Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) was a
folk rock
Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...
supergroup comprising the American singer-songwriters
David Crosby
David Van Cortlandt Crosby (August 14, 1941 – January 18, 2023) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He first found fame as a member of the Byrds, with whom he helped pioneer the genres of folk rock and psychedelic music, psych ...
and
Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and Manassas (band ...
and the English-American singer-songwriter
Graham Nash
Graham William Nash (born 2 February 1942) is a British and American musician, singer and songwriter. He is known for his light tenor voice and for his contributions as a member of the Hollies and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crosby, Stills ...
. When joined by the Canadian singer-songwriter
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...
, they were known as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY). They are noted for their intricate vocal harmonies and lasting influence on
American music and
culture
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
, their political activism and their tumultuous relationships.
CSN formed in 1968 shortly after Crosby, Stills and Nash performed together informally, discovering they harmonized well. Crosby had been asked to leave
the Byrds
The Byrds () were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) being the so ...
in late 1967, Stills's band
Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield was a Canadian-American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1966 by Canadians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin (musician), Dewey Martin and Americans Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely know ...
had broken up in early 1968, and Nash left his band
the Hollies
The Hollies are an English rock and pop band formed in Manchester in 1962. One of the leading British groups of the 1960s and into the mid-1970s, they are known for their distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. Singer Allan Clarke and ...
in December. They signed a recording contract with
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
in early 1969. Their first album, ''
Crosby, Stills & Nash
Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) was a folk rock supergroup comprising the American singer-songwriters David Crosby and Stephen Stills and the English-American singer-songwriter Graham Nash. When joined by the Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Youn ...
'' (1969) produced the
Top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...
hits "
Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" and "
Marrakesh Express". In preparation for touring, the trio added Young, Stills's former Buffalo Springfield bandmate, as a full member, along with the touring members
Dallas Taylor (drums) and
Greg Reeves (bass). As Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, they performed at the
Woodstock
The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...
festival that August.
The band's first album with Young, ''
Déjà Vu
''Déjà vu'' ( , ; "already seen") is the phenomenon of feeling like one has
lived through the present situation in the past.Schnider, Armin. (2008). ''The Confabulating Mind: How the Brain Creates Reality''. Oxford University Press. pp. 167–1 ...
'', reached number one on several international charts in 1970. It remains their best-selling album, selling more than eight million copies and producing the hit singles "
Woodstock
The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...
", "
Teach Your Children", and "
Our House". The group's second tour, which produced the live double album ''
4 Way Street'' (1971), was fraught with arguments between Young and Taylor, which resulted in Taylor being replaced by
John Barbata, and tensions with Stills. At the end of the tour they disbanded. The group reunited several times, sometimes with Young, and released eight studio and four live albums. CSN's final studio album was 1999's ''
Looking Forward'', and they remained a performing act until 2015. Crosby died in 2023.
Crosby, Stills & Nash were inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...
in 1997 and all three members were also inducted for their work in other groups: Crosby for
the Byrds
The Byrds () were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) being the so ...
, Stills for
Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield was a Canadian-American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1966 by Canadians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin (musician), Dewey Martin and Americans Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely know ...
and Nash for
the Hollies
The Hollies are an English rock and pop band formed in Manchester in 1962. One of the leading British groups of the 1960s and into the mid-1970s, they are known for their distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. Singer Allan Clarke and ...
. Young was also inducted as a solo artist and as a member of Buffalo Springfield.
History
CSN formation and debut album: July 1968 – May 1969
CSN was born with members from two prominent bands and the split of a third. David Crosby played guitar, sang, and wrote songs with
the Byrds
The Byrds () were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) being the so ...
; Stephen Stills had been a guitarist, keyboardist, vocalist, and songwriter in the band
Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield was a Canadian-American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1966 by Canadians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin (musician), Dewey Martin and Americans Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely know ...
(which also featured Neil Young); and Graham Nash had been a guitarist, singer, and songwriter with
the Hollies
The Hollies are an English rock and pop band formed in Manchester in 1962. One of the leading British groups of the 1960s and into the mid-1970s, they are known for their distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. Singer Allan Clarke and ...
.
Crosby had been sacked from the Byrds in October 1967 due to disagreements over his songwriting. At the
Monterey Pop Festival
The Monterey International Pop Festival was a three-day music festival held June 16-18, 1967, at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. The festival is remembered for the first major American appearances by the Jimi Hendrix Ex ...
, Crosby stood in for Neil Young (who quit the band before the gig) with Buffalo Springfield. By early 1968, Buffalo Springfield had disintegrated, and, after aiding in putting together the band's final album, ''
Last Time Around
''Last Time Around'' is the third and final studio album by the Canadian-American folk rock band Buffalo Springfield, released in July 1968. The line-up at the time officially consisted of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay, Dewey Marti ...
'', Stills was unemployed. Following the Monterey gig, Stills and Crosby began meeting informally and jamming. The result of one encounter in Florida on Crosby's
schooner
A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...
was the song "
Wooden Ships
"Wooden Ships" is a song written and composed by David Crosby, Paul Kantner, and Stephen Stills and recorded both by Crosby, Stills & Nash and by Kantner with Jefferson Airplane. It was written and composed in 1968 in Fort Lauderdale, Flori ...
", composed in collaboration with another guest,
Paul Kantner
Paul Lorin Kantner (March 17, 1941 – January 28, 2016) was an American rock musician. He is best known as the co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and a secondary vocalist of Jefferson Airplane, a leading psychedelic rock band of the counterculture of ...
of
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American Rock music, rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1965. One of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the San Francisco Bay Area, ...
.
Graham Nash had known Crosby since the Byrds' UK tour of 1966. Two years later, when the Hollies relocated to California in 1968, Nash resumed his acquaintance with him. Nash met Stills at a party at
Peter Tork
Peter Halsten Thorkelson (February 13, 1942 – February 21, 2019), better known by his stage name Peter Tork, was an American musician and actor. He was best known as the bass guitarist and keyboardist of the Monkees and co-star of the NBC ...
's house in Laurel Canyon. He was captivated by Stills "banging the shit out of" a piano in a "
Brazilian, and
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
, and
boogie woogie
Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, but already developed in African-American communities since the 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually ex ...
, and rock and roll" style. In July 1968, over dinner at a party at another Laurel Canyon house (the home of either
Joni Mitchell
Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitch ...
or
Cass Elliot
Ellen Naomi Cohen (September 19, 1941 – July 29, 1974), known professionally as Cass Elliot, was an American singer. She was also known as "Mama Cass", a name she reportedly disliked. Elliot was a member of the singing group the Mamas & the P ...
