Singer-songwriter Neil Young was born on November 12, 1945 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to Scott and "Rassy" Young. Neil Young moved to Winnipeg with his mother when she and his father divorced (Erlewin N.Pag.). Distraught over his failed attempts to succeed, Young left his former band The Mynah Birds and moved to Los Angeles. (N.Pag.). Young's move to America was illegal and everyone thought he was an illegal immigrant playing with Buffalo Springfield and also Crosby Stills Nash and Young (Crowe 193). He has been many things throughout his life; he was a singer, guitarist, director, activist and much more. However, Neil Young had many difficulties throughout his life. He saw The Needle and the damage done, he needed a unit to sample and hold, he wrote this note for you, and he lived with the war. However, despite everything, he has been able to create original music for more than 40 years. The Needle and the Damage Done first appears on Neil's 1972 solo release, Harvest. The song is primarily dedicated to Young's late bandmate Danny Whitten (McDonough 329). Whitten was Crazy Horse's guitarist and appeared on several albums. The events leading up to Danny's death were extremely traumatizing for Young. One night Young had fired Danny because he had become a heroin addict and was not performing well during the recording sessions. Later that night, Young had received a call from the Los Angeles coroner, the coroner had the sad news that Whitten had been found and had died of a heroin overdose (Crowe 193). Young had commented in a Rolling Stone interview in 1975 that "I felt responsible". (193). That… middle of paper… Young recently took on a very daunting task, releasing an album dedicated solely to questioning the conflict in Iraq in his album Living With War. This album is full of protest songs like Let's Impeach the President, Shock and Awe and Looking for a Leader (Erlweine N. Pag). Neil Young has faced many difficulties in his life. He saw the horror of drugs and what they can do to people's lives. He lost his bandmate and his roadie to heroin. Then he fell into depression and managed to recover by making music. Neil Young had two sons with cerebral palsy, but was able to see this as a calling rather than a punishment from God, as if he and his wife had been chosen to make life better for people with disabilities, and they did (Tirangiel 71).