David Crosby (born David Van Cortland Crosby on August 14, 1941 in Los Angeles, California) is a guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is most well known for being a founding member of The Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY). Crosby is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work in the Byrds and CSN.

Biography

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Early years

David Crosby was born on August 14, 1941 in Los Angeles, California. His parents were Aliph Van Cortland Whitehead and Floyd Crosby, an Academy Award winning cinematographer. In 1960, when Crosby was 19, his parents divorced.

Originally, he was a drama student, but he dropped out of drama school to pursue a career in music. He moved toward the same Greenwich Village as a member of the Les Baxter Balladeers scene Bob Dylan participated in, and even shared a mentor of Dylan's in a local scene favorite Fred Neil. With the help of producer Jim Dickson, Crosby cut his first solo session in 1963.

The Byrds

Early in 1964, Crosby started performing in clubs with Roger McGuinn (then known as Jim) and Gene Clark under the name the Jet Set. They soon changed the name to the Byrds, and were joined by bassist Chris Hillman and drummer Michael Clarke (whom Crosby alledgedly discovered playing bongos on the beach). They somehow managed to attain a demo recording of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man", and recorded a cover version of the song featuring McGuinn's twelve string guitar and Crosby's and Clark's vocal harmonizing. The song was a massive hit, and went to #1 on the charts.

In The Byrds, while Roger McGuinn was responsible for the trademark 12 string guitar sound (which he in turn took from George Harrison on "A Hard Day's Night" and the Beatles for Sale album), Crosby was responsible for the soaring harmonies and often unusual phrasing on their songs.

In 1966, Gene Clark, who then was the band's primary songwriter, left the band. This put all the group's songwriting responsibilities in the hands of Crosby and McGuinn. Crosby took the opportunity to hone his craft, and he soon blossomed into a prolific and talented songwriter.

The song "Hey Joe" is widely credited as being popularized by David Crosby after he picked it up from Dino Valente. He taught the song to Bryan MacLean and Arthur Lee of Love, who then taught it to members of The Leaves. Since he felt responsible for having popularized the song, Crosby convinced the other members of the Byrds to cover it on Fifth Dimension.

By Younger Than Yesterday, the Byrds' album of 1967, Crosby was starting to find his trademark style – a unique combination of solo vocals augmenting a touch of Nina Simone and his unique "angelic" harmony arrangement of a jazzy, Gregorian chant, Beach Boys type and music that veered from Joni Mitchell-esque guitar tunings to full-on rock.

Friction existed between Crosby and his fellows in the Byrds, which came to a head specifically in 1967 over two issues: his substitution, at the invitation of Stills, for an absent Neil Young during Buffalo Springfield’s set at the famous Monterey Pop Festival in June; and the Byrds’ rejection of Crosby’s controversial “Triad” composition as either a single or on the Notorious Byrd Brothers album in August. This angered Crosby so much that he began to frequently skip sessions. As a result, Crosby was dismissed from the Byrds in the fall of 1967.Zimmer and Diltz, p. 54

Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young)

Around the time of Crosby's firing, he met a recently unemployed Stephen Stills at a party, and the two started meeting informally together and jamming. They were soon joined by Graham Nash, who left his commercially successful group the Hollies to play with Crosby and Stills.

Their first album, Crosby, Stills & Nash of 1969 was an immediate hit, spawning two Top 40 hit singles and receiving key airplay on the new FM radio format, in its early days populated by unfettered disc jockeys prone to playing entire albums at once.

While in CSN, he wrote many important songs. These include "Guinnevere", "Almost Cut My Hair", "Long Time Gone", and "Delta". He also co-wrote "Wooden Ships" with Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane and Stephen Stills.

In 1969, the group was joined by Neil Young, and with him they recorded the album Déjà Vu, which went to number 1 on the charts. That same year, Crosby's girlfriend Christine Hinton was killed in a car accident. Crosby was devastated, and he began abusing drugs much more severely than he had before. Crosby became increasingly difficult to deal with, but he still managed to contribute 2 songs, "Almost Cut My Hair", and the title track "Déjà Vu". After the release of the double live album Four Way Street, the group went on a temporary hiatus to focuse on their respected solo careers.

