David Crosby, of the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash, dies at 81 - The Washington Post

Mr. Crosby possessed 1 of the astir ethereal singing voices of the 1960s, a saccharine tenor that harmonized good with others.

As a subordinate of the Byrds — a radical erstwhile regarded arsenic the mid-’60s American counterpart to the Beatles — and aboriginal with Stephen Stills and Graham Nash (sometimes augmented by Neil Young), Mr. Crosby sold millions of albums and performed songs that symbolized the epoch of peace, emotion and governmental engagement: “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “Turn! Turn! Turn!” and “Eight Miles High” with the Byrds; and, with Stills, Nash and Young, “Carry On,” “Marrakesh Express,” “Teach Your Children” and “Our House.”

Mr. Crosby was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2 times, arsenic a subordinate of each group, was astatine the bosom of the Laurel Canyon euphony country successful Los Angeles and was considered 1 of the founders of people rock.

He gained immense acclaim erstwhile helium appeared with Stills, Nash and Young astatine the Woodstock festival successful August 1969 and, 4 months later, astatine its dark-side-of-the-dream counterpart, the Altamont festival successful California, wherever an assemblage subordinate was killed by a subordinate of the Hells Angels “security” team.

At a clip erstwhile Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, the Doors and the Rolling Stones were taking stone successful an amplified, acid-washed direction, Mr. Crosby and his bandmates turned to a gentler dependable inspired by people music, with acoustic guitars and intricate vocal harmonies. Every connection could beryllium intelligibly understood.

Crosby, Stills & Nash “captured the tone of the past precocious infinitesimal of the American ’60s,” euphony writer Paul Evans wrote successful “The Rolling Stone Album Guide.” “The CSN procreation recovered successful the set some spokesmen and representatives: The singers’ somewhat weary Utopianism, their bucolic fantasies and their songs astir emotion and losses, reflected the inward turning of an aging younker culture.”

For a fewer years, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were genuine superstars. The group’s 1969 debut album, “Crosby, Stills & Nash,” was hailed arsenic a near-masterpiece, and the set won a Grammy Award arsenic champion caller artist.

The group’s adjacent 3 albums, “Déjà Vu,” “4 Way Street” and “CSN,” each reached either No. 1 oregon No. 2 connected the Billboard popular illustration and sold successful the millions. Mr. Crosby wrote respective well-known songs for CSNY, including “Guinnevere” and the Vietnam-era anthem “Almost Cut My Hair.” One of the band’s biggest hits, “Woodstock,” was by his protegee, Joni Mitchell.

Few groups were arsenic good suited to their clip arsenic CSNY, embodying some the laid-back dreaminess and the pent-up societal choler of the period.

“Here’s the happening — we’re descended, singer-songwriters, from troubadours successful the Middle Ages,” Mr. Crosby told the San Luis Obispo Tribune successful 2017. “Part of the occupation should conscionable beryllium to boogie, marque you privation to dance. Part of the occupation should beryllium to instrumentality you connected small affectional voyages that marque you consciousness stuff. And portion of the occupation should beryllium for america to beryllium the municipality criers.”

Each subordinate recorded separately but, with the imaginable objection of Young, nary could lucifer the enactment they did together. In galore ways, Mr. Crosby was CSNY’s spiritual nucleus. His sanction ever came first, and helium seemed to personify the wistful California optimism of the hippie era. His opus “Wooden Ships” (written with Stills and Paul Kantner of the Jefferson Airplane) from CSN’s debut medium successful 1969 reflected the tone of the time:

Wooden ships connected the water, precise escaped and easy

Easy, you cognize the mode it’s expected to be

Silver radical connected the shoreline, fto america be

Talkin’ ’bout precise escaped and easy

Behind the group’s delicate philharmonic harmonies, they often had fierce interior disputes. Mr. Crosby’s worsening cause problems made him progressively volatile and unreliable. Stills erstwhile poured a bucket of h2o implicit his caput aft a lackluster performance, and yet the different members of the radical refused to spell onstage with him.

“They believed successful me, and I fto them down,” Mr. Crosby told the Toronto Star successful 1989. “I became a junkie sleazebag, a criminal, paranoid fool. I didn’t instrumentality attraction of thing — not my friends, not my music, not myself.”

Once worthy millions, Mr. Crosby sold his guitars and memorabilia to bargain drugs. He was freebasing cocaine and injecting heroin and often kept a handgun astatine his side. He was arrested respective times and went to cause attraction facilities, lone to locomotion retired oregon relapse.

In 1982, helium was arrested astatine a Dallas nightclub for amerciable possession of cocaine and a .45 caliber pistol. While appealing his five-year sentence, helium gave superior information to sailing distant and starring the beingness of a fugitive.

Instead, helium walked barefoot into an FBI bureau successful West Palm Beach, Fla., successful 1985 and turned himself in. He went backmost down bars, including for 5 months successful a Texas authorities prison, earlier helium was released successful 1986.

“I was kicking coke and heroin nether the worst imaginable circumstances,” helium told People mag successful 1987. “They wouldn’t springiness maine an aspirin. I did it arsenic acold turkey arsenic you tin bash it, and it was hell.”

For 15 years, helium didn’t person truthful overmuch arsenic a beer. He aboriginal began to fume marijuana again, angering immoderate sobriety advocates.

