Roy Frederick Young (20 October 1934 – 27 April 2018) was a British rock and roll singer, pianist and keyboard player. He first recorded in the late 1950s before performing in Hamburg with the Beatles. After a stint with Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers, he released several albums with his own band as well as recording with Chuck Berry and David Bowie, among others.
Young was born in Poplar, East London and moved with his family to Oxford at the age of seven. He got intrigued with piano music after hearing records of Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis, Sugar Chile Robinson, Charlie Kunz. His mother Lily was a well-known pub pianist in the city. From the age of 8 years old he taught himself how to play boogie-woogie piano at home and in snooker clubs. A talented snooker player from a young age, he represented Oxford in England's youth championship and became close friends with 1981 world champion Cliff Thorburn.
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| Roy with Cliff Richard & Hank Marvin |
In 1958 he auditioned successfully for Jack Good's TV show Oh Boy!, singing and playing piano in the style of Little Richard, and performed regularly on other British TV pop music shows including Drumbeat, where he was backed by the John Barry Seven, and Boy Meets Girls. Billed as Roy "Rock 'em" Young, he recorded his first single, "Just Keep It Up" / "Big Fat Mama" in 1959 for Fontana Records. He released several more singles on the Fontana and Ember labels over the next two years, but they were not commercial successes. Young performed at the 2i's Coffee Bar in Soho, and toured the UK and Ireland with Cliff Richard and the Shadows, among others.
In 1961, he began working at the Top Ten Club in Hamburg, where he played with Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers, who briefly included Ringo Starr, and recorded with Sheridan. He then won a contract to play at the rival Star-Club, where he met the Beatles, and began performing with them in spring 1962.
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| Roy with The Beatles |
According to Young, Brian Epstein offered him a place in the group once they had returned to England and signed a record contract, but Young turned down the offer because he had a contract with the Star-Club.
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| Roy with Cliff Bennett |
Young returned to England in 1964 and joined Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers – also managed by Epstein – as their keyboard player and second vocalist, regularly duetting with Bennett on covers of Sam and Dave songs, including "I Take What I Want" and "Hold On, I'm Comin'". The group toured with the Beatles in 1966, and Young featured on their hit version of the Beatles'"Got To Get You Into My Life", produced by Paul McCartney.
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| Roy with Little Richard |
He continued with the Rebel Rousers until they split up in 1969, and then formed the Roy Young Band, who released two albums, The Roy Young Band (1971) and Mr. Funky (1972); band members included Dennis Elliott, later of Foreigner and Onnie McIntyre, later of the Average White Band. The band backed Chuck Berry on tour. in 1971, under his own name, Young recorded the song "Baby, You're Good For Me," written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, for the Albert Finney film, Gumshoe.
In 1976, Young recorded with David Bowie for the album Low, which was released the following year. Young had been married twice, having a daughter with Sheila Ramsden and a son and a daughter with Antje Gatke. In 1976 he moved to Canada to be with Carol Kerr, whom he married in 1979. While there he both managed and worked with Long John Baldry. He toured the US in the 1980s with Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson, and performed at Star-Club reunion concerts with Tony Sheridan, Howie Casey and Johnny Gustafson.
When he returned with Carol to the UK in 2007, they settled in Oxford. Young set about re-establishing himself with an album of new songs, Still Young, featuring songs written by Dennis Morgan. In 2006, Roy guested at the Casbah Club in 2012, and in 2013 he played at the Cavern Club. He also supervised two career retrospectives, The Best Of 50 Years (2009) and Roy Rock ’Em Young (2012).
Roy passed away in a Oxfordshire nursing home on 27 April 2018, at the age of 83.
(Edited mainly from Wikipedia & The Daily Beatle)