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David Crosby
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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.
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.
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Encyclopedia
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.
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 and the Crane Country Day School in Montecito, California, for the rest of his elementary school and junior high. 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, Carpinteria, California, completing his studies by correspondence. In 1960, his parents divorced and his father was remarried to Betty Christie Crosby.
He also attended Santa Barbara City College. 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
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 1967 over two specific 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 which suggested 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. 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.
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.. 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 as the singer husband of one of Roseanne's co-workers. He sang the composition "Roll On Down" on that episode. 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 addiction.
Crosby has diabetes and is being treated with insulin to manage this disease.
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.
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.
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 ferility 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.
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
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, Disky 2002
- Greatest Hits Live, King Biscuit 2003
- From The Front Row...Live!, 2003
- Voyage Box Set, Rhino/Wea 2006
With CPR (Crosby, Pevar & Raymond)
Note
External links
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