“Most radical who spell arsenic acold arsenic I did with drugs are dead,” Mr. Crosby told People. “Fool with them and you’ll get strung out. Then determination are astir 4 ways it tin go: You tin spell crazy; you tin spell to prison; you tin die; oregon you tin kick. That’s it. Anything other anybody says is bull.”

David Van Cortlandt Crosby was calved Aug. 14, 1941, successful Los Angeles. He had an often tense narration with his father, Oscar-winning cinematographer Floyd Crosby, who was champion known for his enactment connected the 1952 Western masterpiece “High Noon.”

Mr. Crosby was expelled from respective backstage schools earlier graduating from a nationalist precocious school. Following an aboriginal involvement successful music, particularly jazz and the Everly Brothers, helium began to play people euphony successful his teens with his older brother.

After performing successful respective groups successful New York and California, helium met Roger McGuinn, the person of the Byrds. By adding amplifiers to their guitars, they created the jangly Byrds dependable that took them to the apical of the charts.

By 1967, quarrels betwixt Mr. Crosby and different members of the Byrds led to his departure. He retreated to Miami, wherever helium heard Mitchell singing successful a coffeehouse. Mr. Crosby produced her archetypal album, “Song to a Seagull,” and the 2 had a little romanticist relationship.

Back successful Los Angeles, helium met Stills (a subordinate of Buffalo Springfield) and Nash (previously of the Hollies) astatine either Mitchell’s location oregon that of Cass Elliot, the pb vocalist of the Mamas & the Papas. Accounts disagree connected wherever they met, but Mr. Crosby, Stills and Nash spontaneously began singing unneurotic and made plans to signifier a group.

“The crushed we utilized our ain names erstwhile we started the set was due to the fact that we besides wanted to prosecute idiosyncratic careers arsenic well,” Mr. Crosby told the Los Angeles Times successful 1994. “We didn’t similar being locked into roles the mode we were successful Buffalo Springfield and the Byrds and the Hollies.”

Mr. Crosby’s dependence connected drugs accrued successful 1969, erstwhile his girlfriend, Christine Hinton, was killed successful a car wreck. “David went to place the body,” Nash aboriginal said, “and he’s ne'er been the aforesaid since.”

During his situation condemnation successful Texas, Mr. Crosby played guitar successful a jailhouse stone set and began penning caller songs for the archetypal clip successful years. After his release, helium published a contrite and revealing autobiography, “Long Time Gone” (1988), released a solo medium and reunited with Stills, Nash and Young for respective acclaimed tours and recordings.

“David’s playing immoderate of the champion euphony successful his life,” Nash told The Washington Post successful 1987. “Which surprises maine because, I confess, I looked for encephalon harm immediately. But helium doesn’t look to person mislaid 1 cell.”

In his 1988 opus “Compass” from the CSNY medium “American Dream,” Mr. Crosby described his 2nd accidental astatine euphony and life:

I person flown the frantic formation of the batwing

And lone known the acheronian due to the fact that of that

I person seized death’s door-handle

Like a food retired of the water

Waiting, waiting for the mercy of the cat

Mr. Crosby received a liver transplant successful 1994 and, astatine assorted times, dealt with bosom ailments, hepatitis, diabetes, a motorcycle clang and a location mislaid to an earthquake. In the precocious 1990s, helium formed a set named CPR — not arsenic a remark connected his carnal information but for the superior set members: Mr. Crosby, Jeff Pevar and James Raymond.

Raymond, who was adopted successful the aboriginal 1960s, learned successful his 30s that Mr. Crosby was his biologic father.

In summation to Raymond, Mr. Crosby’s survivors see his woman since 1987, Jan Dance; their son, Django Crosby; and 2 daughters from earlier relationships, Erika Keller and Donovan Crosby.

In 2000, it was revealed that Mr. Crosby was the biologic father, done artificial insemination, of 2 children of vocalist Melissa Etheridge and her spouse astatine the time, Julie Cypher. (Beckett Cypher, Mr. Crosby’s biologic son, died of a cause overdose successful 2020.)

In a astonishing late-career transformation, Mr. Crosby evolved from youthful rebel and junkie to mellow, seen-it-all sage. Among different things, helium became an improbable proposal columnist for Rolling Stone, dispensing guidance astir relationships, addiction and music, similar a counterculture Santa Claus. In 1989, helium and his woman took successful a teenage Drew Barrymore, helping the histrion flooded her problems with drugs and alcohol.

He published a 2nd memoir, “Since Then: How I Survived Everything and Lived to Tell About It,” successful 2006 and was the taxable of a 2019 documentary by A.J. Eaton, “David Crosby: Remember My Name,” successful which helium summed up astir 20 years of his life: “Addiction takes you implicit similar occurrence takes implicit a burning building.”

Despite occasional philharmonic reunions, Mr. Crosby had hard relationships with his erstwhile bandmates and yet stopped talking to Nash and Young. Still, helium wrote and recorded caller albums into his precocious 70s, collaborating with a wide scope of musicians, from stone guitarist Mark Knopfler to jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis to the jazzy people corporate Snarky Puppy.

Realizing that “the lone happening I tin bash present is usage the endowment I was given,” helium sought to marque up for his mislaid years. It didn’t substance that helium nary longer topped the charts.

“I’m not funny successful what I already did. It’s already done,” helium told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette successful 2015. “The instrumentality is that erstwhile the euphony comes by your house, you person to person the lights connected and the doors open.”