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Artist News
David Crosby dies
By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 20 January 2023
David Crosby has died, aged 81, after a long illness.
The musician’s family said in a statement: “It is with great sadness that, after a long illness, 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”.
Born in LA in 1941, Crosby was a founding member of The Byrds in 1964, recording and performing with the band for three years before ever present tensions within the group resulted in his dismissal in 1967. The following year he met Stephen Stills, beginning the collaboration that resulted in Crosby, Stills & Nash, formed with Graham Nash; and, of course, later Crosby Stills Nash & Young, with the additional involvement of Neil Young.
A long series of albums followed involving Crosby and some combination of those three collaborators, on top of eight solo albums, most recently ‘For Free’ in 2021. In a long and prolific career, Crosby also collaborated with many other musicians including Carole King, Joni Mitchell and members of The Grateful Dead.
His CSN bandmates are among the many musicians who have been paying tribute to Crosby overnight, both acknowledging that their respective relationships with Crosby were at times strained.
“David and I butted heads a lot over time”, Stills said in a statement. “But they were mostly glancing blows, yet still left us [with] numb skulls. I was happy to be at peace with him. He was without question a giant of a musician, and his harmonic sensibilities were nothing short of genius … I am deeply saddened at his passing and shall miss him beyond measure”.
Meanwhile Nash said: “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. He leaves behind a tremendous void”.
According to The Guardian, eight months ago Crosby agreed to be interviewed by a journalist class at a high school in Colorado. Answering a student’s question about whether or not he would be touring again, he said: “No. I’m not, because I’m 80”.
And when asked about his recent spate of solo albums, he added: “I’m 80 years old so I’m gonna die fairly soon. That’s how that works. And so I’m trying really hard to crank out as much music as I possibly can, as long as it’s really good”.
