The death of David Crosby at the age of 81 represents for me at least the end of an era and the end of a dream. One of four brilliant singer-songwriters in the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (CSNY), his loss means, obviously, we will never see or hear them making music together. It’s also the end of a number of bands, including CSNY, CSN without Y and C and N. Some band are able to survive the loss of a member, or in the case of bands like the Rolling Stones, numerous members, and REM who lost drummer Bill Berry but went on to make some of the best music of their career. For bands with names that comprise its constituent parts, they’re often doomed. Perhaps, with its members in their late 70s and early 80s, CSNY had already had their day, but you can always hope.
CSNY were always a fractious combination of talent and ego and the argumentative contrarian Crosby was a significant reason for the band’s dysfunctional nature. Indeed, at the time of his death none of his former band members were talking to him. I wonder how much they now regret that. I’ve lost people I fell out with and I wish I had made some effort to sort things out. Maybe they feel the same?
I saw Crosby, Stills and Nash on four occasions and Crosby and Nash without Stills once and they were always great. And I mean great. And while they had a stellar back catalogue to choose from, they also carried on creating new music, which they always included in their sets. While I ached to hear Wooden Ships, Deja Vu and Marrakesh Express, I welcomed the new songs which in terms of quality never sounded out of place.
The band and its members were always political, on the liberal left, as well as being strong on the environment and always anti-war, whether it was Vietnam or more recently Iraq. When it appeared likely that Donald Trump might defeat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, I even tweeted Croz, suggesting that he and the rest of CSNY set aside their differences to campaign for Biden and against Trump. He even replied, suggesting he would be open to the idea, but sadly it never happened and thankfully wasn’t needed. But with Crosby, it was always about the music.
Much of his best creative output went in to the various versions of CSNY, but he also had a strange career as a solo artist. His 1971 album If I Could Only Remember My Name was a truly great record, utterly essential, but from then his solo work was often patchy to non-existent until 2016 when he released the first of five solo albums of astonishing quality in five years. It was as if he was raging against the dying of the light and in a way he was.
How he got to 81 is anyone’s guess. His heart was full of stents, he had a liver transplant many years ago and in recent times his health was not the best. But when he sang, he had the voice of an angel. And I loved him and his music. That voice never declined.
Thanks to my friend, the legendary drummer Joe Vitale who often played with CSNY, I got to meet Graham Nash and Stephen Stills and they were everything I hoped they would be. Croz, however, steered clear of pre and post gig meet-ups and it is to my eternal regret our paths never crossed.
Great is a word often conferred upon people who were anything but great. In David Crosby, the world was blessed to have a great singer and songwriter. His music will outlive us all.
