David Crosby performed at the legendary Woodstock festival as part of Crosby, Stills and Nash. Photo: Supplied
David Crosby, one of the most influential rock singers of the 1960s and '70s but whose voracious drug habit consumed 10 years of his life, has died at the age of 81, Variety reported on Thursday, citing a statement from Crosby's wife.
"It is with great sadness after a long illness, that our beloved David [Croz] Crosby has passed away," Variety quoted his wife as saying.
His representative also confirmed his death.
His wife told showbiz site Variety that he died "after a long illness" while surrounded by family.
"His legacy will continue to live on through his legendary music," the statement added.
Crosby was a founding member of two revered rock bands: the country and folk influenced Byrds, for whom he co-wrote the hit 'Eight Miles High', and Crosby Stills and Nash, who defined the smooth side of the Woodstock generation's music.
He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of both groups - a rare feat.
Musically, Crosby stood out for his intricate vocal harmonies, unorthodox open tunings on guitar and incisive songwriting. His work with both the Byrds and Crosby Stills and Nash, later Crosby Stills Nash and Young, blended rock and folk in new ways. Their music became a part of the soundtrack for the hippie era.
David Crosby (2nd from right) points to an audience member on 11 October, 1999, while posing with Stephen Stills, right, Graham Nash (2nd from left) and Neil Young in New York, where they announced they would be reuniting for the first time in 25 years. Photo: AFP
Personally, Crosby was the embodiment of the credo "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll," and a 2014 Rolling Stone magazine article tagged him "rock's unlikeliest survivor."
In addition to drug addictions that ultimately led to a transplant to replace a liver worn out by decades of excess, his tumultuous life included a serious motorcycle accident, the death of a girlfriend, and battles against hepatitis C and diabetes.
"I'm concerned that the time I've got here is so short, and I'm pissed at myself, deeply, for the 10 years at least of time that I wasted just getting smashed," Crosby told the Los Angeles Times in July 2019. "I'm ashamed of that."
He fell "as low as a human being can go", Crosby told the Times.
He also managed to alienate many of his famous former bandmates for which he often expressed remorse in recent years.
His drug habits and often abrasive personality contributed to the demise of CSNY and the members eventually quit speaking to each other.
In the 2019 documentary David Crosby: Remember My Name, he made clear he hoped they could work together again but conceded the others "really dislike me, strongly".
Crosby fathered six children - two as a sperm donor to rocker Melissa Etheridge's partner and another who was placed for adoption at birth and did not meet Crosby until he was in his 30s. That son, James Raymond, would eventually become his musical collaborator.
Looking back at the turbulent 1960s and his life, Crosby told Time magazine in 2006: "We were right about civil rights; we were right about human rights; we were right about peace being better than war... But I think we didn't know our butt from a hole in the ground about drugs and that bit us pretty hard."
Crosby was born on 14 August, 1941, in Los Angeles. His father was a cinematographer who won a Golden Globe for High Noon in 1952 and his mother exposed him to the folk group the Weavers and to classical music.
Crosby joined The Byrds in 1964 - a folk-rock group which scored its first hit with a cover of Bob Dylan's 'Tambourine Man'.
Crosby, Stills and Nash came together as a supergroup later that decade, and performed their first concert as a trio at the legendary Woodstock festival.
Hits written by Crosby as part of the band included the hippy anthems 'Almost Cut My Hair' and 'Deja Vu'.
His most recent album, For Free, was released in 2021.
- Reuters / BBC