Emily Young - Biography

Biography

Emily Young received her secondary education at Putney High School, Holland Park School, Friends School Saffron Walden, and the King Alfred School, London. First interested in painting, she spent her youth in London, Wiltshire and Italy before she attended the Chelsea School of Art for one term in 1968. She also studied at the St Martin's School of Art. In the late 1960s and '70s, she travelled widely, visiting Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, France and Italy, Africa and the Middle East. She also lived in the United States, where she studied with the sculptor Robert White. It was during these years of travelling that she developed her broad view of art.

While at Holland Park School in 1966, with Anjelica Huston, she became a regular at the nearby London Free School night sessions around the Notting Hill area, which brought her into contact with many in the UK Underground. She may have been the inspiration for the song "See Emily Play", written by Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett.

During the 1970s and '80s, she lived and worked with Simon Jeffes, proprietor of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. They had one son, Arthur, born in 1978. She produced the artwork for various album covers for the band, including Music from the Penguin Cafe, to which she also contributed vocals.