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David Crosby, a musician, passed away at 81

David Crosby, a musician, passed away at 81

 The singer was a founding member of Crosby, Stills & Nash, and the Byrds.

David Crosby, a musician, performs live on stage in Los Angeles on April 5, 2014. Crosby passed away at 81 years old. (Imeh Akpanudosen for LUTB via Getty Images)


David Crosby, whose soaring harmonies with two distinct legendary bands propelled him to musical prominence in the 1960s even though his infamously volcanic temper sometimes strained relationships with his bandmates, has passed away at the age of 88. David Crosby, whose soaring harmonies with two distinct renowned bands propelled him to musical prominence in the 1960s even though his infamously volcanic temper sometimes strained relationships with his bandmates, has passed away at age 81, according to his family.


The artist passed away "after a protracted illness," according to a statement from Crosby's wife sent to Variety magazine. The statement also stated that Crosby passed away "lovingly surrounded by his wife and soulmate Jan and son Django."

At the beginning of a career spanning six decades, Crosby played for three years with the Roger McGuinn-led Byrds, who had No. 1 success with Mr. Tambourine Man and Turn, Turn, Turn in the middle of the 1960s.


Soon after, he began performing with Graham Nash, Stephen Stills, and even Neil Young. Both forms produced emotional protest music like Wooden Ships, Almost Cut My Hair, and Ohio as well as laid-back successes like Teach Your Children, Just A Song Before I Go, and Wasted On the Way.

In addition, Crosby released eight solo albums, the first of which was the critically acclaimed If I Could Only Remember My Name in 1971. Crosby, who frequently sported a walrus mustache, developed a reputation throughout his career as one of rock's colorful characters and a hedonistic link between the artists who gathered in the Laurel Canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

In his 2013 book Wild Tales: A Rock & Roll Life, Nash described an early encounter at the home of Cass Elliott of the Mamas and Papas: "I couldn't remove the man from my head." "He was such an irreverent free spirit. He had such great enthusiasm."

Furthermore, Crosby "had the greatest drugs in Hollywood," according to Nash.

Crosby dated Joni Mitchell for a while as her career blossomed and preached to his renowned friends about the young Canadian singer-songwriter he had seen.

Achievement and conflict

He could, however, irritate bandmates with his sloppy, outspoken behavior. Near the end of his life, Harrison severed ties with his Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young bandmates after being sacked from the Byrds.

In the 2019 Crosby biopic Remember My Name, which Cameron Crowe directed, McGuinn remarked that Crosby had "become intolerable." He was challenging to socialize with.

In the same documentary, Crosby acknowledged having a ferocious temper and bemoaned the bridges that had been burned.

Although I still have friends, none of the men I recorded music with will even engage in conversation," he stated. "One of them loathing my guts may have happened by mistake. However, McGuinn, Nash, Neil, and Stephen all have a great disdain towards me."

Late on Thursday, bandmate Graham Nash shared a tribute to Crosby on Instagram that included a picture of their guitar cases side by side.

What has always mattered to David and me more than anything was the pure joy of the music we created together, the sound we discovered with one another, and the deep friendship we shared over all these many, many years, he wrote. "I know people tend to focus on how volatile our relationship has been at times," he wrote.

Crosby, according to Nash, was "both in music and in life. In terms of pure personality and talent in this world, he leaves a huge vacuum."

David Crosby, a great singer, has a special musical connection to Thunder Bay.
Also baffled as to how he had avoided becoming another youthful rock and roll victim, Crosby's excesses in the 1970s and 1980s had threatened to destroy him.

He was often detained for drug and weapon offenses, received a jail sentence, and in the 1990s a liver transplant was required due to the cumulative effects on his health.

Folk rock pioneers perform on the Woodstock stage

Cosby was born on August 14, 1941, in Los Angeles to Floyd Crosby, an Oscar-winning cinematographer, and a mother he thought was overbearing. Crosby, who was not intellectual, experimented with acting and singing on stage to express himself.

Crosby met McGuinn and early Byrds composer Gene Clark after some previous, fruitless attempts to make a name for himself as a folksinger, with Michael Clarke and Chris Hillman later joining.

