STYX Guitarist JAMES 'JY' YOUNG Mourns Death Of His Wife Of 50 Years, SUSAN YOUNG

Susan Young, wife of STYX guitarist and co-founder James "JY" Young, died on Thursday, November 10.

Susan's passing was announced via a statement STYX's social media earlier today. The statement reads: "It is with a heavy heart that we share the news with you that Susan Young passed away on November 10th, 2022. She passed away peacefully at home with her devoted husband of 50 years, James 'JY' Young, by her side.

"Susie was a tireless advocate for her husband's rock n' roll career in the band STYX. She often spent years on end traveling with him and the STYX team on the road so they could be together. She was a constant source of encouragement and 'wardrobe suggestions'. JY and Susie were truly inseparable.

"Susie was beloved by all and will always be remembered."

This past June, James told Creative Loafing that his wife "had a stroke a number of years back. She's paralyzed. Not completely paralyzed on the right side, but she really has no use of a right leg or right arm."

STYX's latest studio album, "Crash Of The Crown", came out in June 2021 via the band's label, Alpha Dog 2T/UMe. The legendary rockers wrote the LP pre-pandemic and recorded it during the trying times of the coronavirus crisis.

Asked by Creative Loafing about his diminished songwriting contributions to STYX in recent years, James said: "Honestly, it's my devotion to my better half, who's been with me through thick and thin going back to the start of STYX, which was February 22, 1972, when we signed the first recording contract. My wife and I had been dating at that point in time, and we moved in together before we were married, which freaked my very conservative parents out, and ultimately, we got married later that year. Then, the first STYX record came out, I had a legitimate job and things started going our way. But the pandemic just kind of really set her for a loop, and I just felt like I needed to be at her side. I kind of thought that maybe, my career was over. But the good news is that with the band, I'm sort of…my grandfather had a construction company, and so I would always deal with the lawyers and the accountants, because I had the knowledge after being in a family that had their own business.

"So you got to know what you need," he explained. "You need insurance, you need to file tax returns, you need to file government forms, you need to do this and that. I've always been the defacto co-leader of the band, just on the creative side, I've sort of fallen off. But Tommy [Shaw; guitar, vocals] brought Lawrence [Gowan; vocals, keyboards] into the band, he's a great writer himself, and a great player. And Tommy and Will [Evankovich, guitar] are just sitting there together in Nashville. So those guys are busy writing all the time."