—accounts by the three members differ), Nash invited Stills and Crosby to perform a Stills composition, "You Don't Have to Cry". They did so twice, after which Nash had learned the lyrics and improvised a new harmony part on a third rendition. The vocals gelled, and the three realized that they had a very good vocal chemistry. While singing the third time, they broke out in laughter. The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and the Hollies had all been successful harmony bands: as Nash said in a 2014 interview, "We knew what we were doing". He continued, "Whatever sound Crosby, Stills, and Nash has was born in 30 seconds. That's how long it took us to harmonize."
Creatively frustrated with the Hollies, Nash decided to quit the band in December 1968 and flew to Los Angeles two days later. The trio traveled to London in early 1969 to rehearse for what turned out to be an unsuccessful audition with
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
'
Apple Records
Apple Records is a British record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists inclu ...
. However, back in California,
Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegun ( ; , ; July 31, 1923 – December 14, 2006) was a Turkish-American businessman, songwriter, record executive and philanthropist.
Ertegun was the co-founder and president of Atlantic Records. He discovered and championed many lead ...
, who had been a fan of Buffalo Springfield and was disappointed by that band's demise, signed them to
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
. From the outset, given their previous experiences, the trio decided not to be locked into a group structure. They used their surnames as identification to ensure independence and a guarantee that the band could not continue without one of them, unlike both the Byrds and the Hollies. They picked up a management team in
Elliot Roberts and
David Geffen
David Lawrence Geffen (born February 21, 1943) is an American film producer, record executive, and media proprietor. In music, he co-founded Asylum Records with Elliot Roberts in 1971 before founding Geffen Records in 1980, DGC Records in 1 ...
, who got them signed to Atlantic and helped to gain clout for the group in the industry. Roberts kept the band focused and dealt with egos, while Geffen handled the business deals, since, in Crosby's words, they needed a "shark" and Geffen was it.
The band then ran into a problem. Stills was already signed to Atlantic Records through his Buffalo Springfield contract. Crosby had been released from his Byrds deal with Columbia, as he was considered to be unimportant and too difficult to work with. Nash, however, was still signed to
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...
through the Hollies. Ertegun cut a deal with
Clive Davis
Clive Jay Davis (born April 4, 1932) is an American record producer, A&R executive, record executive, and lawyer. He has won five Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a non-performer, in 2000.
From 1967 to 1 ...
to essentially trade Nash to Atlantic in exchange for
Richie Furay
Paul Richard Furay (born May 9, 1944) is an American musician and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member (with Buffalo Springfield). He is best known for forming the bands Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Bruce Palmer, and Dewey ...
(who was also signed to Atlantic by virtue of his membership in Buffalo Springfield) and
Poco, his new band.
The trio's first album, ''
Crosby, Stills & Nash
Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) was a folk rock supergroup comprising the American singer-songwriters David Crosby and Stephen Stills and the English-American singer-songwriter Graham Nash. When joined by the Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Youn ...
'', was released in May 1969. The eponymously titled album was a major hit in the United States, peaking at No. 6 on the ''Billboard'' album chart during a 107-week stay that spawned two
Top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...
hits ("
Suite: Judy Blue Eyes"
21and "
Marrakesh Express"
28 and significant airplay on
FM radio
FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high fidelity, high-f ...
. The album ultimately earned a RIAA
triple platinum
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
certification in 1999 and
quadruple platinum
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
certification in 2001.
CSNY: Déjà Vu to 4 Way Street, August 1969 – April 1971
With the exception of drum parts (primarily performed by
Dallas Taylor) and a handful of rhythm and acoustic guitar parts from Crosby and Nash, Stills (accorded the moniker "Captain Many Hands" by his bandmates) handled most of the instrumentation (including every lead guitar, bass and keyboard part) on the album, which left the band in need of additional personnel to be able to tour, a necessity given the debut album's commercial impact. Retaining Taylor, the band tried initially to hire a keyboard player. Stills initially approached virtuoso multi-instrumentalist
Steve Winwood
Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English musician and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, and pop rock. Though primarily a guitarist, keyboard player, and vocalist prominent for his dis ...
, who was already occupied with the newly formed group
Blind Faith
Blind Faith were an English rock supergroup that consisted of Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Ric Grech. They followed the success of each of the member's former bands, including Clapton and Baker's former group Cream and ...
. Ertegun suggested former Buffalo Springfield member Neil Young, also managed by Elliot Roberts, as a fairly obvious choice; though principally a guitarist, Young was a proficient keyboardist and could alternate on the instrument with Stills and Nash in a live context. Stills and Nash initially objected, Stills because of his history with Young in Buffalo Springfield and Nash because of his personal unfamiliarity with Young. Despite that, the trio expanded to a quartet with Young a full partner. The terms of the contract allowed Young full freedom to maintain a parallel career with his new band,
Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse ( , ; – September 5, 1877) was a Lakota people, Lakota war leader of the Oglala band. He took up arms against the United States federal government to fight against encroachment by White Americans, White American settlers on Nativ ...
.
They initially completed the rhythm section with former Buffalo Springfield bassist
Bruce Palmer. However, Palmer was let go due to his persistent personal problems following rehearsals at the
Cafe au Go Go in New York City's
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...
; according to Crosby, "Bruce Palmer was into
another instrument and his head was not where it should have been."
[Zimmer and Diltz, p. 94] Teenaged
Motown
Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...
session bassist
Greg Reeves joined in Palmer's place at the recommendation of
Rick James
James Ambrose Johnson Jr. (February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004), better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, James began his musical career in his tee ...
, a friend and former bandmate of Neil Young.
The now expanded group embarked on a four-leg, 39-date tour that ended with three European concerts in January 1970. Their first major public gig was on August 16, 1969, at the
Auditorium Theatre
The Auditorium Theatre is a music and performance venue located in the Auditorium Building at 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive in Chicago, Illinois. Inspired by the Richardsonian Romanesque Style of architect Henry Hobson Richardson, the building was d ...
in Chicago, with
Joni Mitchell
Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitch ...
as their opening act. They mentioned they were going to someplace called
Woodstock
The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...
the next day, but that they had no idea where it was. Their one-hour show at the
Woodstock Festival
The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...
in the early morning of August 18, 1969, was a
baptism by fire
The phrase baptism by fire, baptism of fire or baptism with fire is a Christian theological concept originating from the words of John the Baptist in Matthew 3:11.
It also has related meanings in military history and popular culture.
Christiani ...
. The crowd of industry friends looking on from offstage was intimidating and prompted Stills to say, "This is the second time we've ever played in front of people, man. We're scared shitless." Their appearance at the festival and in the subsequent movie ''
Woodstock
The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...
