David Crosby, Iconoclastic Rocker, Dead at 81 - Rolling Stone

David Crosby, the singer, songwriter and guitarist who helped signifier the dependable of Sixties stone and beyond, died connected Thursday astatine the property of 81. A root adjacent to Crosby confirmed the musician’s decease to Rolling Stone, but did not disclose a cause.

Crosby was a founding subordinate of the Byrds, playing guitar and contributing harmony vocals to galore of their astir enduring songs, including “Eight Miles High,” “So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” and “Turn! Turn! Turn!” Shortly aft being forced retired of the radical owed to property conflicts with frontman Roger McGuinn, helium formed the supergroup Crosby, Stills, and Nash with Buffalo Springfield’s Stephen Stills and Graham Nash of the Hollies. The trio – which became a quartet successful 1969 erstwhile Neil Young joined their ranks – played a large relation successful the improvement of folk-rock, country-rock and the emergent “California sound” that dominated stone vigor passim the mid-Seventies. Croz wrote galore of their astir beloved tunes, including “Almost Cut My Hair,” “Long Time Gone” and “Deja Vu.”

“It is with a heavy and profound sadness that I learned that my person David Crosby has passed,” Crosby’s erstwhile bandmate Graham Nash wrote successful a statement. “I cognize radical thin to absorption connected however volatile our narration has been astatine times, but what has ever mattered to David and maine much than thing was the axenic joyousness of the euphony we created together, the dependable we discovered with 1 another, and the heavy relationship we shared implicit each these galore agelong years.

“David was fearless successful beingness and successful music,” helium added.” He leaves down a tremendous void arsenic acold arsenic sheer property and endowment successful this world. He spoke his mind, his heart, and his passionateness done his beauteous euphony and leaves an unthinkable legacy. These are the things that substance most. My bosom is genuinely with his wife, Jan, his son, Django, and each of the radical helium has touched successful this world.”

“I’m heartbroken to perceive astir David Crosby,” Brian Wilson wrote. “David was an unbelievable endowment – specified a large vocalist and songwriter. And a fantastic person. I conscionable americium astatine a nonaccomplishment for words.”

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While his occurrence continued successful the 1970s and into the Eighties, Crosby’s idiosyncratic beingness was marred by dense cause use, which wreaked havoc connected his vocation and led to a abbreviated jailhouse condemnation successful 1985. Yet helium recovered and continued making euphony and touring for different 3 decades. “I person nary thought however I’m live and Jimi [Hendrix] isn’t and Janis [Joplin] isn’t and each my different friends,” helium told Rolling Stone successful 2014, years aft he’d cleaned up. “I person nary thought wherefore me, but I got lucky.”

David Crosby was calved successful Los Angeles successful 1941. His begetter Floyd Crosby was an Academy Award-winning cinematographer. He concisely attended Santa Barbara City College but dropped retired to prosecute music. In 1964, helium joined a set called the Jet Set, consisting of Roger McGuinn and Gene Clark. They changed their sanction to the Beefeaters, and past the Byrds. Crosby’s gorgeous harmonizing, heard connected hits similar the Bob Dylan screen “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” was an indispensable constituent successful the Byrds’ folk-rock sound.

By 1967, tensions wrong the set reached a breaking point, culminating with Crosby’s departure from the group. Crosby and Stephen Stills, who had precocious disbanded Buffalo Springfield, began penning songs unneurotic successful 1968. They were soon joined by Nash, who had conscionable discontinue the Hollies, and the trio performed unneurotic for the archetypal clip astatine the L.A. location of Cass Elliot of the Mamas and the Papas. Their self-titled 1969 debut was a hit, producing the classical azygous “Suite: Judy Blues Eyes,” astir Judy Collins.

Adding Neil Young aboriginal that year, the quartet played their 2nd gig astatine Woodstock, successful beforehand of astir 500,000 people, announcing the accomplishment of 1 of rock’s archetypal — and top — supergroups. CSN&Y’s debut album, Déjà Vu, sold 7 cardinal copies and produced the deed singles “Woodstock,” “Teach Your Children” and “Our House.” Crosby aboriginal said, “I deliberation erstwhile the Beatles weaponry blew apart, we were the champion set successful the world.”

