songs on stage and to have so many people enjoy my songs and music is truly the icing on the cake for me," Neil says with an obvious glow of satisfaction and appreciation for his many friends and fans.

Hard knocks and lessons spanning several decades of entrepreneurial pursuits and business activities have also provided Neil with a hard earned and much coveted PhD and Masters Degree from the ‘University of Life’.

During the years between when he began singing as a young boy in the choir in the small rural church that he attended with his family and the years following his graduation from university, married and with a family on the way, to the point where that fork in the road provided him with the opportunity to embark on his life-long dream, he was kept more than busy providing for his family as well as developing, managing and operating various business ventures and operations, and of course through it all, quietly continuing one of his passions - songwriting.

He feels privileged and blessed that the time and season in his life to return to his country roots and to his music came, either by fate or destiny, at that unexpected fork in the road, proving once again that all things happen for a reason, and, better late than never.

"My greatest reward," Neil adds now, "comes from knowing that others receive enjoyment from my songs and music while my dream and journey continues to unfold day-by-day taking me wherever it may.

"What more could I ask or hope for," he reflects wistfully, "music is for the soul … my wish is that mine touches others."

Neil was a Western Ontario Secondary School Honour Athlete in 1960 and graduate of Burford District High School and graduate in 1964 of Waterloo Lutheran University (now known as Wilfred Laurier University).

He purposely spells his name Neil w Young with his middle initial "w" always appearing in the lower case with no period following it - a step he says intended to create a "branding" style for his name as well as wanting to be seen standing apart in the world of music from his accomplished countryman three years his junior and who shares the same first and last name as him and who he greatly respects.

He maintains an internet presence on various web sites including:

www.neilwyoung.com
www.reverbnation.com/neilwyoung
www.music.cbc.ca/#/artists/Neil-w-Young
www.music.cbc.ca/#/artists/Neil-w-Young-The-Legendary-Bear-Creek-Band
www.radiosubmit.com/rs/NeilwYoung
www.iacmusic.com/neilwyoung
www.imradio.com/neilwyoung
www. myspace.com/neilwyoung
www.facebook.com/neilwyoung
www.twitter.com/neilwyoung.

Neil lists many of the great singers and performers that he listened to as a teenager in the 1950's as his inspiration and influences - Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Johnny Cash, Ricky Nelson, Eddie Cochran, The Diamonds, Paul Anka, Everly Brothers, Duane Eddy, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, etc., etc. He says they remain his inspiration and greatest influence.

Neil’s late-in-life accomplishments in the world of music add credence to the words of 19th century English novelist Mary Anne Evans better known by her pen name George Eliot: “It is never too late to be what you might have been”.

July 2014 Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.