Friday, November 28, 2014 5:09am ET by  
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AC/DC reveal Malcolm Young was showing signs of dementia in 2008

AC/DC say their former guitarist Malcolm Young showed symptoms of dementia in 2008.

The founding member left the group earlier this year due to ill health and he was replaced by nephew Stevie Young during recording for new album 'Rock or Bust'.

Speaking to the Guardian, brother and former bandmate Angus Young said that the rhythm guitarist's symptoms stretched back over a number of years.

He said: "He was not well when we went to do [the 2008 album] 'Black Ice': his symptoms of dementia were starting then, and he got through it. I had said to him, even before we did the album, ‘Are you sure you want to do this? I have to know that you really want to do it'. He was the one who said: ‘Yes! We’ve really got to do it'.

"It was hard work for him. He was relearning a lot of those songs that he knew backwards; the ones we were playing that night he’d be relearning. He was his own driver. He himself had that thing, where you’ve just got to keep going.

"Sometimes you would look and he’d be there. And you’d have a really great day and he’d be Malcolm again. And other times, his mind was going. But he still held it together. He’d still get on the stage. Some nights he played and you’d think: ‘Does he know where he is?’ But he got through."

AC/DC meanwhile will release new album 'Rock or Bust' on December 1.

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