Music
David Crosby of Crosby Stills Nash and Young Dead at Age 81
David Crosby, the brash rock musician who evolved from a baby-faced harmony singer with the Byrds to a mustachioed hippie superstar and an ongoing troubadour in Crosby, Stills, Nash & (sometimes) Young, died Thursday at the age of 81, according to several media outlets.
According to the New York Times, the musician died Wednesday night, citing a text message from Crosby’s sister-in-law. Several media outlets, citing anonymous sources, reported Crosby’s death; The Associated Press could not reach Crosby’s representatives or his widow.
Crosby received a liver transplant in 1994 after decades of drug use, and he lived through diabetes, hepatitis C, and heart surgery in his 70s.
While he only wrote a few well-known songs, Crosby was at the forefront of the cultural revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, whether triumphing on stage with Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young at Woodstock, testifying on behalf of a hirsute generation in his anthem “Almost Cut My Hair,” or mourning the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in “Long Time Gone.”
He was a founding member and focal point of the Los Angeles rock music community, which produced artists such as the Eagles and Jackson Browne. He inspired Dennis Hopper’s long-haired stoner in “Easy Rider,” a twinkly-eyed hippie patriarch. He was an unrepentant loudmouth who engaged in personal warfare and admitted that many musicians he worked with no longer spoke to him.
“Crosby was a colorful and unpredictable character who wore a Mandrake the Magician cape, didn’t get along with too many people, and had a beautiful voice — and architect of harmony,” Bob Dylan wrote in his memoir, “Chronicles: Volume One,” published in 2004.
David Crosby’s drug use
Crosby’s drug use left him bloated, bankrupt, and estranged. He overcame his addiction during a year in prison in Texas on drug and weapons charges in 1985 and 1986. The conviction was eventually reversed.
“I’ve always said that I picked up the guitar as a shortcut to sex, and after my first joint, I was convinced that if everyone smoked dope, the war would end,” Crosby said in his 1988 autobiography, “Long Time Gone,” co-written with Carl Gottlieb. “I was correct on the sex. When it came to drugs, I was completely wrong.”
He lived years longer than expected and experienced a creative renaissance in his 70s, releasing several solo albums while collaborating with others, including his son James Raymond, who became a favorite songwriting partner.
“Most guys my age would have done a covers record or duets on old material,” he told Rolling Stone shortly before the release of “Croz” in 2013. “This isn’t going to be a big hit. It’ll most likely sell nineteen copies. I don’t think kids will like it, but I’m not going to make it for them. I’m doing it for myself. “I have some things I need to get off my chest.”
Crosby was featured in Cameron Crowe’s documentary “David Crosby: Remember My Name” in 2019.
While his solo career flourished, his seemingly lifelong bond with Nash frayed, Crosby was enraged by Nash’s 2013 memoir “Wild Tales” (which he called “whiny and dishonest”), and their relationship devolved into an ugly public feud, with Nash and Crosby agreeing on one thing: Crosby, Stills, and Nash were done.
Crosby’s rise in the music world
Crosby did express interest in a Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young protest tour following Donald Trump’s election as President of the United States, but his former bandmates did not respond.
Crosby rose to prominence in the mid-1960s as a member of the seminal folk-rock band The Byrds, whose hits included “Turn! Turn! Turn!” and “Mr. Tambourine Man.” At the time, he was clean-cut and baby-faced, and he contributed harmonies that were an important part of the band’s innovative blend of The Beatles and Dylan. Crosby was one of the first American celebrities to become close to The Beatles and was instrumental in introducing George Harrison to Eastern music.
Crosby left The Byrds and formed a new band due to strained relationships with his bandmates. Crosby, Stills, and Nash’s first meeting is legendary: Stills and Crosby were working on the ballad “You Don’t Have to Cry” at Joni Mitchell’s house in 1968 (Stills would argue they were at Mama Cass’) when Nash suggested they start over. Nash’s high harmony added a magical layer to Stills’ rough bottom and Crosby’s mellow middle, forming a supergroup.
