Happy Birthday one of my favourite musicians of ALL time!!
David Crosby, turns 72 today (August 14th).
Crosby, whose father was Academy Award-winning cinematographer Floyd Crosby, grew up in affluent towns in and around Los Angeles, and later Santa Barbara, California. He first attained fame as part of the Byrds, which he co-founded with Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, Chris Hillman, and Michael Clarke in 1964. The next year, the Byrds went on to score two Number Ones with a cover of Bob Dylan‘s “Mr. Tambourine Man” and an electric beat arrangement of Pete Seeger‘s “Turn, Turn, Turn.”
By 1967, Crosby, who was always an excellent harmonist, had developed a unique modular guitar tuning style, and began submitting seminal ’60s work to the band’s sessions, including “What’s Happening?!?!,” “Everybody Has Been Burned,” “Draft Morning,” and the 1967 psychedelic classic “Lady Friend.” Most notably, Crosby co-wrote the band’s groundbreaking 1966 single “Eight Mile High.” Due to the growing mature nature of his songs and differing musical attitudes with McGuinn and Hillman, Crosby was fired from the Byrds.
In his 1988 autobiography, Long Time Gone, Crosby recalled being dumped by the band, remembering that, “(They said), ‘You’re real difficult to work with. We don’t dig your songs and we think we’ll do better without you.'”
In 1968, Crosby joined forces with the Buffalo Springfield‘s Stephen Stills and the Hollies‘ Graham Nash to form the supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash. It was on their self-titled 1969 debut that Crosby was finally able to shine on Woodstock-era anthems such as “Long Time Gone,” “Wooden Ships,” and “Guinevere.”
Crosby, a father of six who has cheated death on numerous occasions, said that he’s grown to enjoy every day he’s still alive “It’s a funny thing happens. When you come close to dying, and you don’t, each day becomes this precious jewel, this commodity that it’s so valuable to you. And you wind up really being excited with it, and really wantin’ to do something with every minute of every day. You have what the French call a ‘raison d’etre,’ a reason for being”