'', along with recording the Joni Mitchell
song memorializing Woodstock, boosted the visibility of the quartet. CSNY appeared at other prominent festivals that year. Footage from two performances from the
Big Sur Folk Festival (held on the grounds of the
Esalen Institute
The Esalen Institute, commonly called Esalen, is a non-profit American Retreat (spiritual), retreat center and intentional community in Big Sur, California, which focuses on humanism, humanistic alternative education. The institute played a ke ...
on September 13–14, 1969) appears in the movie ''
Celebration at Big Sur''. They also appeared at the violence-plagued
Altamont Free Concert
The Altamont Speedway Free Festival was a counterculture rock concert in the United States, held on Saturday, December 6, 1969, at the Altamont Speedway outside of Tracy, California. Approximately 300,000 attended the concert, with some an ...
on December 6, 1969, alongside
Santana
Santana may refer to:
Transportation
* Volkswagen Santana, an automobile
* Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles
* Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer
* Sailboat designs by W. D. Schock Corp
** Santana 20
** Santan ...
,
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American Rock music, rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1965. One of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the San Francisco Bay Area, ...
,
the Flying Burrito Brothers
The Flying Burrito Brothers are an American country rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1968, best known for their influential 1969 debut album, ''The Gilded Palace of Sin''. Although the group is known for its connection to band f ...
, and the headlining
Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...
. During Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's set, Stills was reported to be repeatedly stabbed in the leg by a "stoned-out" Hells Angel, with a sharpened bicycle spoke. At the band's request, their performance was not included in the subsequent film ''
Gimme Shelter'' (1970).
Great anticipation had built for the expanded supergroup and their first album with Young, ''
Déjà Vu
''Déjà vu'' ( , ; "already seen") is the phenomenon of feeling like one has
lived through the present situation in the past.Schnider, Armin. (2008). ''The Confabulating Mind: How the Brain Creates Reality''. Oxford University Press. pp. 167–1 ...
'', which arrived in stores in March 1970. It topped the charts during a 97-week stay in the United States and generated three hit singles, including the Stills-sung cover of Mitchell's "
Woodstock
The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...
" (#11) and both of Nash's contributions ("
Teach Your Children"
16and "
Our House"
30. Certified
septuple platinum by
RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
, the album's domestic sales currently sit at over 8 million copies; as of 2017, it remains the highest-selling album of each member's career.
''Déjà Vu'' was also the first release on the Atlantic Records SD-7200 "superstar" line, created by the label for its highest-profile artists; subsequent solo albums by Crosby, Stills, and Nash were the next releases in this series.
In consultation with other band members, Stills fired Reeves from the group shortly before the beginning of their second American tour in April 1970 "because
esuddenly decided he was an
Apache
The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...
witch doctor
A witch doctor (also spelled witch-doctor), or witchcraft doctor, is a kind of magical healer who treats ailments believed to be caused by witchcraft. The term is often misunderstood, and they could more accurately be called "anti-witch doctors ...
."
[''Crosby, Stills & Nash: The Authorized Biography''. Zimmer & Diltz, pp. 124.] He further opined that "
eevesfreaked too much on the bass and no one could keep up because
edid not play one rhythm the same… he could play bass imaginatively, but he has to be predictable as well," while "Greg also wanted to sing some of his songs on the CSN&Y show, which I thought was ludicrous, only because the songs weren't great. We'll sing any song if it's great, but not just because it happens to be written by our bass player."
He was replaced by
Calvin "Fuzzy" Samuels, a homeless West Indian musician recently discovered by Stills at
Island Records
Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...
' London studios. Shortly thereafter, Taylor (who frequently clashed with Young over the band's tempos during the first tour and ''Déjà Vu'' sessions) was also dismissed when Young threatened to leave the group following the first performance of the tour at the
Denver Coliseum on May 12, 1970. Notwithstanding these previous tensions, Taylor later asserted that his dismissal stemmed from a flirtation with Young's first wife (Topanga Canyon restaurateur Susan Acevedo) amid renewed conflict between Stills and Young in the aftermath of Reeves' firing. Shortly thereafter, drummer
John Barbata (formerly of
The Turtles
The Turtles are an America, American Band (rock and pop), rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The band achieved several Top 40 hits throughout the latter half of the 1960s, including "It Ain't Me Babe" (1965), "You Baby (song), ...
) was hired for the remainder of the tour and associated recordings.
A week before the Denver performance, Young and Crosby were staying at a house near
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
when reports of the
Kent State shootings
The Kent State shootings (also known as the Kent State massacre or May 4 massacre"These would be the first of many probes into what soon became known as the Kent State Massacre. Like the Boston Massacre almost exactly two hundred years before (Ma ...
arrived, inspiring Young to write the protest song "
Ohio
Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
". Recorded and rush-released weeks later with the new rhythm section, it peaked at No. 14 in August 1970, providing another American
Top 20
A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, ofte ...
hit for the group. Their previously recorded song "
Teach Your Children" was still climbing the chart, yet the group insisted that it be rushed to release. Crosby later stated in an interview that his callbacks "how many more?" in the final stages of the song was ad-libbed, bringing out his pure frustration.
As the 23-show tour progressed, the tenuous nature of the partnership was strained by Stills's alcohol and cocaine abuse, culminating in an extended solo set not countenanced by the other band members at the
Fillmore East
The Fillmore East was Promoter (entertainment), rock promoter Bill Graham (promoter), Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue (Manhattan), Second Avenue near 6th Street (Manhattan), East 6th Street on the Lower East Side section of Manhattan, ...
, when he was informed that
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
was in the audience. In this turbulent atmosphere, Crosby, Nash and Young decided to quit the tour during a two-night return engagement at Chicago's Auditorium Theatre in July 1970. Singer
Rita Coolidge
Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is an American recording artist. During the 1970s and 1980s, her songs were on ''Billboard'' magazine's pop, country, adult contemporary, and jazz charts, and she won two Grammy Awards with fellow musician and th ...
had been romantically involved with Stills, and her leaving him for Nash has also been cited as a contributing factor behind the breakup of the band. Concert recordings from that tour assembled by Nash produced the 1971 double album ''
4 Way Street'', which also topped the charts during a 42-week stay. Although they continued to collaborate in various and largely ephemeral permutations, the four members did not come back together in earnest until their 1974 reunion tour.
Individual activity
Between September 1970 and May 1971, each of the quartet released high-profile solo albums: Young's ''
After the Gold Rush
''After the Gold Rush'' is the third studio album by the Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in September 1970 on Reprise Records. It is one of four high-profile solo albums released by the members of folk rock group Crosby, Still ...
'' in September (which peaked at No. 8 and included his first Top 40 solo hit, "Only Love Can Break Your Heart"
33; Stills's
eponymous debut in November; Crosby's ''
If I Could Only Remember My Name
''If I Could Only Remember My Name'' is the debut solo album by the American singer-songwriter David Crosby, released on February 22, 1971, by Atlantic Records. It was one of four high-profile albums released by each member of Crosby, Stills, Nas ...
'' in February, and Nash's ''
Songs for Beginners
''Songs for Beginners'' is the debut solo studio album by English singer-songwriter Graham Nash. Released in May 1971, it was one of four high-profile albums (all charting within the top fifteen) released by each member of Crosby, Stills, Na ...