Their self-titled debut album was an instant success, helping to redefine commercial music. The songs were longer and more personal than their previous releases, but they were easily relatable to an audience embracing a more open lifestyle.
Their vibrant harmonies and themes of peace and love became synonymous with the late 1960s and early 1970s. Their cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock” served as the theme for a documentary about the 1969 rock concert at which the group made only its second live appearance. Crosby had produced Mitchell’s first album, “Song to a Seagull,” in 1968 and had been her boyfriend at the time (as was Nash).
Harmony and rhythm guitar
Crosby, now sporting the drooping, bushy mustache that would define him for the rest of his life, provided harmony and rhythm guitar, and his songs reflected his volatile personality. They ranged from “Guinevere’s” misty-eyed romanticism to “Deja Vu’s” spirituality to “Almost Cut My Hair’s” operatic paranoia.
Some criticized the group for being soft-headed and self-indulgent.
“If you’re into living-room rock, fireplace harmonies, and a hint of good old social consciousness, this is your band,” said Rolling Stone, who never missed an opportunity to write about the band.
But CSN, as they were soon known, won a Grammy for best new artist and became a global touring act and brand name decades later.
The first album was a lighthearted, upbeat recording, but the mood darkened during the second, “Deja Vu.” Neil Young joined the band, having feuded with Stills while both were in Buffalo Springfield and continuing to do so.
Everyone in the band was in turmoil: Nash and Mitchell had split up, as had Stills and singer Judy Collins. Meanwhile, Crosby was so devastated by the death of his girlfriend, Christine Hinton, in a car accident that he would sob on the studio floor.
Solo artists, duos, trios
The album featured a rougher, less unified sound, was released in 1970 and was another commercial success. Within two years, the quartet had disbanded, destined to reunite and splinter for the rest of their lives.
They worked as solo artists, duos, trios, and, on rare occasions, all four simultaneously. They performed in stadiums and clubs. They were present at the Berlin Wall as the Cold War ended in 1989 and in New York for the Occupy Wall Street protests in 2011.
Crosby has toured frequently in recent years and has answered questions on Twitter with affection and exasperation, whether commenting on rock star peers or assessing the quality of a fan’s marijuana joint. He loved sailing, and aside from hard drugs, his greatest regret was selling his 74-foot boat due to financial difficulties. Among the songs completed on the boat was the classic “Wooden Ships,” co-written with Stills and Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane.
Crosby was born David Van Cortlandt Crosby in Los Angeles on August 14, 1941. Floyd Crosby, the Oscar-winning cinematographer behind “High Noon,” was his father. His mother, Aliph, and brother, Floyd Jr., later relocated to Santa Barbara.
Crosby grew up listening to classical, folk, and jazz music. Crosby stated in his autobiography that as a child, he used to harmonize while his mother sang, his father played mandolin, and his brother played guitar.
“I wasn’t into it when rock ‘n’ roll came in during that era, and the Age of Elvis possessed America,” he recalled.
The Beatles inspired Crosby.
His brother taught him to play the guitar, and he began performing in Santa Barbara clubs while still in his teens. In 1960, he moved to Los Angeles to study acting but dropped out and became a folk singer, touring the country before joining The Byrds. Like many other folk performers, Crosby was inspired by the Beatles’ 1964 film “A Hard Day’s Night” and decided to pursue a career as a rock star.
In 1987, Crosby married his longtime girlfriend, Jan Dance. Django, the couple’s son, was born in 1995. Crosby and Debbie Donovan had a daughter, Donovan. Crosby was reunited with Raymond, who had been placed for adoption in 1961, shortly after undergoing the liver transplant. Raymond, Crosby, and Jeff Pevar later formed a band called CPR.
“I regretted losing him many times,” Crosby said of Raymond in 1998 to the Associated Press. “I was too immature and irresponsible to parent anyone.”
Melissa Etheridge revealed in 2000 that Crosby was the father of her two children with then-partner Julie Cypher. Etheridge told Rolling Stone that Cypher carried the children Crosby fathered through artificial insemination. Beckett, one of the sons, died in 2020.
