David Van Cortlandt Crosby (August 14, 1941 – January 18, 2023) was an American singer-songwriter and musician, who was a founding member of both The Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
He was married to Jan Dance and he had six children, one with Celial Crawford Ferguson, three with Jackie Guthrie, one with Debbie Donovan and one with Dance. He was also a sperm donor for Melissa Etheridge to have two children.
Solo Discography
- 1971 - If Only I Could Remember My Name
- 1989 - Oh Yes I Can
- 1993 - Thousand Roads
- 2014 - Croz
- 2016 - Lighthouse
- 2017 - Sky Trails
- 2018 - Here If You Listen (with Michael League, Becca Stevens, and Michelle Willis)
- 2021 - For Free
Filmography
- 1965 - The Ed Sullivan Show as Singer
- 1966 - The Big TNT Show
- 1968 - You Are What You Eat
- 1970 - Woodstock
- 1971 - Celebration At Big Sur
- 1973 - Journey Through The Best
- 1980 - No Nukes
- 1990 - Shannons Deal as Dorsey Ledbetter
- 1991 - Backdraft as '70s Hippie
- 1991 - Hook as Tickles
- 1991 - To Cross The Rubicon as Damian Lyndell
- 1992 - Roseanne as Duke
- 1992 - Thunderheart as Bartender
- 1993 - Flying Blind as Employer #4
- 1993 - The Simpsons as himself (2 episodes)
- 1993-1994 - The John Larroquette Show as Chester (7 episodes)
- 1996 - Suddenly as Eddie
- 1997 - Ellen as David Crosby
- 1998 - Chicago Hope as David Crosby
- 2003-2011 - American Masters (3 episodes)
- 2008 - CSNYDEJAVu
- 2010 - Music
- 2018 - Echo In The Canyon
- 2019 - David Crosby Remember My Name
Production Credits
- 2000: Stand And Be Counted
Books
- 2000: Stand And Be Counted A Revealing History Of Our Times Through The Eyes Of The Artists Who Helped Change Our World With David Bender
- 2005: Long Time Gone The Autobiography Of David Crosby with Carl Gottlieb
- 2007: Since Then How I Survived Everything And Lived To Tell About IT With Gottlieb
Contains Examples of:
- Born Under the Sail: Crosby is a huge fan of sailing, and many of his songs ("Dolphin's Smile," "The Lee Shore") contain nautical imagery.
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Breakup Breakout: He's more known for his work with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young than he is for his time in The Byrds. -
Catharsis Factor: He's said that his repeated, anguished wails of "four" and "how many more" at the end of "Ohio" were both an expression of his anger at the Kent State shootings as well as his devastation at the early death of his girlfriend Christine Hinton, which had occurred a few months previously. - Cool Old Guy: One of the few musicians who rose to prominence in the '60s and toward the end of his life he could still be considered relevant in the present day. He released legitimately good music on an almost yearly basis, and he was also known for his outspoken Twitter presence (in particular, his feud with Phoebe Bridgers).
- Face Of The Band: He's arguably this for CSN(Y), due to his distinctive physical appearance and status as an emblem of the late '60s counterculture. A unique example in that most of the group's hits were actually written by his bandmates Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, since Crosby's musical tastes and songwriting veered towards odd time signatures and general weirdness.
- Fan Nickname: "Croz."
- Folk Rock: Most of his music falls into this genre, often with some Jazz Fusion mixed in.
- Important Haircut: His song "Almost Cut My Hair" is about a hippie who almost did just that to avoid being harassed by police, but decided to let it grow out.
- Jerkass: A self-admitted one. A major theme in Remember My Name, the documentary about his life, is that none of his old collaborators (Roger McGuinn, Graham Nash, etc) want to work with him any more.
- Manly Facial Hair: His iconic walrus mustache.
- The One That Got Away: He seems to regard the Byrds as being this, since he's still quite bitter about having been fired from the band despite the fact that he went on to greater commercial success with CSNY, and even purchased the rights to the Byrds name. For decades he's tried to get Roger McGuinn to reform the band, at this point still with no success.
- Production Posse: A noted member of the Laurel Canyon set in Los Angeles.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Due to his notoriously volatile temperament, he's the red in basically any creative partnership he's been a part of.
- Rockumentary: The subject of Remember My Name, directed by Cameron Crowe and released in 2019.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: People who know him as a longhaired hippie would probably be surprised to hear that in 1965-1966 he was a (relatively) clean-cut teen idol. The change came in 1967, his final year with the Byrds, when he stopped cutting his hair and grew his famous 'stache.
- Silver Spoon Troublemaker: Came from a wealthy family but was noted for causing problems in schools (and, later, bands).
- Singing Voice Dissonance: It's hard to believe that the angelic high harmonies on the Byrds' recordings and the ragged lead vocal on "Almost Cut My Hair" were performed by the same person.
- Vocal Tag Team: He's said that he likes being part of these, and believes that his greatest musical strength is as an arranger of vocal harmonies.