'' in May. Although all four solo LPs placed in the Top 15 on the
''Billboard'' 200, Stills's entry (including two Top 40 hits, "Love the One You're With"
14and "Sit Yourself Down"
37 peaked the highest at No. 3. Stills was the first to release a second post-CSNY solo album, 1971's ''
Stephen Stills 2'', which included two minor hits ("Change Partners"
43 "Marianne"
42 and peaked at No. 8. He supported this with a solo tour of major arenas (such as
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...
and the
L.A. Forum) in the summer of 1971 with Dallas Taylor, Fuzzy Samuels, and
the Memphis Horns
The Memphis Horns was an American horn section, made famous by their many appearances on Stax Records. The duo consisted of Wayne Jackson on trumpet and Andrew Love on tenor saxophone. An "offshoot of the Mar-Keys", they continued to work to ...
. In the fall of 1971, Crosby and Nash embarked on a successful theater tour accompanied only by their acoustic guitars and a piano, as captured on the 1998 archival release ''
Another Stoney Evening''.
1972 proved to be another fruitful year for all the band members in their solo or duo efforts. Young achieved solo superstardom with the chart-topping ''
Harvest
Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish (as well as fungi) as food, especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulses fo ...
'' and two Top 40 singles, the #1 hit "
Heart of Gold" and "
Old Man" (#31). Stills joined with former Byrd
Chris Hillman
Christopher Hillman (born December 4, 1944) is an American musician. He was the original bassist of the Byrds. With frequent collaborator Gram Parsons, Hillman was a key figure in the development of country rock, defining the genre through his w ...
to form the band
Manassas, releasing a self-titled double album; although it did not generate any significant hits, counting the three CSN/CSNY records, ''
Manassas'' became Stills's sixth Top Ten album in a row, peaking at No. 4 and being certified gold in the US a month after release. Nash and Young released Young's "
War Song
A war song is a musical composition that relates to war, or a society's attitudes towards war. They may be pro-war, anti-war, or simply a description of everyday life during war times.
It is possible to classify these songs by historical conflic ...
" as a joint single to support
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern (July 19, 1922 – October 21, 2012) was an American politician, diplomat, and historian who was a U.S. representative and three-term U.S. senator from South Dakota, and the Democratic Party (United States), Democ ...
's presidential campaign; despite their intentions, the single failed to make a serious impression. Meanwhile, Nash's and Crosby's touring was so successful and pleasant for them that they recorded and released their first album as a duo, ''
Graham Nash David Crosby'', which eclipsed their recent solo efforts with a Top 40 hit (Nash's "
Immigration Man", #36); it peaked at No. 4 and was certified gold in the US.
The group members fared less well in 1973. Young recorded two dark albums. The first, ''
Time Fades Away
''Time Fades Away'' is a 1973 live album by Canadian-American musician Neil Young. Consisting of previously unreleased material, it was recorded with the Stray Gators on the support tour following 1972's highly successful album ''Harvest''. Due to ...
'', chronicled his winter tour that followed the death of his Crazy Horse bandmate
Danny Whitten
Danny Ray Whitten (May 8, 1943 – November 18, 1972) was an American guitarist and songwriter, best known for his work with Neil Young's backing band Crazy Horse (band), Crazy Horse, and for the song "I Don't Want to Talk About It", a hit for Ro ...
from an alcohol/
Valium overdose, a tour Crosby and Nash joined mid-way. A critical success despite his personal misgivings, it attained a RIAA gold certification before stalling at No. 22. The second album, ''
Tonight's the Night'', inspired by the death of CSNY roadie Bruce Berry, was so dark that
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels.
Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Green Day, En ...
refused to release it until 1975. Although it is widely regarded as his
magnum opus
A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship.
Historically, ...
, it only reached No. 25. Crosby spearheaded and produced a
reunion album of the original Byrds quintet which was a notable critical failure upon its release in March 1973. The most commercially successful Byrds album since 1966, it sold only marginally well by CSNY's standards, peaking at No. 20. Stills released a
second Manassas record in April 1973 and Nash recorded his second solo album ''
Wild Tales'' (released in January 1974); again, neither disc sold to expectations, peaking respectively at No. 26 and No. 34. Apart from ''Time Fades Away'', none of the CSNY-related albums in 1973 were certified gold in the US, a first for the band.
CSNY, reconciliation and further estrangement: 1973–1976
In June and July 1973, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young met at Young's ranch in California and a recording studio in Hawaii for a working vacation, ostensibly to record a new album, tentatively titled ''
Human Highway''. However, the bickering that had sunk the band in 1970 quickly resumed, scattering the group again. After spontaneously reconvening for an acoustic set at a Manassas concert at San Francisco's
Winterland Ballroom in October, the quartet failed once again to commit to a reunion; however, three days later, the CSN configuration performed an acoustic set at another Manassas Winterland show. Over the next few months, Roberts finally prevailed upon the group to realize their commercial potential, culminating in Stills announcing a CSNY summer tour and the projected studio album at a solo concert in March 1974. The quartet
reassembled in earnest that summer, with sidemen
Tim Drummond on bass,
Russ Kunkel
Russell Kunkel (born September 27, 1948) is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician with many popular artists, including Jackson Browne, Jimmy Buffett, Harry Chapin, Rita Coolidge, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Cass Elliot, Dan Fo ...
on drums, and
Joe Lala
Joseph Anthony Lala (November 3, 1947 – March 18, 2014) was an American musician and actor. In 1966, he co-founded the rock band Blues Image.
Life and career
Lala was born in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida, into a family of Italian-American bac ...
on percussion, to rehearse at Young's ranch near
Woodside, California before embarking on the two-month, 31-date tour.
The tour was directed by San Francisco-based impresario
Bill Graham. Opening acts consisted of well known performers, including Joni Mitchell (who occasionally sat in during the acoustic and semi-acoustic interlude that bridged two electric sets),
Santana
Santana may refer to:
Transportation
* Volkswagen Santana, an automobile
* Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles
* Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer
* Sailboat designs by W. D. Schock Corp
** Santana 20
** Santan ...
,
the Band
The Band was a Canadian-American rock music, rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario, in 1957. It consisted of the Canadians Rick Danko (bass, guitar, vocals, fiddle), Garth Hudson (organ, keyboards, accordion, saxophone), Richard Manuel (piano, d ...
,
the Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...
, and
Jesse Colin Young. The band typically played up to three and a half hours of old favorites and new songs. Crosby, in particular, was disillusioned by the bombastic nature of the performances, which he collectively dubbed the "Doom Tour": "We had good monitors, but Stephen and Neil were punching well over 100 db from their half stacks. Graham and I simply couldn't do the harmonies when we couldn't hear ourselves. Also, when you play a stadium you almost have to do a
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...
where you wave a sash around and prance about. I can't quite do that. We did what we could, but I don't know how many people in the audience really got it. A lot of them were there for the tunes. When we'd start them, they'd hear the records."
