David Van Cortlandt Crosby (August 14, 1941 – January 18, 2023) was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He was a founding member of both the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash, and also embarked on a solo career.

Crosby joined the Byrds in 1964. They had their first number-one hit in 1965 with a cover of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man". Crosby appeared on the Byrds' first five albums and produced the original lineup's 1973 reunion album. In 1968, he formed Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) with Stephen Stills and Graham Nash.

After the release of their debut album, CSN won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist of 1969. Neil Young joined the group for live appearances, their second concert being Woodstock, before recording their second album Déjà Vu. Meant to be a group that could collaborate freely, Crosby & Nash recorded three gold albums in the 1970s, while the core trio of CSN remained active from 1976 until 2016. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY) reunions took place in each decade from the 1970s through the 2000s.

Crosby released six solo albums. Additionally, he formed a jazz-influenced trio with his son James Raymond and guitarist Jeff Pevar in CPR. Crosby's work with the Byrds and CSNY has sold over 35 million albums.

Crosby was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: once for his work in the Byrds and again for his work with CSN. Five albums to which he contributed are included in Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", three with the Byrds and two with CSN(Y). Crosby was outspoken politically and was sometimes depicted as emblematic of the counterculture of the 1960s.

Early years

David Van Cortlandt Crosby was born in Los Angeles, California, the second son of Academy Award-winning cinematographer Floyd Crosby, who formerly worked on Wall Street, and Aliph Van Cortlandt Whitehead, a salesperson at Macy's department store. His father was a relative of the Van Rensselaer family, and his mother—granddaughter of Bishop of Pittsburgh Cortlandt Whitehead—descended from the prominent Van Cortlandt family; they "regularly inhabited the New York society pages before their wedding".

Crosby was the younger brother of musician Ethan Crosby. 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 years. At Crane, he starred in H.M.S. Pinafore and other musicals but he flunked out. Crosby did not graduate from the Cate School in Carpinteria. He briefly attended Carpinteria Union High School in 1958. At CUHS David was given the lead in the Junior Class Play. Ethan ('Chip') had been at CUHS before David. His parents divorced in 1960, and his father married Betty Cormack Andrews.

Crosby briefly studied drama at Santa Barbara City College before dropping out to pursue a career in music. He performed with singer Terry Callier in Chicago and Greenwich Village, but the duo failed to obtain a recording contract. He also performed with Les Baxter's Balladeers around 1962. With the help of producer Jim Dickson, Crosby recorded his first solo session in 1963.

Personal life

Family

Crosby had a son, James Raymond, with Celia Crawford Ferguson in 1962, who was placed for adoption and later reunited with Crosby as an adult. Beginning in 1997, Raymond performed with Crosby on stage and in the studio, as a member of CPR, and as part of the touring bands Crosby & Nash and Crosby, plus Stills & Nash.

Crosby had three other children: a daughter, Erika, with Jackie Guthrie, a daughter, Donovan Crosby, with former girlfriend Debbie Donovan, and a son, Django Crosby, who was conceived with wife Jan Dance after extensive fertility treatments while Crosby's liver was failing.

Crosby, then 45, married Jan Dance, then 35, in May 1987 at the Hollywood Church of Religious Science in Los Angeles. His bandmate Stephen Stills gave away the bride.

Crosby's brother Ethan, who taught him to play guitar and started his musical career with him, killed himself in late 1997 or early 1998; the date is unknown because Ethan left a note not to search for his body but to let him return to the earth. His body was found months later in May 1998.

In January 2000, Melissa Etheridge announced that Crosby was the sperm donor of two children with her partner Julie Cypher by means of artificial insemination. On May 13, 2020, Etheridge announced on her Twitter that her and Cypher's son Beckett had died of causes related to opioid addiction at the age of 21.

