Rock legends salute AC/DC founding member and guitarist Malcolm Young, dead at 64
Young’s family said he died peacefully, with them at his bedside.
Tributes continued to pour in on Sunday in for Malcolm Young, co-founder of the Australian rock band AC/DC, a day after he died at age 64 after suffering from dementia for several years.
Malcolm Young and his brother Angus Young founded AC/DC, whose hits included Highway to Hell from 1979 and Back in Black and You Shook Me All Night Long from 1980. The group produced 17 studio albums, and sold more than 200 million records.
“Malcolm, along with Angus, was the founder and creator of AC/DC. With enormous dedication and commitment he was the driving force behind the band,” AC/DC posted on its Facebook page on Saturday night. Young was a songwriter, backing vocalist and rhythm guitarist for AC/DC, a hard rock and heavy metal band that was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.
By Sunday morning, fans and friends had posted 56,000 comments on Facebook under the band’s announcement.
Australian rock legends paid tribute to Young, who emigrated to the country with his family as a child, and was in his early 20s when the band released their debut album High Voltage. While Angus was the public face of the band, Malcolm was renowned for being behind the famous riffs that left fans thunderstruck.