David Van Cortlandt Crosby
(born August 14, 1941) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds; Crosby, Stills & Nash, which is sometimes augmented with Neil Young; and CPR. 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. Growing up in California, he attended several schools, including the University Elementary School in Los Angeles, the
Crane Country Day School in
Montecito, and
Laguna Blanca School in
Santa Barbara for the rest of his elementary school and junior high.
[1] At Crane, he starred in
HMS Pinafore
and other
musicals but was asked not to return due to lack of academic progress. He graduated from the
Cate School in
Carpinteria, completing his studies by correspondence. In 1960, his parents divorced, and his father was remarried to Betty Christie Crosby.
Crosby also attended
Santa Barbara City College.
[2] Originally, he was a drama student, but dropped out 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
Crosby joined Jim McGuinn (who later changed his name to
Roger) and
Gene Clark, who were then named the Jet Set (although there is no evidence that they ever performed under that name). They were augmented by drummer
Michael Clarke, at which point Crosby attempted to play bass unsuccessfully. Late in 1964,
Chris Hillman joined as bassist, and Crosby relieved Gene Clark of rhythm guitar duties. Somehow, they managed to obtain a demo recording of
Bob Dylan's "
Mr. Tambourine Man" and recorded a cover version of the song featuring McGuinn's
12 string guitar and Crosby's and Clark's vocal harmonizing. The song turned into a massive hit, soaring to #1 on the charts in 1965.
While Roger McGuinn originated The Byrds' 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 placed 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.
Crosby is widely credited with popularizing the song "
Hey Joe", 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 clearly began to find his trademark style.
Friction between Crosby and the other Byrds came to a head in mid 1967. Tensions were high after the famous
Monterey Pop Festival in June, when Crosby's on-stage political discources between songs generated ill-feeling. The next night he further annoyed McGuuin and Hillman when, at the invitation of
Stephen Stills, he substituted for an absent
Neil Young during
Buffalo Springfield’s set. The internal conflict boiled over during recording of the album
Notorious Byrd Brothers
in August and September. Differences over song selections led to arguments, with Crosby being particularly adamant that the band should record only original material. McGuinn and Hillman dismissed Crosby in mid-September, after he refused to participate in the recording session of the
Goffen-King song
Goin' Back
. Crosby's controversial menage-a-trois song "Triad", recorded by the band before his dismissal, was left off the album.
Jefferson Airplane recorded "Triad" and released it on their album
Crown of Creation
in 1968. David Crosby sang a solo acoustic version on Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young'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
.
In 1973 Crosby reunited with the original Byrds for the album
Byrds
, with Crosby acting as the record's producer. The album failed to be a critical or commercial success, and marked the final artistic collaboration of the original band.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & 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. Remarkably, their appearance at the
Woodstock Music and Art Fair in August 1969 constituted their second live performance ever.
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 who then had the option of 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, Neil Young joined the group, 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.
In December 1969, David appeared with CSNY at the
Altamont Free Concert hosted by
The Rolling Stones, thus performing at all three of the iconic
rock festivals of the 1960s, along with
Monterey Pop and
Woodstock. At the beginning of the new decade, he briefly did a stint with
Jerry Garcia,
Phil Lesh and
Mickey Hart from the
Grateful Dead, performing together as "David and the Dorks," and making a live recording at the Matrix on
December 15,
1970.
CSNY reunited in 1973 at the
Winterland in
San Francisco. This served as a prelude to their highly successful stadium tour in the summer of 1974. Prior to the tour, the foursome attempted to record a new album entitled
Human Highway
. The recording session, 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.
In rehearsals for the 1974 tour, CSNY recorded a then-unreleased David Crosby song, "Little Blind Fish." A different version of the song would appear on the second CPR album more than two decades later.
The 1974 tour was also full of constant bickering, though they managed to finish it without interruption. A greatest hits compilation entitled
So Far
was released during 1974 to capitalize on the foursome's reunion tour.