Along with their own compositions, The Byrds transformed the songs of Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger, earning praise for being the forerunners of folk-rock and country-rock throughout their storied career.

After infuriating his comrades at the 1967 Monterey Pop festival with an impromptu onstage outburst on the killing of John F. Kennedy, Crosby contributed the songs Ladyfriend, Why, and Draft Morning to the group's discography before being fired.

The following year, he joined Stills from the disbanded Buffalo Springfield and Nash of the Hollies, and he more than recovered.

In addition to the top hits Suite: Judy Blue Eyes and Marrakesh Express, Crosby earned composition credits on Wooden Ships, Long Time Gone, and Guinnevere for their 1969 first album, which became one of the classic albums of its time.

In front of tens of thousands, the group played only their second show at Woodstock in August 1969.

Stills introduced the band from the stage by saying, "We're frightened shitless."

"Always intense, always the catalyst"

Young was invited and, as a consequence, rejoined his former bandmate Stills from Springfield to improve their stage performance.

Teach Your Children, Our House, and Helpless were among the successes on the quartet's 1970 blockbuster Déjà Vu, which Crosby composed the title tune for. He found the recording to be a heartbreaking experience because Christine Hinton, his girlfriend at the time, had died in a vehicle accident in September 1969.

In his 2012 book Waging Heavy Peace, Young recalled Crosby's influence on CSNY decades after it had occurred.
Young was invited to improve their performance, and as a result, he was reunited with Stills, a former bandmate from Springfield.
Young remarked, "Crosby was always the spark, relentlessly pushing us forward." I wanted to speak from the heart just by staring into their eyes.

Just weeks after four young people were slain at Kent State University in Ohio when national guardsmen opened fire indiscriminately during protests against American military participation in Vietnam and Cambodia, Young's contribution, Ohio, released as a single, features Crosby's agonized wails.

In addition to recording the well-received CSN album in 1977 sans Young, which featured the top 10 single Just A Song Before I Go, CSNY also went on one of rock's inaugural stadium tours in 1974.

Timothy B. Schmit sang the songwriting credit for Crosby on the 1982 track Wasted on the Way, which marked the beginning of his downhill slide.

"It was horrifying to see as he began to dive. Nothing we did could have stopped him, "In his 2012 book, Young writes about a time when Crosby felt compelled to freebase cocaine on an otherwise blissful sailing trip.

revelations and awards throughout the 1990s

In 1983, Crosby, who was thin and somewhat overweight, was given a five-year jail term. Crosby's attorney tried unsuccessfully to convince the court that Crosby was in unlawful possession of a pistol because he was concerned for his safety following the murder of John Lennon three years prior.

Crosby eventually spent seven months in jail before being transferred to a halfway home. Years later, he said that incarceration, combined with his 1987 marriage to his wife Jan and subsequent drug rehabilitation programs, "saved his life." As a musician, he would also develop a friendship and a working connection with James, whose existence he had not known about until the 1990s.

In 1991, The Byrds were honored with induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; six years later, Crosby, Stills, and Nash received the same honor.

At the later event, Crosby remarked, "For a person who was thought to be dead a couple years ago, I'm doing pretty well.

A few years later, it was revealed that Crosby had provided the sperm for the two children Melissa Etheridge and her then-partner Julie Cypher had in the 1990s.

The albums that CSNY released between 1986 and 1999 were not well regarded.

The group's Freedom of Speech tour in 2006 took place during a period of heightened polarization over the American military campaign in Iraq. Although the majority of their fans were happy to see them again, Nash later recalled in his book that it was also the first time the band "experienced people walking out of a CSNY show" because of politics.

While Crosby has since worked with musicians like Jason Isbell, Jonathan Wilson, and John Mayer, his former buddies have vowed never to rekindle their friendship.

Young's wife, actor Daryl Hannah, who had a turbulent breakup with Crosby's buddy Jackson Browne, was the target of Crosby's public criticism. Nash said shortly after that Crosby had "torn the heart out of CSN and CSNY" as a result in an interview.

He continued to run for office in support of several charity and environmental causes, and he even gave his name to a marijuana business enterprise.



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