David Crosby did not assist in raising the children but stated, “If, you know, in time, at a distance, they’re proud of who their genetic father is, that’s great.”
Source: AP
On Sunday, Rapper Jay-Z, whose actual name is Shawn Carter, was accused in a civil lawsuit of allegedly molesting a 13-year-old girl with Sean “Diddy” Combs in 2000.
The unidentified accuser, known only as “Jane Doe,” said the assault occurred after she was driven to an MTV Video Music Awards after-party, according to Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee, who filed the case.
In a long statement to NBC News Sunday evening, Jay-Z described the charges as “idiotic” and accused Tony Buzbee of extortion.
“These allegations are so heinous in nature that I implore you to file a criminal complaint, not a civil one!! Whomever would commit such a crime against a minor should be locked away, would you not agree?” Jay-Z said in a statement to NBC News.
“These alleged victims would deserve real justice if that were the case.”
Tony Buzbee has filed many lawsuits against Combs in recent months, all of which have suppressed the identity of the complainants. They allege assault and rape. This is his first lawsuit in which he has named another well-known defendant.
In a statement, Combs’s legal representatives called the suits “shameless publicity stunts, designed to extract payments from celebrities who fear having lies spread about them, just as lies have been spread about Mr. Combs.”
“As his legal team has said before, Mr. Combs has full confidence in the facts and the integrity of the judicial process. In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr. Combs never sexually assaulted or trafficked anyone—man or woman, adult or minor,” the statement read.
Jay-Z files Counter-Suit
Combs was formally charged with racketeering, sex trafficking, and other offences by federal prosecutors in New York in September, and he is currently being held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Centre after being denied bail for the third time last month. His trial date is May 5.
Federal prosecutors indicated last month’s court hearing that they are considering bringing additional allegations against Combs in a superseding indictment.
Before the case was refiled on Sunday, “Carter received a letter from Plaintiff’s counsel requesting a mediation to resolve this matter,” Buzbee stated in the suit. According to Buzbee, Carter responded to the letter, filing his lawsuit against the accuser’s attorneys.
“You have made a terrible error in judgement thinking that all ‘celebrities’ are the same,” Carter added in his statement Sunday. “I’m not from your world. I’m a young man who made it out of the project of Brooklyn. We don’t play these types of games. We have very strict codes and honor. We protect children.”
The lawsuit claims that in 2000 when Doe was 13, Combs and Carter assaulted her at a house party in New York during the MTV Video Music Awards.
According to the lawsuit, a friend dropped her off at the VMAs at Radio City Music Hall. She didn’t have a ticket, so she approached many limousine drivers to get into the event or an after-party.
The driver allegedly told her he worked for Combs and that she “fit what Diddy was looking for.” After the event, he invited her to a party and told her to return to his car later in the evening after he drove Carter and Combs.
Marijuana and Cocaine
The driver later picked her up, according to the suit, and after 20 minutes, they arrived at a white house with a U-shaped driveway. She had to sign a document she assumed was a nondisclosure agreement upon arriving — and did not receive a copy — to access the party, which the suit claims was full of celebrities and individuals using marijuana and cocaine.
She was given a drink that made her “woozy, lightheaded, and felt [like] she needed to lie down,” according to the suit, and she walked into a room to rest.
According to the suit, Combs and Carter entered the room shortly after, with Combs remarking, “You are ready to party!”
Carter allegedly took her clothes, held her down, and raped her while Combs and an unnamed female celebrity looked on. She claims Combs also raped her while Carter and the woman looked on.
The suit claims that she was able to resist being forced to perform oral sex on Combs by punching him in the neck, and he “stopped.”
According to the lawsuit, she “grabbed her clothes” and fled following the claimed assault. She went to a petrol station and contacted her father, it says.
The accuser seeks unspecified damages. The complaint was filed under New York’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act.
