Angus Young was brought up in Cranhill, Glasgow with his older brothers Malcolm, George, Alex, who all became musicians. Angus started playing guitar when he was five years old — a local child had one and Angus would play it during visits. He got his own guitar by taking a banjo his family had lying around the house and re-stringing it like a guitar.
Young did not get into guitar-playing seriously until after the Young family moved from Scotland to Australia in 1963. He bought his first guitar, a Gibson SG, after seeing it in a friend's catalogue. Until then, he had been playing on an old Höfner guitar he inherited from his brother Malcolm.[citation needed] Malcolm's brother George (of The Easybeats) gave both Angus and Malcolm guitar lessons when he would come home during breaks from touring.
Prior to joining AC/DC, Young played in a local group called Kantuckee. Kantuckee's lineup included Bob McGlynn (vocals), Angus Young (guitar), Jon Stevens (bass) & Trevor James (drums). This was the first band to record Demo takes for Stevie Wrights classic "Evie" at the request of George Young. The band split and was later called Tantrum with the following line up Mark Sneddon (vocals-guitar), Angus Young (guitar), Jon Stevens (bass) and Trevor James (drums)[2]
Formation of AC/DC
Angus and Malcolm Young formed AC/DC in 1973. The first line up included Angus Young on lead guitar, Malcolm Young on rhythm guitar, Colin Burgess on drums, Larry Van Kriedt on bass guitar and Dave Evans singing. They got the name AC/DC after seeing the letters AC/DC on the back of a sewing machine owned by their sister, Margaret.
After playing with The band for a while, Young developed his trademark schoolboy image. Before settling on the schoolboy costume, Angus had tried other costumes, such as Spider-man, Zorro, a gorilla, and a parody of Superman, named Super-Ang.[3] The schoolboy costume became a signature trademark of Young. To match this image the press and public were told that Young was born in 1959, not 1955. The original uniform was reputedly from his secondary school, Ashfield Boys High School in Sydney. one rumour is that he did not have time to change his clothes between school and band practice, and simply wore the uniform; while such an event may have occurred years earlier, by 1973, Angus had long left school. His sister Margaret suggested he wear the uniform after Malcolm asked each band member to come up with their own gimmick, which was ironic as Angus very much disliked being at school. This was the era of glam rock, when costumes were common for pop and rock acts.
Although Young prefers to keep his private life out of the media, it is known that he now lives in Sydney, Australia and also has a home in Aalten, Netherlands (because he has a home in the Netherlands, he is also on the Quote 500, the list of Holland's 500 richest people). It is also known that he married his wife Ellen in 1980 shortly before Bon Scott died.[4]
On August 24, 2006, Young received Kerrang! magazine's Legend Award from the editor, Paul Brannigan. Brannigan called AC/DC "one of the most important and influential rock bands in history."[5] Angus Young is now considered by many, as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time.
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