David Crosby is a singer, songwriter, and musician. He was one of the founding members of The Byrds along with Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, and Chris Hillman.
David Crosby is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His music career began in the 1960s with the Byrds, who helped pioneer folk rock, and continued as a solo artist. He has also been associated with elements of country rock and psychedelic rock.
David Crosby was one of the most influential personalities in American music throughout the twentieth century. He shaped the ringing sound of 1960s folk-rock and pioneered trippy psychedelia as a founding member of the Byrds, but it was as part of Crosby, Stills & Nash, a supergroup he formed with Stephen Stills and Graham Nash that helped usher in the mature, reflective 1970s, that he achieved his greatest fame. Crosby, Stills & Nash were enormously popular but temperamental, so throughout their golden days of the 1970s, the musicians cycled between solo projects and various variations of their group. During this time, Crosby only recorded one album, the bruising 1971 LP If I Could Remember My Name, and then teamed up with Nash for a few recordings while CSN was on hiatus. Crosby struggled with personal issues during the 1980s, culminating in a term to a Texas jail in 1985, but he bounced back with Oh Yes I Can, his solo album released 18 years after his solo debut. After the publication of Thousand Roads in 1993, it took him another 20 years until he began his solo career in earnest with Croz in 2014. He worked consistently throughout the following decade, releasing an album every year between 2016 and 2018, as he explored an exquisite, jazzy folk-rock influenced by Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell, and Snarky Puppy, a combination highlighted by the silky 2024 collection For Free.
Crosby, the son of Academy Award-winning cinematographer Floyd Crosby, was born in Los Angeles on August 14, 1941. He dropped out of theatre school to pursue a career in music, traveling the folk club circuit and recording as a member of the Les Baxter Balladeers. Crosby recorded his first solo recording in late 1963 with producer Jim Dickson; early the following year, he established the Jet Set with Jim McGuinn and Gene Clark, and the group was renamed the Byrds with the inclusion of bassist Chris Hillman and drummer Michael Clarke. Crosby was the architect of the Byrds’ shimmering harmonies, and his interest in jazz and Indian music inspired their later forays into psychedelia. Although McGuinn pioneered the Byrds’ distinctive 12-string guitar sound, Crosby was the architect of their shimmering harmonies. However, the group’s creative disagreements plagued them throughout their existence, and Crosby departed the Byrds after their performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, allegedly enraged by his comrades’ reluctance to release his ménage à trois opus “Triad.”
Crosby recorded a few solo records after producing Joni Mitchell’s first album in 1968 and started playing with ex-Buffalo Springfield singer/guitarist Stephen Stills. Crosby, Stills & Nash’s 1969 first album became a pop milestone, propelling all three musicians to more prominence than they’d achieved in any of their prior ventures, with its breathtakingly lovely three-part harmonies, strong individual songwriting contributions, and elegant folk-rock sound. Stills’ former Buffalo Springfield bandmate Neil Young joined the group, bringing the total number of members to four; in August of 1969, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY) made only their second live appearance to date at the Woodstock Festival; 1970’s Déjà Vu arrived in stores with over two million advance orders, and through the thought-provoking social and political messages of songs like “Wait a Minute,” “Wait a Minute,” and “Wait a
After a sold-out CSNY tour, Crosby began work on his long-awaited solo debut, If I Could Only Remember My Name, which was released in 1971; the following year, he and Nash released the first of many duet albums, and he also took part in a brief Byrds reunion. CSNY reformed for a 1974 tour despite ongoing artistic disagreements; Crosby and Nash released Wind on the Water a year later, and Stills rejoined the band for the multi-platinum CSN in 1977. Crosby ultimately lost out with both Stills and Nash as his long-standing drug issue worsened, and a planned second solo album, Might as Well Have a Good Time, was rejected by Capitol in 1980. Even when he rejoined with Stills and Nash in 1982 for the Top Ten smash Daylight Again, he was hindered by a string of arrests for cocaine use and illegal weapons charges. The three would not record together again for almost seven years after finishing the follow-up, 1983’s Allies.