Graham Nash's unreleased film of the
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...
show highlights the scope and quality of these performances. They opted at the time not to release any recordings of the tour for an album, with Nash maintaining that "
hemain feeling at the end of the tour was that we weren't as good as we could have been."
(Decades later, to mark the tour's 40th anniversary in 2014, Nash and archivist
Joel Bernstein
Joel Bernstein is a photographer, guitarist, and record producer based in Oakland, California. His photographs have appeared as the album covers for ''After the Gold Rush'', '' 4 Way Street'', '' Rita Coolidge'', '' Wind on the Water'', '' Runn ...
selected songs from the five shows that had been properly recorded and released ''
CSNY 1974
''CSNY 1974'' is a live album by Crosby, Stills, & Nash, and their seventh in the CSNY quartet configuration. Issued on Rhino Records in 2014, it consists of concert material recorded in 1974 on the band's tour during the summer of that year. It ...
''.)

While the foursome would have the press believe that their characteristic arguments were a thing of the past, excesses typical to the era took their toll. Under the stewardship of Graham's production company, the tour was plagued by profligate spending, exemplified by pillowcases embroidered with the band's new Mitchell-designed logo and the routine chartering of helicopters and private jets in lieu of ground transportation. Nash later recalled that "the tour made just over eleven million dollars, which of course was a lot of money in those days. We all got less than a half million each. It was obvious that between Bill Graham, the promoters and a bunch of others, they all had a good time. Let's just put it that way."
According to road manager Chris O'Dell, "One time they spilled cocaine on the carpet. They just got down on the floor and sniffed it off the carpet. I just went, 'Oh my God, this is so weird.' I'd never seen anything like it. They probably don't remember that."
The relatively abstemious Nash "started taking
Percocet
Oxycodone/paracetamol, sold under the brand name Percocet among others, is a fixed-dose combination of the opioid oxycodone with paracetamol (acetaminophen), used to treat moderate to severe pain.
In 2022, it was the 98th most commonly presc ...
and
Percodan
Oxycodone/aspirin (trade name Percodan) is a combination drug marketed by Endo Pharmaceuticals. It is a tablet containing a mixture of 325 mg (5 Grain (unit), grains) of aspirin and 4.8355 mg of oxycodone, oxycodone HCl (equivalent t ...
. I call them 'I Don't Give A Shit' pills. Someone could have said to me, 'Hey, your leg's on fire.' I would have been like, 'I don't care, man.' We were just up all night. It was insane. I wouldn't recommend it to anybody because the cocaine/
quaalude ride should be in the ride of horrors in the circus."
Stills—who befuddled his colleagues by claiming to have participated in clandestine
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
missions as a member of the
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...
during his tenure in Buffalo Springfield—began supplementing his trademark wardrobe of football jerseys with military fatigues while performing and fraternizing with his personal manager,
Green Berets
The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service Berets of the United States Army, headgear, is a branch of the United States Army United States Army Special Operations Comm ...
veteran Michael John Bowen. Having embraced a promiscuous lifestyle following the death of his girlfriend Christine Hinton several years earlier, Crosby was accompanied by two girlfriends (including future domestic partner Nancy Brown, who turned 18 during the tour) in lieu of Debbie Donovan, his nominal domestic partner at the time. This chagrined several employees and band members; according to Nash, "Often I would knock on his hotel door, which he kept propped open with a security jamb, and he'd be getting
blown by both of those girls, all while he was talking and doing business on the phone and rolling joints and smoking and having a drink. Crosby had incredible sexual energy. It got to be such a routine scene in his room, I'd stop by with someone and go, "Aw, fuck, he's getting blown again. Oh, dear, let's give him a minute."
Although each member performed new songs that later appeared on solo and duo studio releases, Young premiered more than a dozen songs (including several from ''
On The Beach'', which was released during the tour) in one of the most creatively fertile phases of his career. Vexed by the diminished prolificacy of the trio, he isolated himself from the group, travelling separately in an RV with his son and entourage. He later asserted to biographer
Jimmy McDonough that "the tour was disappointing to me. I think CSN really blew it... they hadn't made an album, and they didn't have any songs. How could they just stop like that?" Atlantic Records issued the compilation ''
So Far'' to have something to promote during the tour. While Nash viewed the re-shuffling of items from only two albums and one single (typified by the exclusion of his "Marrakesh Express", a Top 40 hit) as absurd, it eventually topped the ''Billboard'' album chart in November.
Surmounting Young's interpersonal distance and new ebbs in their respective relationships with Stills, the quartet reconvened with
The Albert Brothers at Rudy Records (Nash's San Francisco home studio) in November to finish the long-gestating follow-up to ''Déjà Vu''. Renewed tensions were exacerbated by the relatively incommodious basement space, prompting the group to soon relocate to the
Record Plant
The Record Plant was a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and last operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it produced highly influential albums, including the New York ...
in nearby
Sausalito, California
Sausalito ( Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, and about north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge.
Sausalito's ...
. While several songs were completed and recorded (including Young's "Human Highway"; a take of Crosby's "Homeward Through the Haze" with the singer-songwriter on piano and
Lee Sklar
Leland Bruce Sklar (born May 28, 1947) is an American bassist and session musician. He rose to prominence as a member of James Taylor's backing band, which coalesced into a group in its own right, The Section (band), The Section, which supported ...
on bass; and Nash's
anti-whaling
Anti-whaling refers to actions taken by those who seek to end whaling in various forms, whether locally or globally in the pursuit of marine conservation. Such activism is often a response to specific conflicts with pro-whaling countries and orga ...
opus "Wind on the Water"), Young left once again following a tumultuous argument. As the remaining members (augmented by a variety of session musicians, including Sklar and Kunkel) attempted to complete the album under the CSN name, the feud between Stills and Nash resurfaced, resulting in Stills destroying the master of "Wind on the Water" with a razor blade after Crosby and Nash objected to a harmony part on Stills's "Guardian Angel". Even though Stills characterized the incident as a joke, the sessions promptly dissolved.
Shortly thereafter, Crosby and Nash signed a separate contract with
ABC Records
ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels bef ...
and began to tour regularly again, playing a more intimate array of sports arenas, outdoor festivals and theaters. During this period they produced two studio albums, ''
Wind on the Water
''Wind on the Water'' is the second album by Crosby & Nash, released on ABC Records in 1975. Cassette tape, Cassette and 8-track tape versions of the album were distributed by Atlantic Records, to which Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were signed. I ...
'' (No. 6) in 1975 and ''
Whistling Down the Wire
Whistling, without the use of an artificial whistle, is achieved by creating a small opening with one's lips, usually after applying moisture (licking one's lips or placing water upon them) and then blowing or sucking air through the space. Th ...
