David Crosby, a veteran of the US folk-rock scene, has passed away at 81, his spokesperson has announced.

He was instrumental in forming two 1960s groups: The Byrds and Crosby, Stills, and Nash. His guitar skills and vocal harmonies made him famous.

During his career, he accomplished the extraordinary: he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame not once but twice! Ex-members of the band paid tribute to Crosby’s creative abilities while noting their tensions.

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During a private family funeral, Crosby passed away “after a protracted illness,” his widow informed the entertainment trade publication Variety.

She said, “His legacy will continue to live via his renowned music.” Crosby is the son of Floyd Crosby, a legendary Hollywood cameraman who won an Academy Award for his work.

In 1964, he became a famous member of The Byrds, a folk-rock band best known for their rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Tambourine Man” and for groundbreaking hits like “Turn! Turn! Turn!” and “Eight Miles High.”

Three years after he joined, his tumultuous stint (during which he briefly dated vocalist Joni Mitchell) led to his dismissal from the band.

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Crosby recruited three members of Buffalo Springfield to establish the supergroup: Stephen Stills of Buffalo Springfield, Graham Nash of The Hollies, and Neil Young of Buffalo Springfield.

Mitchell’s song about the renowned event became a smash, and it was performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young during one of their first performances together.

Unfortunately, internal strife caused this band to disband after a few years, although members reunited for occasional performances.

During his tenure with the band, Crosby wrote several hits, including the hippie anthems “Almost Cut My Hair” and “Deja Vu,” as well as a response song, “Long Time Coming,” written in response to the killing of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.

Aside from his musical abilities, he became famous for his political activism in the counterculture and his signature moustache.

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For Free, his last album was released in 2021, capping out a career spanning six decades.

On the album, he collaborated with his son James Raymond, who was adopted shortly after birth and met his biological father 30 years later.

Offstage, Crosby had a long history of trouble with the law in the United States, culminating in his 1982 arrest on drug and weapon charges.

After the tragic loss of his young lover in a vehicle accident, he began doing drugs more often. After struggling with health, a liver transplant was performed in 1994. Twenty years later, Rolling Stone magazine called Crosby “rock’s unlikeliest survivor” due to his reputation for living a wild lifestyle. A Legendary Musician, Hailed As “A Giant In His Field.”

In 2019, Crosby shared to the Los Angeles Times that he felt “ashamed” of some of his previous behaviors, including his substance abuse and fights with co-stars.

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Despite the two men’s frequently “volatile” relationship, former bandmate Nash expressed “deep grief” after Crosby’s death, saying that the singer left behind a “tremendous gap.”

The sheer pleasure of the music we produced together, the sound we found with one another, and the deep relationship we experienced over all these many long years have always been the most important thing to David and me,” Nash wrote.

It has been said about David, “He had no fear in life or music.” Even though they had “butted heads a lot of the time,” Stills concedes that his late partner was “without doubt a behemoth of a musician.”

His “harmonic instincts” were “nothing short of brilliance,” he said. Brian Wilson, the lead singer of the Beach Boys, expressed his sadness at the news on Twitter, calling his bandmate an “unbelievable talent” and a “great guy.”

Melissa Etheridge’s Sperm Donor

Crosby was the sperm donor for fellow singer Melissa Etheridge and her boyfriend, allowing them to produce two children via artificial insemination.

On Thursday, Etheridge reflected on the family that was given to her by her boyfriend.

“He, Django, and Jan have my undying appreciation. His music and life’s work will be an inspiration for many years. A priceless gem.”

It wasn’t until Crosby, Etheridge, and their respective spouses appeared on the 2000 cover of Rolling Stone with the couple’s two young children that Crosby’s participation was made public.

“Crosby is musical, which means a lot to me, and I appreciate his work.” Etheridge told the magazine when asked why she selected him.

In 2016, she said that her close friend Brad Pitt was a potential donor, but she ultimately chose against using him so that he might have a family of his own.

When she realised how much he wanted children, she told Australia’s Studio 10 that she didn’t want to share the experience with him.

“My children don’t need another parent — they have two,” she said. Crosby visited Etheridge’s family “every once in a while,” she claimed, and he and his wife Jan “completely accepted that we are the parents.”

Beckett Cypher, one of their offspring, passed away in 2020 at 21. Etheridge said on Twitter that she had “joined the hundreds of thousands of families who have lost loved ones to opioid addiction.”

In 2021, Crosby said how “hugely terrible” Beckett’s passing had been for him. “It’s never going to be easier,” he told The Telegraph. “Losing a loved one is painful; it just is.”

A Look Inside Drew Barrymore’s Rehab

Etheridge revealed to The Guardian that Crosby believed Beckett’s addiction was hereditary and that he was to blame. ‘Still, he can’t. Anyone can do what they want, and there’s no way to dismiss them with, “Oh, that’s David Crosby’s kid, so…” That won’t work in any way, shape, or form.’, he said. When actress Drew Barrymore was 14 years old and struggling with alcohol and drug misuse, Crosby and his wife assisted by having her reside with them for three months as part of her rehabilitation programme.

“I’m an old Hollywood kid, and I knew her tale,” Crosby added. “Being a fifth-generation alcoholic, I felt terrible for her and didn’t want to watch her rot away.”

Following Crosby’s passing, several well-known people took to social media to pay their respects.