Cannabis brand

Crosby, in partnership with longtime friend and entrepreneur Steven Sponder, developed a craft cannabis brand called "MIGHTY CROZ". Crosby, a 50-plus-year cannabis advocate, and connoisseur, credited cannabis with contributing to his creative process of songwriting stating, "All those hit songs, every one of them, I wrote them all on cannabis." Crosby also credited cannabis and cannabidiol (CBD) with alleviating his chronic shoulder pain, allowing him to continue touring and making new music well into his seventies. Crosby and Sponder intended to work with licensed cultivators throughout the U.S. and beyond and to also extend the brand to include CBD and hemp products. In 2018, Crosby was invited to join the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) advisory board.

Sailing

Following up on a transformative sailing experience when he was eleven, Crosby purchased a 59-foot, John Alden–designed schooner named Mayan with his Byrds settlement. On Twitter in 2019, Crosby said that the late Peter Tork of the Monkees loaned him the money to buy the Mayan. In the decades before he sold the boat in 2014,[56] Crosby sailed it thousands of miles in the Pacific and Caribbean. He credited the Mayan as being a songwriting muse; he wrote some of his best-known songs aboard the boat, including "Wooden Ships," "The Lee Shore," "Page 43," and "Carry Me."

Politics

Crosby was politically active throughout his professional career. He publicly questioned the report of the Warren Commission covering the assassination of John F. Kennedy onstage during The Byrds' appearance at the Monterey Festival in 1967. He identified as a pacifist and was a well-known opponent over the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, though he also defended the right to own guns.

Crosby strongly criticized the presidency of Donald Trump, declaring him to be "a dangerous guy who's got a big ego". For the 2020 presidential election, he said in an interview that Mayor Pete Buttigieg was his favorite candidate for president and that he was smarter than all the others combined; however, he eventually voted for Bernie Sanders.

Although Crosby was against Joe Biden's candidacy during the 2020 presidential primaries, he voiced a more positive assessment following Biden's general election victory in November. Describing him as a "decent guy", Crosby noted that the personal tragedies Biden experienced with the tragic deaths of his first wife and daughter in 1972 and his oldest son, Beau, in 2015, made him a better human being. "He has humanity and he has compassion for other human beings because he's seen a lot of rough stuff himself. I don't generally trust most politicians but I trust [Biden] to be who he is and I think he's going to do a good job." In May 2022, Crosby wrote in response to a pro-union tweet from Biden that "most Unions are useless and totally dishonest."

Acting career

During the early 1990s, Crosby appeared as a guest star in several episodes of The John Larroquette Show, where he played the part of Larroquette's Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) sponsor. He appeared on a TV episode of Roseanne as the singer–husband of one of Roseanne's co-workers, who was played by Bonnie Bramlett. He sang the Danny Sheridan composition "Roll On Down" on that episode. He was on an episode of Ellen called "Ellen Unplugged", in which he was helping out at the Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp. He also appeared as a pirate in the 1991 film Hook, as a 1970s hippie in the 1991 film Backdraft, and as a bartender in the 1992 film Thunderheart. Crosby also voiced himself on two episodes of The Simpsons, "Marge in Chains" and "Homer's Barbershop Quartet".

Drug, alcohol, and arrests

Crosby spent nine months in a Texas state prison after being convicted of several drugs and weapons offenses in 1985. The drug charges were related to possession of heroin and cocaine.

Later in 1985, Crosby was arrested in California for drunken driving, a hit-and-run driving accident, and possession of a concealed pistol and drug paraphernalia. He was arrested after driving into a fence in a Marin County suburb, where officers found a .45-caliber pistol and cocaine in his car.

On March 7, 2004, Crosby 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 one ounce of marijuana. He left the items behind in his New York City hotel room. Authorities said a "hotel employee searched the suitcase for identification and found about an ounce of marijuana, rolling papers, two knives, and a .45-caliber pistol. Mr. Crosby was arrested when he returned to the hotel to pick up his bag." After spending 12 hours in jail, he was released on $3,500 bail. Crosby pleaded guilty in New York State Supreme Court to attempted criminal possession of a weapon on July 4, 2004; he was fined $5,000 and received no jail time. Prosecutors did not seek a more severe penalty on the weapons charge because the pistol was registered in California and was stowed safely in his luggage when it was found. A charge of unlawful possession of marijuana was dismissed. Crosby was discharged by the court on condition that he pay his fine and not get arrested again.

