To read Joe Woodard’s David Crosby remembrance, click here.
David Crosby, the iconically outspoken rock ‘n’ roll singer who infused bands like The Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young with an unmistakable and soaring harmonic element while his relations with his bandmates were anything but harmonious, died at age 81.
Crosby has long been a resident of Santa Barbara County; he and his wife lived in the Santa Ynez Valley. Crosby cut his teeth in Santa Barbara, where he briefly attended Cate School and Santa Barbara City College, playing gigs as a teenager at the Noctambulist, then a bohemian coffee shop and music venue located next to the Lobero Theatre. From there he immersed himself in Los Angeles’ burgeoning folk-rock scene, teaming up to form The Byrds in 1964. Although the band realized astonishing success reimagining many of Bob Dylan’s hits with a 12-string twang and richly harmonic textures, Crosby could not get along with his bandmates, who asked him to leave in 1967. He went on to play a pivotal role with one of the first officially dubbed supergroups, Crosby, Stills, and Nash — and later Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.