'' (No. 26) in 1976 (both being certified gold in the US), and the 1977 concert album ''
Crosby-Nash Live'' (No. 52). Along with Drummond (retained from the 1974 CSNY tour), they continued to use the sidemen from the ensemble known as
The Section from their first LP. This crack session group (wryly rechristened The Mighty Jitters by Crosby in a nod to the era's endemic cocaine use) contributed to records by myriad other Los Angeles-based artists in the seventies, such as
Carole King
Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter and musician renowned for her extensive contributions to popular music. She wrote or co-wrote 118 songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billbo ...
,
James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.
Taylor achieved his breakthrough in 1970 with the single "Fi ...
, and
Jackson Browne
Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American rock musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 30 million albums in the United States.
Emerging as a teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he had his ...
. Throughout the mid-70s, Crosby and Nash also lent their harmonies to a range of recordings, including Taylor's "Mexico", Joni Mitchell's "
Free Man in Paris" and
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...
's ''
Blue Moves
''Blue Moves'' is the eleventh studio album by English musician Elton John. It was released on 22 October 1976 through John's own Rocket Record Company (his first for the label), alongside MCA Records in certain countries. John's second double ...
''.
Meanwhile, Stills and Young returned to their own careers. Stills released
an eponymous album in June 1975 (No. 19), a live album in December 1975 (''
Stephen Stills Live'', No. 42) and in May 1976 another studio album (''
Illegal Stills'', No. 31). Young, in 1975, belatedly released ''
Tonight's the Night'' at the recommendation of Band bassist/vocalist
Rick Danko (No. 25) and thence ''
Zuma'' (No. 25), a new album primarily recorded with Crazy Horse that also featured one song recorded by CSNY in the June 1974 sessions. None of these solo albums initially attained RIAA certification in the United States, although ''Zuma'' was ultimately certified gold in 1997. Following the lead of Crosby and Nash, they briefly united for a one-off album and tour credited to the Stills-Young Band, ''
Long May You Run
''Long May You Run'' is a studio album credited to the Stills–Young Band, a collaboration between Stephen Stills and Neil Young, released in 1976 on Reprise Records. It peaked at #26 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and was certified gold in the U ...
'' (1976, No. 26), which was certified gold in 1977. Although the
Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
-based sessions for this album briefly metamorphosed into the third attempt at a CSNY reunion album, Stills and Young wiped the vocal contributions of the other pair off the
master tape
Master recordings, or simply masters, are the original recordings—including Mastering (audio), post-recording mixes and Record production, production edits—of audio performances, from which all analog and digital copies of the audio are derived ...
when Crosby & Nash were obligated to leave the sessions to finish ''Whistling Down the Wire'' in Los Angeles. As Stills and Young embarked on a tour to promote the album in the summer of 1976, the old tensions between the pair resurfaced, exemplified by Stills's insistence that professional studio musicians back them rather than Young's preferred Crazy Horse. After a July 20, 1976, show in
Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-mo ...
, Young's tour bus took a different direction from Stills'. Waiting at their next stop in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
, Stills received a laconic telegram: "Dear Stephen, Funny how things that start spontaneously end that way. Eat a peach. Neil." Young's management claimed that he was under doctor's orders to rest and recover from an apparent throat infection, though he made up dates with Crazy Horse later in the year. Stills was contractually bound to finish the tour alone.
CSN reform: 1976–1985
Later in 1976, Stills approached Crosby and Nash during a performance at the
Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, setting the stage for the return of the trio.
Less than a year after reforming, Crosby, Stills & Nash released ''
CSN''. Recorded at
Criteria Studios
Criteria Studios is a recording studio in North Miami, Florida, founded in 1958 by musician Mack Emerman. Hundreds of gold, platinum, and diamond singles and albums have been recorded, mixed or mastered at Criteria, for many notable artists and ...
in Miami under the aegis of Ron and Howard Albert throughout late 1976 and early 1977, the album exemplified the meticulously stylized
soft rock
Soft rock (also known as light rock or mellow rock) is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, mel ...
production ethos of the epoch and contained the band's highest-charting single, Nash's "
Just a Song Before I Go" (#7); Stills's "Fair Game" also peaked at #43. The album peaked at No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' chart in the summer of 1977 during a 33-week stay, remaining at that position for the month of August (behind one of the best-selling LPs of all time,
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...
's ''
Rumours'') and ultimately earning a RIAA
quadruple platinum
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
certification. As of 2017, it remains the trio configuration's best-selling album, outselling their debut by 200,000 records.
On June 21, 1978, Crosby, Stills & Nash received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...
for their contributions to the music industry, located at 6666
Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street in Los Angeles, California. It runs through the Hollywood, East Hollywood, Little Armenia, Thai Town, and Los Feliz districts. Its western terminus is at Sunset Plaza Drive in the Hollyw ...
.
After successful arena tours in 1977 and 1978, further work as a group was complicated by Crosby's newfound dependence on
freebase cocaine. ''
Earth & Sky
''Earth & Sky'' was a daily radio series that presented information about science and nature. It began broadcasting in 1991 and ceased operations in 2013. ''EarthSky'' is the ongoing website, serving 21 million users in 2019, according to Goog ...
'', a 1980 Nash album that failed to chart in the Top 100, was envisaged as a Crosby & Nash project (itself spawned by aborted 1978 CSN sessions) until Nash determined that Crosby was not in shape to participate after his colleague stopped a jam because his freebase pipe had fallen off of an amp and broken.
Juxtaposing recent
disco
Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...
-inflected material (including the
Andy Gibb
Andrew Roy Gibb (5 March 1958 – 10 March 1988) was an English singer and songwriter. He was the younger brother of Barry Gibb, Barry, Robin Gibb, Robin, and Maurice Gibb, musicians who had formed the Bee Gees during the late 1950s. Andy G ...
showcase "What's the Game" and "Can't Get No Booty", co-written with
Danny Kortchmar during a lull in the 1978 CSN sessions) against more conventional acoustic and blues rock arrangements (such as the Manassas-era title track), Stills's ''
Thoroughfare Gap'' stalled at No. 83 following its release in October 1978. Stills's 1979 support tour with the California Blues Band (including a performance at the historic
Havana Jam) was dominated by theater bookings and largely overshadowed by such tabloid-friendly stories as a brawl with
Elvis Costello
Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...
(instigated by the younger singer-songwriter's use of the word
nigger
In the English language, ''nigger'' is a racial slur directed at black people. Starting in the 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been increasingly replaced by the euphemistic contraction , notably in cases where ''nigger'' is Use–menti ...
in deprecatory assessments of
James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...
and
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...
) amid his brief engagement to television actress
Susan St. James, reflecting his diminished critical and commercial stature. The tour's opening concerts at the
Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles marked Stills's final full performances with onetime key collaborator Dallas Taylor, by then long addicted to heroin and cocaine. After entering recovery in 1985, Taylor worked as an interventionist and
sober companion until his death in 2015.