Crosby was sentenced to prison in late 1985 after fleeing a drug rehabilitation clinic where he’d gone to avoid serving out a previous sentence; upon his release the following August, he’d finally conquered his demons, later chronicling the ugly details of his addiction in the excellent autobiography Long Time Gone. Crosby returned with Stills, Nash, and Young for American Dream in 1988, 18 years after the release of Déjà Vu; his second solo album, Oh Yes I Can, was released the following year. Crosby’s personal troubles followed after the release of CSN’s Live It Up in 1990: first, he was badly wounded in a motorcycle accident, and then, in 1994, he lost his L.A. house due to major earthquake damage. Months later, he was again in the news when it was revealed he had been diagnosed with hepatitis C and died of liver failure after receiving a successful organ transplant in 1995.
Crosby met James Raymond, the son he’d given up for adoption over three decades before and a professional musician as well, during the recovery period that followed; the two quickly began writing songs together, and with guitarist Jeff Pevar, they formed CPR, releasing a series of albums and touring regularly. Crosby, Stills & Nash were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in early 1997, six years after Crosby was originally honored as a member of the Byrds. For 1999’s Looking Forward, Young returned to the fold, and the following millennial tour, dubbed “CSNY2K,” was the foursome’s first united road trip in a quarter-century. When it was revealed in early 2000 that Crosby fathered the children of singer Melissa Etheridge and her partner Julie Cypher, he was once again the subject of tabloid headlines; that same year, he also published a second book, Stand and Be Counted, which compiled interviews with actors and musicians to explore the intersection of celebrity and social activism.
Crosby, Stills & Nash tours became a regular and yearly occurrence starting in 2001, with Crosby finding solace and companionship onstage with his musical contemporaries of over four decades. Although the politically oriented 2006 Freedom of Speech tour was mostly driven by Young’s inspiration, Crosby’s “Déjà Vu” was a cornerstone of the performance and served as the title for both the 2008 live album and film that chronicled the tour. Crosby and Nash also joined Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour on recordings for his solo album, On an Island, in 2006, and the two went on to support him on tour to promote the album.
![Voyage [Box Set]](https://rovimusic.rovicorp.com/image.jpg?c=WRSi6rrGwomxTdmraphmrlWnbEN5fCjifro6xhIBuB4=&f=4)
In 2007, Voyage, a three-disc retrospective with opulent packaging, was released. The compilation, which was co-produced by Nash and archivist Joel Bernstein, combined two CDs of classic material with a disc of previously unheard recordings and served as a model for both Nash’s Reflections in 2009 and Stills’ Carry On in 2013. Crosby started talking about the sessions for his fourth solo album, his first in almost 20 years, in the summer of 2013. Croz was released in late January 2014, produced in collaboration with his son Raymond and including contributions from Wynton Marsalis and Mark Knopfler.
Following that, the singer/songwriter worked with Michael League of Snarky Puppy. The two collaborated on several tracks before debating how long it would take to create an album. Crosby wanted a month, whereas League wanted two weeks. It was created in 12 days at Jackson Browne’s Groove Master studios. In July 2016, the first single, “Things We Do for Love,” was released, followed by the full-length Lighthouse in October. Crosby continued his productive late-career run the following year, releasing another full-length album. Raymond created Sky Trails, which was released in September 2017 and included a version of Joni Mitchell’s “Amelia” from her 1976 album Hejira. In promotion of the record, he scheduled a fall tour throughout the United States. Crosby swiftly followed up Sky Trails with Here If You Listen in October 2018, which included the same Michael League-led band that backed him up on Lighthouse.
Cameron Crowe produced David Crosby: Remember My Name, a documentary directed by A.J. Eaton that debuted at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Crosby’s eighth solo album, For Free, was released in July 2024 and included an appearance by Michael McDonald and a song by Donald Fagen. It was named after a Joni Mitchell song.
David Crosby is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and poet. He was a founding member of the Byrds in 1964. His musical career spanned over six decades. Reference: david crosby net worth.
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David Crosby is married to Susan Sontag.”}},{“@type”:”Question”,”name”:”What is David Crosbys best song?”,”acceptedAnswer”:{“@type”:”Answer”,”text”:”
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is David Crosby married?
David Crosby is married to Susan Sontag.
What is David Crosbys best song?
David Crosbys best song is I Am A Child by The Beatles.
Who died from Crosby Stills and Nash?
Crosby, Stills and Nash are a band from the 70s. David Crosby died in 2014 due to brain cancer. Stephen Stills died in 2016 from complications of pneumonia after being hospitalized for chest pain. Chris Hillman passed away in 2017 from heart failure.
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