The group reunited in 1973 to embark on reunion a tour. It was also around this time that they began recording a new album, entitled Human Highway. The recording, which took place at Neil Young's ranch, was very unpleasant, and marked by constant bickering. The bickering eventually became too much, and the album was cancelled. Yet they once again re-united the following year to go on a stadium tour. The tour was also full of constant bickering, though they managed to finish it without interruption. Another attempt at a new album was made, but it was cancelled early on and a greatist hits compilation entitled So Far.

Solo Career

In 1971 he released his first solo album If I Could Only Remember My Name, featuring contribution by Nash, Young, Joni Mitchell, along with members of Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, and Santana. Panned on release by Rolling Stone, it has received more critical respect with the passage of time and is still in print. The album's track listing shows great variety. Opening with the gentle "Music is Love", what starts as a sort of paean to the 1960s then takes a twist with the swing-rock of "Cowboy Movie" – an 8 minute freak out with faultless playing throughout. Darker elements abound with "What Are Their Names" – a song about the politicians who make unauthorized decisions behind closed doors – and "I Could Swear There Was Somebody Here" – a ghostly vocal track multilayering Crosby's voice into an ethereal presence – a genuinely haunting song for his recently deceased partner. Elsewhere there are instrumentals where the voice is used as an additional sound – as in "Song Without Words". The standout tracks are arguably "Laughing" and "Traction in the Rain". "Laughing" interestingly, was written as a reaction to his good friend George Harrison's single-minded pursuit of 'Gurus' who either claim, or are claimed by others to "...know what's going on".

Some other popular songs Crosby wrote in the 1970's include "Where Will I Be?", "Carry Me", "Bittersweet", "Time After Time", "Foolish Man", and "In My Dreams".

Renewing his ties to the San Francisco milieu that had abetted so well on his solo album, Crosby participated in electronica composer Ned Lagin’s proto-ambient project Seastones, along with members of the Dead and Jefferson Starship.Zimmer and Diltz, p. 179

Legal Troubles

In 1985, after years of advanced freebase cocaine and heroin addiction, he served a year in jail in Texas after having been convicted for a drug-related offense a few years earlier. He was set free after a higher court overturned his conviction on appeal. Later, he was the recipient of a highly publicized liver transplant. On March 6, 2004 he was arrested for drug possession and weapons offenses in New York City.

In 2004, Crosby left behind a piece of luggage when checking out of a New York hotel room. A hotel employee searched the bag to try to find some identification, and found a quantity of marijuana, a 45-caliber handgun and a hunting knife. Crosby was arrested when he went back to the hotel to pick up his property. He was charged with illegal possession of a hunting knife, illegal possession of a handgun and ammunition, and possession of marijuana.

Influence

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David Crosby's influence has all too often been overshadowed by that of The Beatles or The Byrds, but it could be argued that Crosby was, stylistically, one of the most influential singers in the 1960s on guitar groups of the folk rock genre. Crosbyesque harmonies can be heard in Crowded House, The Mamas & The Papas, The Grateful Dead, The Eagles, America, Jackson Browne, and James Taylor.

Trivia

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• He donated sperm to fellow musician Melissa Etheridge so that she and her lesbian partner at the time, Julie Cypher, could have two babies.

• While he is still in CSN, Crosby also now leads his own band CPR with guitarist Jeff Pevar and keyboardist James Raymond.

• Keyboardist member of CPR, James Raymond is Crosby's son, who was given up for adoption at birth and reunited with his father after he had become a professional musician himself.

Discography

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Please also see discographies for The Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

• If I Could Only Remember My Name, Atlantic 1971
• Oh Yes I Can, A&M 1989
• Thousand Roads, Atlantic 1993
• It's All Coming Back To Me Now..., Atlantic 1995
• King Biscuit Flower Hour, King Biscuit 1996
• Live, EMI Special Markets 2000
• Déjà Vu (live), Disky 2002
• Greatest Hits Live, King Biscuit 2003

With CPR (Crosby, Pevar & Raymond)

• CPR, Samson Music 1998
• Live at Cuesta College, Samson Music 1998
• Live At Wiltern, Samson Music 1999
• Just Like Gravity, Gold Circle 2001

Reference

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