“My only heartbreak is for my family,” Carter said. “My wife and I will have to sit our children down, one of whom is at the age where her friends will surely see the press and ask questions about the nature of these claims and explain the cruelty and greed of people. I mourn yet another loss of innocence.
“Only your network of conspiracy theorists, fake physics, will believe the idiotic claims you have levied against me that, if not for the seriousness surrounding harm to kids, would be laughable,” Carter added.
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Bob Bryar, the drummer for My Chemical Romance, was discovered dead inside his Tennessee home on Tuesday. His age was forty-four. TMZ, which cited sources, said Bryar was last seen alive on November 4. Authorities do not believe foul play was involved.
It was not immediately clear what caused Bryar’s death.
Following the discovery of the former musician’s severely decomposed body, animal control was called to the residence to remove two dogs.
Bryar replaced original drummer Matt Pelissier in 2004 while My Chemical Romance and The Used were on tour. Bryar is a sound technician for The Used.
After their second album, “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge,” was released, he was hired as the rock band’s permanent drummer from New Jersey.
With the release of the platinum concept album “The Black Parade” in 2006, Bob Bryar was a member of the band’s heyday.
In the United States, the album received a quadruple platinum certification. It reached the top of the Billboard Top Rock Albums 2006 list and second on the Billboard 200.
According to Billboard, Bob Bryar and lead singer Gerard Way were hurt while filming the music video for “Famous Last Words.” The drummer was given third-degree burns, which forced the band to postpone their performance at the San Diego Street Scene Festival.
Bryar’s subsequent health problems resulted in the cancellation of multiple additional performances.
Bryar left My Chemical Romance in March 2010, six years after succeeding Pelissier.
The band stated that they did not make this decision lightly and that it was painful for all of them. “We hope he succeeds in his future pursuits and ask that you follow suit.”
According to TMZ, Bob Bryar transitioned into the real estate sector after working as a tour supporter for other artists.
On November 12, My Chemical Romance revealed their “Long Live” ten-city tour, starting in July 2025.
None of the shows had Bob Bryar on the schedule.
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Los Angeles — Phil Lesh, an 84-year-old classically trained violinist and jazz trumpeter who discovered his real calling as a founding member of the Grateful Dead by reimagining the position of rock bass guitar, died Friday.
Lesh’s death was confirmed via his Instagram account. Lesh was the eldest and one of the most enduring members of the band that helped define the acid rock sound originating from San Francisco in the 1960s.
“Phil Lesh, the bassist and founding member of the Grateful Dead, died peacefully this morning. He was surrounded by his family and filled with affection. According to the Instagram message, Phil gave enormous delight to everyone around him and left a legacy of music and love.
The message did not specify the cause of death, and attempts to contact spokespeople for more information were not immediately successful. Lesh had already survived prostate and bladder cancer, as well as a liver transplant in 1998 due to the devastating effects of a hepatitis C infection and years of excessive drinking.
Lesh died two days after MusiCares named the Grateful Dead their Persons of the Year. MusiCares, which assists music professionals needing financial or other support, mentioned Lesh’s Unbroken Chain Foundation, among other charity projects. The Dead will be honored in January at a fundraiser dinner in Los Angeles before the Grammy Awards.
Although he kept a low public profile, rarely giving interviews or speaking in front of an audience, fans and fellow band members recognized Lesh as an important member of the Grateful Dead, whose thundering lines on the six-string electric bass provided a brilliant counterpoint to lead guitarist Jerry Garcia’s soaring solos and anchored the band’s famous marathon jam sessions.
Phil Lesh, Founding Member Of Grateful Dead And Influential Bassist, Dies At 84
“When Phil’s happening, the band’s happening,” Garcia famously said.
Drummer Mickey Hart described him as the group’s intellectual, bringing a classical composer’s attitude and skills to a five-chord rock ‘n’ roll outfit.
Lesh credited Garcia for training him to play the bass in the unconventional lead-guitar style for which he would become famous, combining thundering arpeggios with fragments of spontaneously arranged symphonic passages.
