Young was born on 17 June 1947 in the
Wythenshawe district of Manchester, England. Young was a member of
The Toggery Five in the 1960s. The Manchester-based band signed a recording contract, played in Germany, and released the single "I'm Gonna Jump". After The Toggery Five disbanded, Young became the lead singer of the band Gyro in the mid-1970s. Young and Gyro bandmate Ian Wilson, together with members of
Mandalaband, formed the band
Sad Café in 1976. Sad Café signed with
RCA Records in the U.K. The band also hit the UK Top 40 with "Strange Little Girl", "
My Oh My" and "I'm in Love Again", and had two
US Billboard Hot 100 hits with "Run Home Girl" and "La-Di-Da". Young enjoyed further chart success sharing lead vocal duties with
Paul Carrack in
Mike + The Mechanics, the
pop-rock band formed in 1985 by
Genesis guitarist
Mike Rutherford. He was brought into Mike + the Mechanics on the recommendation of producer/songwriter
Christopher Neil and Neil's manager.
Mike + the Mechanics scored three Top 40 hits, including two US Top 10s, "
Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)" and "
All I Need Is a Miracle". During Young's career, he provided lead vocals on several chart hits, including Sad Café's "Every Day Hurts" and "My Oh My", and Mike + The Mechanics' "All I Need Is a Miracle", "
Word of Mouth", "
Taken In" and "Nobody's Perfect". His early style has been likened to that of
Mick Jagger; in the early 1980s, he began to explore a more "emotive" style. On 15 July 2000, having no symptoms, Young had a sudden
heart attack at around 6:30pm at his home in
Hale,
Altrincham. or 16 July 2000, at the age of 53. An
autopsy revealed that the cause of death was a heart attack and that "it was not the first". ==Legacy==