BREAKING NEWS: David Crosby Dies At Age 81

Rock legend David Crosby has died at the age of 81. Crosby was a founder of The Byrds and later teamed with Stephen Stills and Graham Nash for Crosby, Stills & Nash and later Neil Young for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

The Crosby family released the statement:

“It is with great sadness after a long illness, that our beloved David (Croz) Crosby has passed away. He was lovingly surrounded by his wife and soulmate Jan and son Django. Although he is no longer here with us, his humanity and kind soul will continue to guide and inspire us. His legacy will continue to live on through his legendary music. Peace, love, and harmony to all who knew David and those he touched. We will miss him dearly. At this time, we respectfully and kindly ask for privacy as we grieve and try to deal with our profound loss. Thank you for the love and prayers.”

Grahm Nash posted, “It is with a deep and profound sadness that I learned that my friend David Crosby has passed. I know people tend to focus on how volatile our relationship has been at times, but 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 long years. David was fearless in life and in music. He leaves behind a tremendous void as far as sheer personality and talent in this world. He spoke his mind, his heart, and his passion through his beautiful music and leaves an incredible legacy. These are the things that matter most. My heart is truly with his wife, Jan, his son, Django, and all of the people he has touched in this world”.

Crosby was a founding member of The Byrds with Roger McGuinn and co-wrote their big hit ‘Eight Miles High’.

The Byrds had hits with a string of Bob Dylan songs including ‘All I Really Want To Do’, ‘My Back Pages’ and ‘Mr Tambourine Man’.

Crosby was the rhythm guitarist and vocalist for The Byrds. He left the band in 1967. Then in 1968 as Buffalo Springfield where breaking up, Crosby joined Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, who was departing UK group The Hollies, to form Crosby, Stills & Nash.

The self-titled debut album for Crosby, Stills & Nash was released in May 1969 with the Crosby songs ‘Guinnevere’ and ‘Long Time Gone’ as well as the co-write ‘Wooden Ships’ (with Stills and Paul Kanter of Jefferson Airplane).

One year later, Crosby, Stills & Nash recruited Neil Young, who was a guitarist in Buffalo Springfield with Stills and had released his first solo album after that band broke up, to expand CSN into Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The result was the album ‘Déjà vu’, one of the greatest albums of all-time.

Crosby contributed ‘Almost Cut My Hair’ and the title track for the album.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young released a live album ‘4 Way Street’ in 1981, but it took 18 years for the second Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young album ‘American Dream’ to be released. The four of them only did one more studio album, ‘Looking Forward’ in 1999.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s last tour was ‘Freedom of Speech’ in North America in 2006. They last performed together for Neil Young’s Bridge School Benefit in 2013.

Crosby, Stills & Nash’s last concert together was in Norway on 11 October 2015. Crosby’s last concert was on the Sky Trails tour on 17 September 2019 at Red Rocks, Colorado.

Crosby released his first solo album ‘If I Could Only Remember My Name’ in 1971 around the time of Neil Young’s ‘After The Gold Rush’, Stephen Still’s ‘Stephen Stills’ and Graham Nash’s ‘Songs for Beginnings’. As a treat, play the Crosby, then the Stills, then the Nash, then the Young albums back to back.

David didn’t release a second solo album until ‘Oh Yes You Can’ in 1989, then came the underrated ‘Thousand Roads’ in 1993 with the stunning Phil Collins collaboration ‘Hero’.

A fourth solo album ‘Croz’ came 21 years later and reached no 36 on the Billboard chart. That seem to motivate Crosby who went on to release another four albums from 2016 to 2021.

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