A fellow bass player, Rob Wasserman, once stated that Lesh’s style distinguished him from every other bassist he knew. While most others were willing to keep time and play the occasional solo, Wasserman said Lesh was good and confident enough to lead his bandmates through a song’s melody.
“He happens to play bass but he’s more like a horn player, doing all those arpeggios — and he has that counterpoint going all the time,” he told me.
Lesh began his long musical journey as a classically trained violinist, taking third-grade lessons. He began playing the trumpet at 14 and rose to second chair in California’s Oakland Symphony Orchestra while still in his teens.
In 1965, however, he had mostly abandoned both instruments and was working as a sound engineer for a tiny radio station when Garcia approached him to play bass in The Warlocks, a young rock band.
When Lesh informed Garcia that he didn’t play bass, the musician inquired, “Didn’t you used to play violin?” When he responded yes, Garcia said, “There you go, man.”
Lesh sat down for a seven-hour lesson with Garcia, armed with a cheap four-string instrument purchased by his girlfriend, and followed the latter’s advice to tune his instrument’s strings an octave lower than Garcia’s guitar’s four bottom strings. Then Garcia let him go, allowing Lesh to establish the spontaneous playing style he would keep for the rest of his life.
Lesh and Garcia frequently exchanged leads, sometimes spontaneously, and the band as a whole frequently broke into long experimental, jazz-influenced jams during concerts. As a result, even well-known Grateful Dead tunes like “Truckin'” or “Sugar Magnolia” rarely sounded the same twice in a row, which drew faithful fans back to each show.
“It’s always fluid, we just pretty much figure it out on the fly,” Lesh said, chuckling, in a rare 2009 interview with The Associated Press. “You can’t set those things in stone in the rehearsal room.”
Phillip Chapman Lesh was born on March 15, 1940, in Berkeley, California, as the sole child of Frank Lesh, an office equipment repairman, and his wife, Barbara.
In later years, he claimed that listening to New York Philharmonic broadcasts on his grandmother’s radio sparked his interest in music. One of his earliest memories was listening to the famous German composer Bruno Walter conduct the orchestra through Brahms’ First Symphony.
He frequently listed composers such as Bach and Edgard Varèse and jazz legends such as John Coltrane and Miles Davis as his musical influences.
By the time he arrived at the College of San Mateo, Lesh had transitioned from classical music to cool jazz. He eventually became the first trumpet player in the school’s big band and composed several orchestral compositions for the ensemble to perform.
Soon after Lesh began playing bass, The Warlocks changed their name to the Grateful Dead, and Lesh began to captivate audiences with his agility. Crowds congregated in what became known as “The Phil Zone” just before his stage location.
Phil Lesh, Founding Member Of Grateful Dead And Influential Bassist, Dies At 84
Although Lesh was never a prolific songwriter, he did compose music for and occasionally sang some of the band’s most popular songs. These included the lively country song “Pride of Cucamonga,” the jazz-influenced “Unbroken Chain,” and the hauntingly beautiful “Box of Rain.”
Lesh wrote the latter on guitar as a gift for his dying father. He said that after hearing the instrumental recording, Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter contacted him the next day with a lyric sheet. That sheet, he claimed, included “some of the most moving and heartfelt lyrics I’ve ever had the good fortune to sing.”
The song was frequently played at the end of the band’s shows.
After the group disbanded following Garcia’s death in 1995, Lesh frequently skipped performances with the other members.
He participated in a 2009 Grateful Dead tour and again in 2015 for a handful of “Fare Thee Well” shows commemorating both the band’s 50th anniversary and Lesh’s final performance with the others.
However, he continued to perform frequently with a revolving band of musicians he dubbed Phil Lesh and Friends.
In later years, he mainly performed at Terrapin Crossroads, a restaurant and nightclub he founded near his Northern California home in 2012 and named after the Grateful Dead song and album “Terrapin Station.”
Lesh is survived by his wife, Jill, and two kids, Brian and Grahame.
SOURCE | AP
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