With little recourse and a rapport that still evinced strain from the Rita Coolidge affair, Stills and Nash convened in 1980–1981 to record ''
Daylight Again'' as a self-funded duo; however, Atlantic Records executives (led by Ahmet Ertegun, who seldom intervened in the band's affairs) refused to reimburse their expenses or release the LP until Crosby was reinstated. Crosby contributed "Delta" (his last original composition for several years) and a cover of
Judy Henske
Judith Anne Henske (December 20, 1936 – April 27, 2022) was an American singer and songwriter, dubbed "the Queen of the Beatniks" by producer Jack Nitzsche. Initially performing in folk clubs in the early 1960s, her performances and recording ...
's and
Craig Doerge's "Might as Well Have a Good Time" along with some additional vocals on other tracks. Despite Crosby's condition and the relatively démodé nature of the group in the wake of the ascendancy of
new wave and
contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music Music genre, genre, originating from African Americans, African-American musicians in the 1980s that combines rhythm and blues with elements of Pop music, pop, Soul music, soul, funk, Hip-hop, ...
, ''Daylight Again'' reached No. 8 in 1982 during a 41-week chart stay. The album contained two major hits: Nash's "Wasted on the Way" (#9) and Stills's "
Southern Cross
CRUX is a lightweight x86-64 Linux distribution targeted at experienced Linux users and delivered by a tar.gz-based package system with BSD-style initscripts. It is not based on any other Linux distribution. It also utilizes a ports system to ...
" (#18); Stills's "Too Much Love to Hide" also charted at #69. While the album ultimately failed to sell as well as its predecessors in the new musical climate, it received a RIAA platinum certification in early 1983.
Although the success of ''Daylight Again'' inaugurated a new tradition of near-annual touring that persisted for over thirty years, the bottom soon fell out for Crosby, who was arrested and jailed on drug and weapons charges in
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
in May 1982. Having recorded a potential title song for the film ''
WarGames
''WarGames'' is a 1983 American techno-thriller film directed by John Badham, written by Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes, and starring Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, John Wood and Ally Sheedy. Broderick plays David Lightman, a ...
'' that was never used, the band released it as a single and hastily assembled concert recordings around two studio tracks for the album ''
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...
'', their lowest-charting record to date. Crosby was sentenced to two terms, but the conviction was overturned; arrested several more times, he finally turned himself in to the authorities in December 1985. He spent eight months in prison.
CSNY again: 1988–2015
Based on a promise he made to Crosby should he clean himself up, Young agreed to rejoin the trio in the studio upon Crosby's release from prison for ''
American Dream
The "American Dream" is a phrase referring to a purported national ethos of the United States: that every person has the freedom and opportunity to succeed and attain a better life. The phrase was popularized by James Truslow Adams during the ...
'' in 1988. Stills and Crosby (enfeebled by health problems from his fallow period that culminated in a 1994 liver transplant) were barely functioning for the making of the album, and the late eighties production completely swamped the band. It did make it to No. 16 on the ''Billboard'' chart during a 22-week stay, but the record received poor critical notices, and Young refused to support it with a CSNY tour. The band did produce a video for Young's title-song single, wherein each member played a character loosely based on certain aspects of their personalities and public image. Several years later, CSNY reunited to play the Bill Graham memorial concert ("Laughter, Love and Music") at
Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park is an urban park between the Richmond District, San Francisco, Richmond and Sunset District, San Francisco, Sunset districts on the West Side (San Francisco), West Side of San Francisco, California, United States. It is the Lis ...
in San Francisco on November 3, 1991.
CSN recorded two more studio albums in the 1990s, ''
Live It Up'' (1990) and ''
After the Storm'' (1994); both albums sold poorly by previous standards and failed to attain RIAA certifications. A
box set
A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit.
Music
Artists ...
arrived in 1991, four
discs of expected group highlights amidst unexpected better tracks from various solo projects. Owing to certain difficulties, manager Roberts, no longer with the trio but still representing Young, pulled most of Young's material earmarked for the box. Ultimately, nineteen tracks out of the seventy-seven in the set were credited to CSNY. Intended for inclusion, the 1976 CSNY version of "Human Highway" was leaked to the internet several years later before receiving an official release on the ''
Neil Young Archives Volume II: 1972–1976'' box set in 2020.
In 1994, CSN collaborated with
Suzy Bogguss
Susan Kay Bogguss (born December 30, 1956) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She began her career in the 1980s as a solo singer. In the 1990s, six of her songs were Top 10 hits, three albums were certified gold, and one album ...
,
Alison Krauss
Alison Maria Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass-country singer, fiddler and music producer. She entered the music industry at an early age, competing in local contests by the age of eight and recording for the first time at ...
, and
Kathy Mattea
Kathleen Alice Mattea (born June 21, 1959) is an American country music and bluegrass singer. Active since 1984 as a recording artist, she has charted more than 30 singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts, including four that reac ...
to contribute "
Teach Your Children" to the
AIDS
The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...
benefit album ''
Red Hot + Country'' produced by the
Red Hot Organization
''Red Hot Organization'' (RHO) is a non-profit, 501(c) 3, international organization with goals to promote diversity through equal access to healthcare through pop culture.
Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors ...
.
By the late 1990s, CSN found themselves without a record contract. They began financing recordings themselves, and in 1999 Stills invited Young to guest on a few tracks. Impressed by their gumption, Young increased his level of input, turning the album into a CSNY project, ''
Looking Forward''. The album was released at Young's behest via
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels.
Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Green Day, En ...
in October 1999. With writing credits mostly limited to band members, the disc was better received than the previous three albums from a critical standpoint. It also fared relatively well commercially, peaking at No. 26 (the group's highest chart placement since ''American Dream'') during a 9-week stay. However, in a reflection of the shifting financial landscape of the music industry, ''Looking Forward'' was most notable for laying the groundwork for the ensuing CSNY2K Tour (2000) and the CSNY Tour of America (2002), both of which were major money-makers.
CSN were inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...
in 1997; CSNY is the first band to have all its members inducted into the hall twice, although Young was inducted for his solo work (1995) and for Buffalo Springfield (1997). A year later, in 1998, CSN were inducted into the
Vocal Group Hall of Fame
The Vocal Group Hall of Fame & Museum Company Inc. was an American-based hall of fame that honored vocal groups throughout the United States. James E. Winner Jr. was the financial and managing partner of the For-profit corporation. Winner and ...
. The CSN logo that Crosby, Stills and Nash used from the mid-1970s onward was designed by actor and comedian
Phil Hartman
Philip Edward Hartman (; September 24, 1948 – May 28, 1998) was a Canadian-American comedian, actor, screenwriter and graphic designer. Hartman was born in Brantford, Ontario, and his family moved to the United States when he w ...
during his first career as a graphic designer.
