David Crosby

David Van Cortlandt Crosby (born August 14, 1941) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is best 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.

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Biography

Early years

David Crosby was born in Los Angeles, California. His parents were Aliph Van Cortlandt Whitehead and Floyd Crosby, an Academy Award winning cinematographer. He attended Crane Country Day School in Montecito, California, for elementary school and junior high. At Crane, he starred in HMS Pinafore and other musicals. He received his high school education at the Cate School, Carpinteria, California. 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 scene (as a member of the Les Baxter's Balladeers) Bob Dylan participated in, and even shared a mentor of Bob 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

Main article: 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 allegedly discovered playing bongos on the beach). They somehow managed to obtain 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" , 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 group due to stress. This put all the group's songwriting responsibilities in the hands of Crosby and McGuinn. Crosby took the opportunity to hone his craft, and soon blossomed into a prolific and talented songwriter. His early Byrds efforts included the classic 1966 hit "Eight Miles High", which he co-wrote with Clark and McGuinn, and its flip side, "Why" co-written with McGuinn, which showed Crosby at his hard-edged best. 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.

Friction existed between Crosby and the other Byrds, which came to a head specifically in 1967 over two issues: his substitution, at the invitation of Stephen 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 an album cut on Notorious Byrd Brothers in August. It was widely reported that the other Byrds were offended by the topic (a ménage à trois). 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.^[1] "Triad" was recorded by Jefferson Airplane and released on their album Crown of Creation in 1968. David Crosby sang a solo acoustic version on CSNY's 1971 double live album Four Way Street. The Byrds' version appeared decades later on the 1988 Never Before release and is now available on the CD re-release of Notorious Byrd Brothers.

Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young)

Main article: Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young)

Around the time of Crosby's firing, he met a recently unemployed Stephen Stills at a party at the home of Cass Elliot (Mama Cass) in California in March 1968, 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 longtime girlfriend Christine Hinton was killed in a car accident only days after Hinton, Crosby, and fellow girlfriend Debbie Donovan moved from Los Angeles to the Bay Area. Crosby was devastated, and he began abusing drugs much more severely than he had before. Nevertheless, he still managed to contribute "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 focus on their respective solo careers.

David also briefly did a stint with members from the Grateful Dead. Together they recorded "David and the Dorks," a rare live recording at the Matrix on December 15, 1970.

CSNY reunited in 1973 to embark on a reunion 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 only a greatest hits compilation entitled So Far was released.

Solo career

In 1971, he released his first solo album If I Could Only Remember My Name, featuring contributions 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.

Crosby and Graham Nash have also released several albums as a duo known as Crosby & Nash.

Some other popular songs Crosby wrote in the 1970s 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 Grateful Dead and Jefferson Starship.^[2]. He also sang back up vocals on "Highway Song" from the Hot Tuna album Burgers. In 1999, he appeared on Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons, singing a duet of the title track with Lucinda Williams.

In 2006 Crosby worked with David Gilmour in his third solo album: On an Island; along with Nash. You can hear Crosby and Nash sing along with Gilmour on the second track on the album "On an Island". The album was released in March of 2006 and reached #1 quickly on the UK charts. Both Crosby and Nash also performed live with Gilmour in his concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London in May 2006 and toured together in the USA, which can be seen on Gilmour's 2007 DVD "Remember That Night".

Acting career

During the early 1990s, he appeared as a guest star in several episodes of The John Larroquette Show, where he played the part of John Hemingway's AA sponsor. He appeared on an episode of Roseanne. He also appeared as a pirate in the 1991 film Hook, as a '70s Hippie in the 1991 film Backdraft, and as a bartender in the 1992 feature film, Thunderheart.

Crosby has also voiced himself on two episodes of The Simpsons, "Marge in Chains" and "Homer's Barbershop Quartet".

Medical issues

David was the recipient of a highly publicized liver transplant in 1995. News of his transplant created some controversy due to his past issues with drug addiction.^[3][4][5]

Crosby has insulin dependant diabetes and is being treated with insulin to manage this disease. ^[6] In January of 2000 rock star Melissa Etheridge announced that Crosby was the biological father of two children she and her partner Julie Cypher had conceived by artificial insemination.

Discography

Please also see discographies for The Byrds, Crosby & Nash, 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
• Voyage Box Set, Rhino/Wea 2006

With CPR (Crosby, Pevar & Raymond)

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

References