Jesse Colin Young, the frontman of Youngbloods and the singer of “Get Together,” has died. He was 83 years old.
The Woodstock-era anthem called for peace and for everyone to “Smile on your brother/Everybody get together/Try to love one another right now.”
Young died Sunday in his home in Aiken, S.C., his wife and manager, Connie Young, announced in a statement. No cause of death was provided.
Their version of “Get Together,” originally by Chet Powers, appeared on the Youngbloods’ debut album in 1967 and rose to No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 list in 1969.
Young continued recording socially conscious folk, jazz and country songs as a solo act following the band’s breakup in 1972.
Young was born Perry Miller in Queens on Nov. 22, 1941, but raised on Long Island. He went to Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, Ohio State University and New York University, but dropped out in the early ’60s to perform music.
He formed Youngbloods with folk singer-guitarist Jerry Corbitt, guitarist-pianist Lowell “Banana” Levinger and drummer Joe Bauer, quickly becoming a mainstay in the Greenwich Village scene.
Their cover of “Get Together” became a hit after it was featured in a commercial for the National Council of Christians and Jews.
He was also part of the “No Nukes” concert series with a solo rendition of “Get Together” appearing on a live album recorded at Madison Square Garden in 1979.
“An acclaimed songwriter, singer, instrumentalist, producer, label owner, podcast host, and longtime social/environmental activist, [Young] has established a permanent place in America’s musical landscape; while continuing to make modern music that’s every bit as vital as his work during the countercultural era,” the statement from his wife read.
