Boogie Man Journal: Happy Birthday to Neil Young

Neil Young was born November 12, 1945 in Toronto, Ontario to Rassy
and Scott Young. As a youth, he survived diabetes, polio, epilepsy and the
divorce of his parents.
In 1960, Neil moved with his mother to Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was there that music first became the driving force in his life.
In 1965 Neil crossed paths with a singer/guitarist named Stephen Stills but soon lost track of one another. Returning to Toronto he joined The Mynah Birds, a Toronto-based band led by singer Ricky James Matthews (later to be known as Rick James and singer of such dance hits as "Super Freak"). The Mynah Birds recorded several songs for Motown Records in Detroit that were never released. During one of these recording sessions, James was arrested and charged with deserting the U.S. Navy. The Mynah Birds flew apart when James was forced to complete his tour of duty.
In search of fresh opportunities, Young and ex-Mynah Birds bassist Bruce Palmer packed most of their worldly possessions into Young's car (a black hearse!) and drove from Toronto to Los Angeles. On Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, the hearse was spotted in traffic by Stills and singer/guitarist Richie Furay (who previously met Young in New York and had come West a short time earlier.) The four musicians huddled in a supermarket parking lot and immediately talked of forming a band. With the addition of drummer Dewey Martin, the Buffalo Springfield was born.
http://www.thrasherswheat.org/nybiozimmer.htm