Health and death

Crosby was the recipient of a highly publicized liver transplant, paid for by Phil Collins, in 1994. News of his transplant created some controversy because of his celebrity status and his past problems with drug and alcohol addiction. Crosby's liver problems stemmed from a long run with hepatitis C.

Crosby suffered from type 2 diabetes and was treated with insulin to manage the disease. Crosby, looking much thinner than in recent years, announced to the audience at an October 2008 concert that he had recently shed 55 pounds (25 kilograms) as a result of his struggles with the disease.

In February 2014, at the urging of his doctor, Crosby postponed the final dates of his solo tour to undergo a cardiac catheterization and angiogram, based on the results of a routine cardiac stress test.

On January 18, 2023, Crosby died at the age of 81 following a long illness.

Other appearances

• Joni Mitchell: Song to a Seagull - Production (1968), Court and Spark - Backing vocals (1974), The Hissing of Summer Lawns - Vocals (1975)
• Jefferson Airplane: Crown of Creation (1968), Volunteers (1969), Blows Against the Empire (1970 );
• Neil Young: After the Gold Rush (1970), Harvest (1972), Time Fades Away (1973),On the Beach (1974), , Tonight's the Night (1975);
• Stephen Stills: Stephen Stills (1970),Stephen Stills 2 (1971), Stills (1975), Still Stills: The Best of Stephen Stills (1976) Carry On (2013);
• Graham Nash: Songs for Beginners (1971), Wild Tales (1974), Earth & Sky (1980), Songs for Survivors (2002), Reflections (2009), Over The Years (2018);
• Paul Kantner/Grace Slick: Sunfighter (1971), Baron von Tollbooth & the Chrome Nun (1973);
• Hot Tuna: Burgers - vocals on Highway Song (1972), Flight Log - vocals, guitar (1977)
• Rick Roberts: Windmills - Backing Vocals (1972)
• Jackson Browne: Jackson Browne (1972), For Everyman (1973), Late for the Sky (1974), The Pretender (1976), World in Motion (1989), I'm Alive (1991) , Looking East (1996);
• Grace Slick: Manhole (1974);
• Ned Lagin: Seastones - David 12-string electric guitar, vocals (1975)
• Dave Mason: Split Coconut - Vocals, backing vocals (1975);
• James Taylor: Gorilla (1975), In the Pocket (1976), The Best of James Taylor (2003)
• Art Garfunkel: Breakaway (1975), Watermark (1977)
• J. D. Souther: Black Rose - Vocals, backing vocals (1976)
• Carole King: Thoroughbred (1976), In Concert - David Crosby & Graham Nash singing on You've Got A Friend (1994)
• Phil Collins: …But Seriously; Songs: That's Just the Way It Is and Another Day in Paradise (1989)
• Elton John: Blue Moves (1976)
• Gary Wright: Headin' Home (1979) - With Graham Nash, Alan White, Michael McDonald, etc.
• Bob Dylan: Under the Red Sky, 1990;
• Indigo Girls: Rites of Passage, 1992
• Various artists: Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons (1999)
• David Gilmour: On an Island (2006), Remember That Night (2007), Live in Gdańsk DVD only (2008), Rattle That Lock (2015);
• John Mayer: Born and Raised (2012) - With Graham Nash on backing vocals
• Snarky Puppy: Family Dinner - vol. 2 - backing vocals, acoustic guitar (2016);

Publications

• Crosby, David; David Bender (2000). Stand and Be Counted: A Revealing History of Our Times Through the Eyes of the Artists Who Helped Change Our World. HarperOne.
• Crosby, David; Carl Gottlieb (2005). Long Time Gone: The Autobiography of David Crosby. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-81406-4.
• Crosby, David; Carl Gottlieb (2007). Since Then: How I Survived Everything and Lived to Tell About It. Berkeley.