STYX's JAMES 'JY' YOUNG Opens Up About His Late Wife's Rare Illness: 'She Was Able To Manage It For A Number Of Years'

In a new interview with Radio Forrest, STYX guitarist and co-founder James "JY" Young reflected on the November 2022 passing of his wife, Susan Young. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, my better half, she traveled a lot with the band. She didn't like staying home by herself. She didn't mind. For a while, we had our own airplane… So it was comfortable for the wives to come along, in that regard. But my wife had a rare underlying illness that ultimately got properly diagnosed; it took a while. And she was able to manage it for a number of years after that, but eventually she didn't have the energy to be on the road and then doing this, that and the other thing. And it's very sad, but she was at my side for many, many moons. And we met in our early twenties. And, yeah, I can't change it, so I just have to cope with it."

Elaborating on how he dealt with his wife's illness while spending so much time on tour and away from home, James said: "I think everybody has personal crises in your family. And it may look like there's nothing going wrong on stage, but things happen. She came [out on the road] quite a bit, but then it was just a little too much. And, actually, I helped start a foundation for her rare illness. It's called porphyria, acute intermittent porphyria [AIP]. It's genetically inborn. And they hadn't really done a tremendous amount of studies. And ultimately she helped them find a way to make it much less difficult and be able to actually cope with that disease. But in the final analysis, she was tired of battling it."

According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders, acute intermittent porphyria is a rare metabolic disorder that is characterized by partial deficiency of the enzyme hydroxymethylbilane synthase (also known as porphobilinogen deaminase). Symptoms include severe abdominal pain, constipation, a rapid heartbeat and increased blood pressure (tachycardia and hypertension),behavioral changes, seizures, and damage of the nerves to muscles (peripheral neuropathy) which can lead to profound muscle weakness (paralysis).

Susan's passing was announced via a statement on STYX's social media on November 11, 2022. The statement read: "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."

In June 2022, five months before Susan's passing, 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."

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."

STYX's 18th studio album, "Circling From Above", was released in July via the band's label, Alpha Dog 2T/UMe.

Photo credit: Jason Powell