Born: James Young Jr.

Parents: James Young Sr. and Clarice Reed

Birthplace: Detroit, Michigan -- The Motor City, MOTOWN

Favorite music: Rock & Roll, Country, Jazz, Pop.

Favorite foods: Soul food, Southern cooking, seafood

Favorite bands: The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, Paul Revere and the Raiders

Favorite guitar players: Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, George Harrison, Wes Montgomery, Tommy Emanuelle, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, Brian May, Gabor Szabo, Steve Lukather, and many others.

First song learned on guitar: "Little Black Egg" by The Nightcrawlers.

Favorite Gear: Strats, Teles, Gibson, Les Pauls, Gretsch Guitars, Fender and Marshall amps.

Favorite Recording Gear: Tascam, Fostex

Favorite Movies: Star Wars (all), Top Gun, Anything with Clint Eastwood, James Earl Jones, Gene Hackman (Hoosiers).

Favorite Interests: Computers, Radio Control Models (cars, planes, etc.), Reading, Writing and Recording Songs.

Credits: Performed music on various TV shows (The Fall Guy, Rooster, Night Rider, The Craig Clyde Show, March Of Dimes Telethon with The Osmonds, many others.

Past bands: The Glass Frog, Bone, Utah All-Star Band, The Sounds Of Soul, Mpingo Laaboo, Wanted, Survival, Southwind, Private Collection.

Current Bands Playing with: BONE, Continuum, The Gilbert Sanchez Band 

Bio

His Family moved to Nashville,Tennesee, where Cookie lived until age of ten, with six siblings; he still considers "Music City," as home. Family then moved to Salt Lake City, where he took an interest in learning the trumpet, tried it for a few weeks, but soon after, focused in on drums... and then, (finally!) guitar.

Cookie demonstrated interests in music at early age, around five, listening to his grandfather, Horace Reed, play guitar and sing gospel music, -- Horace's Gospel singing group would sometimes practice at his grandparents' home -- fortifying his love of music. When his parents would play the radio and records, Country music and R&B is what was heard the most, so those were the first influences, in what was to become an important factor in his life.

In the late fifties and early sixties, Cookie got his first dose of Rock-n-Roll, and the rest is history. His mother remarried, and the family moved to Fort Campbell, Kentucky. This is where he heard The Beatles for the first time, watching them like much of America, on The Ed Sullivan Show, and that was all it took. James "Cookie" Young was seriously bit by the music bug.

After two years living on the army base, the family then moved back to SLC, and shortly after, Cook picked up got his first guitar. His brother received a set of drums, and a piano found a home for the family. From there, he started taking guitar lessons from a local music store, (The Music Center) where his mother bought the instruments. He is mainly self-taught -- after his first few guitar lessons, his guitar teacher, who was a very accomplished guitarist, seemed to have little patience, and told Cookie he did not think he was serious enough about learning the guitar and that he was wasting his time, adding Cook should find another interest in music. He purchased a few guitar instruction books, learned chords and from there, taught himself to play.

He currently lives in SLC, and has played all over for over thirty-plus years. He is divorced and has six children, all of whom are into music.

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