Does Rock Artist Neil Young Have Any Children? Inside His Family Dynamic

As one of the most prominent figures in the world of rock music, Neil Young has an impressive career that spans decades — and while fans can likely recall his musical stats at the drop of a hat, they may be less informed about his personal life, including whether or not he has any children.

Neil began his career in the 1960s, working with such popular artists as Joni Mitchell, and as a member of the band Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. He was also twice inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Following his first marriage to Susan Acevedo from 1968 to 1970, Neil was in a relationship with actor Carrie Snodgrass from 1970 until 1975. During the second year of their relationship, the former couple welcomed a son together, Zeke, in September 1972. Zeke was born with cerebral palsy.

In his second marriage to Pegi Young in 1978, Neil became a father for the second and third time to son Ben, who also has cerebral palsy, and daughter Amber, who has epilepsy. The former couple divorced in 2014 after over 35 years of marriage. Pegi died a few years later in 2019.

Neil is currently married to actor Daryl Hannah, as the two began dating shortly after his divorce from Pegi and married in August 2018. The couple do not have any children together.

In an in-depth 1988 interview with Rolling Stone, the musician spoke about his sons, Ben and Zeke. “[Ben] is handicapped inasmuch as he has severe cerebral palsy, and he is a quadriplegic, and he’s a nonoral child. So he has a lot of handicaps. Cerebral palsy is a condition of life, not a disease,” he told the outlet

“It’s the way he is, the condition he’s in,” he continued. “He was brought into the world in this form, and this is the way he is. A lot of the things that we take for granted, that we can do, he can’t do. But his soul is there, and I’m sure that he has an outlook on the world that we don’t have because of the disabilities.”

Neil continued, adding “My son Zeke has very mild cerebral palsy. He’s a wonderful boy, and he’s growing up to be a strong kid.” The Grammy winner also shared how he sought medical advice to determine if he was somehow the cause of his sons’ disabilities.

“I went and got myself checked because I was the father of both kids,” he recalled at the time. “And the doctors said, ‘It may be hard for you to believe this, but you had two kids, and there’s no connection between them at all. It’s a fluke that both have cerebral palsy.’”

“Often in my life, I’ve felt that I was singled out for one reason or another for extreme things to happen,” Neil continued. “This was hard to deal with. We’ve been dealing with it, and we’ve learned to turn it around into a positive thing and to keep on going.”