Karen Young (born June 19, 1951) is a singer, lyricist, composer and arranger from Quebec, Canada who has explored several different musical styles.Young was born in Montreal, Quebec.
Starting in folk music with a medium chart hit Garden Of Ursh (1971) in the late 1960s, she switched to jazz in the mid-1970s with the successful bebop vocal group, Bug Alley.
She was a member from 1975 to 1979.
She played lead roles in the musical theatre productions Mata Hari and Angel, written by David Rimmer and Edward Knoll, in the early 1980s.
In the later 1980s, she was part of the renowned bass and voice duo, Young and Donato.
Their album Young & Donato was nominated for a Juno Award 1985.
Young established her own independent record label in 1991, Les Disques URSH.
Since then, she has released nine records featuring combinations of artists from different musical backgrounds and traditions.
Young composed the musical soundtracks for Joseph’s Daughter, a film by Ilana Schwartz, The Road from Kampuchea by Anne Henderson
and for Revoir Julie by Jeanne Crepeau.
She has been touring also with jazz musicians Michel Donato (bass), Norman Lachapelle (bass), Éric Auclair (bass).Karen's daughter, Coral Egan, is also a singer-songwriter and has released several jazz and pop albums; Coral has also given Karen a granddaughter.