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CSN&Y released a unrecorded double-album, Four Way Street, earlier splitting up. Crosby recorded his solo debut, If I Could Only Remember My Name, successful 1971, backed by Nash, members of the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane and Joni Mitchell (who helium was romantically progressive with for a clip and who famously compared Crosby’s walrus-mustache look to Yosemite Sam). Though critically savaged astatine the time, the languid, meditative medium aboriginal gained a cult following, with its power heard successful the modern neo-folk of Fleet Foxes and Grizzly Bear. In 1977, Crosby, Stills & Nash re-grouped for the quadruple-platinum CSN. In 1979, they performed astatine the antinuclear payment concerts sponsored by Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE). 

1982’s Daylight Again was different success, producing the hits “Wasted On the Way” and “Southern Cross.” During these years, Crosby was a predominant dependable connected records by Grace Slick and Paul Kantner of Jefferson Starship, Hot Tuna and Phil Collins (including the deed “Another Day In Paradise”).

By the aboriginal Eighties, though, his cause maltreatment was having a ruinous impact. In 1985, helium was sentenced to situation for 9 months aft leaving the cause rehabilitation programme helium was allowed to participate alternatively of serving a five-year situation condemnation for possessing cocaine and carrying a gun. He appeared with Stills, Nash and Young astatine Live Aid portion retired connected entreaty bond. Crosby emerged from situation successful 1986, recently clean, and joined his longtime woman Jan Dance successful 1987. In 1990, helium published a revealing, wide praised memoir Long Time Gone.

He received a liver transplant successful 1994 and recorded different medium with CSN, the commercially unsuccessful After the Storm. During the Nineties, Crosby gained much attraction for a unsocial enactment of personage generosity erstwhile helium became the sperm donor for Melissa Etheridge and Julie Cypher. In 1995, helium reunited with his lad Raymond, who he’d fixed up for the adoption successful the Sixties, and they recorded 3 albums unneurotic arsenic CPR. (Crosby’s survivors see 3 different children, 2 daughters (Erika and Donovan) and a lad Django, the lone kid of his matrimony with Dance.)

Crosby maintained a consciousness of wit astir his troubled past. When helium angered the betterment assemblage by admitting helium smoked pot, helium joked, “Our large transgression is that we devour crystal cream, let’s look the truth.” He besides embraced his rep arsenic the archetypal “Wasted Sixties Guy,” particularly successful his emerging acting career. He was a hippie successful 1991’s Backdraft, a bartender successful 1992’s Thunderheart and an AA sponsor successful an occurrence of The John Larroquette Show. (He besides occasionally appeared arsenic himself connected the Simpsons.) Though overmuch much toned down by the 2000s, Crosby remained unapologetic successful his pro-gun views. In 2004, helium pleaded blameworthy to transgression possession of a limb erstwhile constabulary recovered a weapon and a tiny quantity of marijuana successful his edifice country the nighttime aft a performance successful New York. He served nary jailhouse time.

Towards the extremity of his life, Crosby recorded the 2014 solo album, Croz, his archetypal grounds successful 20 years, featuring Raymond among the impermanent musicians and a screen photograph taken by Django. “Most guys my property would person done a covers grounds oregon duets connected aged material,” helium told Rolling Stone astatine the time. “This won’t beryllium a immense hit. It’ll astir apt merchantability 19 copies. I don’t deliberation kids are gonna excavation it, but I’m not making it for them. I’m making it for me. I person this worldly that I request to get disconnected my chest.”

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He followed it up with much more solo albums betwixt 2016 and 2021. “I’m fuckin’ lucky,” helium told Rolling Stone successful 2021. “I don’t cognize if I person 2 weeks near of beingness oregon 10 years, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is what you bash with the time. If you beryllium determination connected your butt and interest astir dying, past you fucking wasted it. I haven’t been wasting it. I’m having a truly bully time, and feeling wonderfully astir it. Sooner oregon later, thing is going to break. Right now, my beingness is beauteous great.”

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