James Young, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
James Vincent Young (born November 14, 1949) is an American musician who is best known for playing lead guitar in the American rock band Styx, having served as the only continuous original member of the band. Young began playing keyboard and piano at the age of five. He attended Calumet High in Chicago and learned to play clarinet and guitar during those years. He was nicknamed by Styx members & long time fans as "J.Y." and is often referred to as "The Godfather of Styx".
In 1970, Young joined the band TW4 while a student at Illinois Institute of Technology, from which he graduated with a bachelor's degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering. That band later became the first incarnation of Styx.
After Styx's initial breakup in 1984, Young released the solo albums City Slicker (1985 with Jan Hammer), Out on a Day Pass (1993), and Raised by Wolves (1995 with James Young Group). Young tends to write the more hard rock pieces for Styx. He is best known for the Styx songs "Miss America" and "Snowblind". Young managed the Chicago, Illinois -based rock band 7th Heaven in 1998 along with Alec John Such of the band Bon Jovi.