They made another attempt at a CSNY album in 1976. This ended bitterly as both Crosby & Nash and Stills & Young were under pressure from their respective duo's record companies to release a new record prior to the competing tours. Stills & Young wound up deleting the Crosby & Nash vocals from their album "Long May You Run" and then embarking on the ill-fated Stills/Young Summer 1976 tour.
CSNY would not perform together again as a foursome until Live Aid in Philadelphia in 1985. Two albums followed, 1988's
American Dream
and 2000's
Looking Forward
. CSNY performed sporadically in the late 1980s and into the 1990s (mainly at Young's annual Bridge School Benefit). However, CSN (without Young) reformed in 1977 and have toured and recorded since.
Fullscale CSNY tours took place in 2000, 2002 and 2006.
Crosby, Stills and Nash appeared together on a 2008 episode of
The Colbert Report
, and "Neil Young" joined them during the musical performance at the end of the episode. However, eventually, it became clear that it was only Stephen Colbert impersonating Young as the group sang
"Teach Your Children".
Solo career
In 1971, Crosby 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.
[3]. 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.
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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 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
as the singer husband of one of Roseanne's co-workers. He sang the composition "Roll On Down" on that episode. He was on an episode of
Ellen
called "Ellen Unplugged," where he was helping out at the Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp. 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 because of his celebrity and his past issues with drug and
alcohol addiction.
[4] [5] [6] [7]
Crosby has
diabetes and is being treated with
insulin to manage this disease.
[8]
At a concert in October, 2008 Crosby, looking quite thinner than in recent years announced to the audience that he'd recently shed 55 pounds.
Drugs Charges and Prison Time
In 1982, after appearing in
criminal courts facing several drugs and weapons charges, Crosby spent 11 months in
Texas prisons. The drug charges stemmed from charges related to
possession of
heroin and
cocaine.
In 1985, David Crosby, on probation for drunken driving, was arrested for hit-and-run driving and possession of a concealed pistol and drug paraphernalia. Crosby was arrested after driving into a fence in a Marin County suburb and officers found a .45-caliber pistol and suspected drug accessories in his car.
On March 7 2004, he was charged with criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, illegal possession of a hunting knife, illegal possession of ammunition and illegal possession of about 1 ounce of marijuana.
Family
Two of Crosby's children were placed for
adoption, a son
James Raymond in 1962 and a daughter (Erika Keller) in 1966. He has been reunited with both of them as adults. Raymond is a musician, and the two of them record and perform with
Jeff Pevar as Crosby, Pevar & Raymond (
CPR).
Crosby has two other children. He has a daughter, Donovan Crosby, with girlfriend Debbie Donovan. After extensive fertility treatments while Crosby's liver was failing, he and wife Jan Dance conceived son Django Crosby.
He is married to Jan Dance but had a number of long term relationships, including those with Christine Hinton, Debbie Donovan and
Joni Mitchell.
In January 2000,
Melissa Etheridge, a
lesbian musician announced that Crosby was the
biological father of the two children she and her partner
Julie Cypher had conceived by
artificial insemination.
[9]
Crosby's brother Ethan, who taught him to play guitar and started his musical career with him, committed
suicide in late 1997 or early 1998. The date is unknown because Ethan left a note not to search for his body and let him return to the earth. His body was found months later in May 1998.
Discography
- 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
- Voyage Box Set
, Rhino/Wea 2006
References
- Zimmer and Diltz, p. 2
- Zimmer and Diltz, p. 2.
- Zimmer and Diltz, p. 179
- [1] from his biography section on his official website. Accessed June 28 2007
- DAVID CROSBY by Bryan Alsop (a feature article on his official website) Accessed June 28 2007.
- Teach your pop stars well: Rock and Roll Hall of Famer David Crosby talks about touring, political engagement and why he doesn't listen to Britney Spears. By David Marchese for Salon.com. Accessed June 28 2007
- David Crosby Liver Transplant Sparks Vigorous Debate on Fairness of Allocation System
- gethelp4diabetics.com
- "David Crosby's a Daddy" ''Rolling Stone'' November 21, 2005