Pegi Morton Was More Than Just Neil Young's Ex-Wife: All Of Her Amazing Accomplishments

Neil Young's union with Pegi Morton lasted 36 years. Sadly, Morton died in 2019. Young's late ex-wife left a legacy of amazing accomplishments, some in collaboration with her then-husband. After they helped found The Bridge School to support students with special needs, the couple relied on rock concerts as their main source of philanthropy. In 1986, Morton got the ball rolling, suggesting that Bruce Springsteen be one of their early headliners.

Like her husband, Morton was a musician and songwriter, but her love of creating music predated their romance. Although she didn't start releasing her own albums until 2007, she began working with her husband as a backup singer 24 years earlier. Morton approached their bond with love and humor. "He's an interesting character," she explained to Songfacts in 2010. "We're challenged by each other ... a little space is always good. You can't live in each other's back pocket all the time."

During the early days of their relationship, the couple enjoyed playing songs for each other at home. Despite this long musical history, Morton was aware that her marriage sometimes gave her a leg up professionally. "Because of who I am and who I'm married to, I've had enormous opportunities to do things that another musician — especially a woman of my age, coming out of the blue — would not normally have," Morton explained to Rock and Roll Globe.

Pegi Morton's post-divorce life was a time to exercise her own creativity, similar to Pattie Boyd, who was married to George Harrison and Eric Clapton. In contrast to Morton's first album, where her then-husband, Neil Young, played quite a few instruments, her final album, "Raw," was her own personal project. Released in 2017, Morton used a mix of covers and original tunes to handle the emotional stress of her divorce. Morton was shocked by the experience, and it impacted her music. Rather than relying on the guitar or piano, Morton channeled her creativity through writing. This was a significant shift, since Morton had been playing both instruments for decades. However, she'd also been writing poetry most of her life. Back when she made her first album, the track "Key To Love" was originally a poem transformed into a song.

Through the process of recording "Raw," Morton began to heal and feel less alone after Neil Young married Daryl Hannah. Two years after her breakup, she'd made tremendous strides forward. "I just want people to know there's hope, and not just hope, but forgiveness, which is so key to our mental health," Morton informed Rolling Stone in November 2016. "You figure out who you are again, and you just keep going on." Morton continued moving forward, displaying the same tenacity in 2018 as she dealt with a cancer diagnosis. During her final years, she also delighted in her off-stage life, especially when she became a grandmother months before "Raw" hit the airwaves.