Various compilations of the band's configurations have arrived over the years, the box set being the most comprehensive, and ''So Far'' being the most commercially successful. Individual retrospective box sets have also been released. In 2007, David Crosby's ''Voyage'' chronicled his work with various bands and as a solo artist. Graham Nash's ''Reflections'' appeared in early 2009 under the same auspices, quite near his 67th birthday. The box set for Stephen Stills, ''
Carry On'', was released in February 2013. Compilation and oversight of these releases has largely been managed by Nash.
In 2006, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young set off on their Freedom of Speech Tour in support of ''
Living with War'', a Young solo album written in response to the
Iraq War
The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...
. The long setlists included the bulk of the new protest album as well as material from Stills's long-delayed solo album ''
Man Alive!'' and
recent material from Crosby and Nash. On May 16, 2006, Crosby, Stills & Nash were honored as a
BMI Icon at the 54th annual BMI Pop Awards. They were honored for their "unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers." In February 2007, CSN were forced to postpone a tour of Australia and New Zealand due to David Crosby's illness. Also in 2006, long-time manager Gerry Tolman died in a car accident.
The trio performed "Teach Your Children" on ''
The Colbert Report
''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late night television, late-night Late-night talk show, talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December ...
'' on July 30, 2008, with host
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...
filling in the fourth harmony (Neil Young's portion) and wearing a Young-mocking outfit and being referred to by Nash as "Neil". In 2009, Crosby, Stills & Nash released ''
Demos
Demos may refer to:
Computing
* DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system
* DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR
* Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems
* Plural for Demo (computer programming ...
'', an album made up of demo recordings of popular group and solo songs. In June 2009 Crosby, Stills and Nash performed at the
Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...
. Stephen Stills was praised for his exceptional guitar playing. Neil Young did not appear onstage with them but did perform as a solo artist. In July 2009, they headlined the 14th annual
Gathering of the Vibes festival. Halfway through their set, they enthusiastically announced to the crowd that they would be back next year.
CSN convened with producer
Rick Rubin
Frederick Jay Rubin (, ; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is a co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records.
Rubin helped popularize hip hop by produci ...
to record a projected covers album (tentatively titled ''Songs We Wish We'd Written'') for
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...
in 2010; seven songs were completed before the dissolution of the sessions due to the increasingly acrimonious relationship between Rubin and Crosby, who perceived the former as a disruptive and autocratic figure in the creative process. By 2012, CSN had completed five self-produced re-recordings in anticipation of a potential rights dispute over the Rubin sessions with Sony.
Crosby, Stills & Nash toured the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Brazil in 2012 and released a 2CD/DVD entitled ''
CSN 2012'' on July 17, 2012. Further tours of the United States and Europe followed in 2013 and 2014.

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young performed an acoustic set at the 27th
Bridge School Benefit on October 27, 2013 which was that configuration's final concert. ''
CSNY 1974
''CSNY 1974'' is a live album by Crosby, Stills, & Nash, and their seventh in the CSNY quartet configuration. Issued on Rhino Records in 2014, it consists of concert material recorded in 1974 on the band's tour during the summer of that year. It ...
'', an anthology culled from hitherto unreleased recordings of the 1974 tour by Nash and longtime band archivist Joel Bernstein, was released by
Rhino Records
A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...
on July 8, 2014 to widespread critical acclaim. In a September 2014 interview with the ''
Idaho Statesman
The ''Idaho Statesman'' is the daily newspaper of Boise, Idaho, in the western United States. It is owned by The McClatchy Company.
History
The paper was first published as the ''Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman'' on July 26, 1864, by James S. Reynold ...
'', Crosby dispelled rumors of another CSNY tour (citing Neil Young's general unwillingness and lack of financial incentive to perform with the ensemble) before characterizing Young's new partner
Daryl Hannah
Daryl Hannah (born December 3, 1960) is an American actress and environmental activist. She made her film debut in Brian De Palma's supernatural horror film ''The Fury (1978 film), The Fury'' (1978). She has starred in various films across the ...
as "a purely poisonous predator." While introducing a song during a solo performance at the
Philadelphia Academy of Music on October 8, 2014, Young announced that "CSNY will never tour again, ever...but I love those guys." Two days later, Crosby confirmed that "
oungis very angry with me," and likened Young's remarks to "saying there are mountains in
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...
." Crosby made further comments, including that he apologized on
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
. On May 18, 2015, Crosby apologized publicly to Hannah and Young on ''
The Howard Stern Show
''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was radio syndication, nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WINS-FM, WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The sho ...
'', saying "I'm screwed up way worse than that girl. Where do I get off criticizing her? She's making Neil happy. I love Neil and I want him happy," and "Daryl, if you're out there, I apologize. Where do I get off criticizing you? There are people I can criticize: politicians, pond scum. Not other artists that have gone through a hard life, same as me. She hasn't had it easy either."
CSN breakup and Crosby's death: 2016–present
Despite the unprecedented tumult between Crosby and Young, CSN embarked on a routine world tour encompassing American, European and Japanese venues in 2015, culminating in a performance of "
Silent Night
"Silent Night" () is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO
The United Nations Educati ...
" at the
National Christmas Tree
The National Christmas Tree is a large evergreen tree located in the northeast quadrant of the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, D.C. Each year since 1923, the tree has been decorated as a Christmas tree. Every year, early in December ...
lighting ceremony at
The Ellipse
The Ellipse, sometimes referred to as President's Park South, is a park south of the White House fence and north of Constitution Avenue and the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. The Ellipse is also the name of the circumference ...
in
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, on December 3, 2015. However, contrary to a previous November 2015 interview in which he stated he still hoped the band had a future, Nash announced on March 6, 2016, following his divorce from his wife of 38 years,
Susan Sennett, that Crosby, Stills & Nash would never perform again because of his recent estrangement from Crosby. In the summer of 2016, Young told ''Rolling Stone'' that he wouldn't "rule out" future collaborations with the trio; according to Nash in a follow-up interview, "Well, he's right, you never know. There have been times when I've been so pissed at us all for wasting time and not getting on with the job that I wouldn't talk to any of them. But if Crosby came and played me four songs that knocked me on my ass, what the fuck am I supposed to do as a musician, no matter how pissed we are at each other?"
Young echoed these sentiments in a January 2017 interview: "I think CSNY has every chance of getting together again. I'm not against it. There's been a lot of bad things happen
ngamong us, and a lot of things have to be settled. But that's what brothers and families are all about. We'll see what happens. I'm open. I don't think I'm a major obstacle." When queried about Young and the interview on Twitter shortly thereafter, Crosby said that Young is "a hugely talented guy" and a prospective reunion would be "fine with me." In April 2017, Nash framed the potential reunion in the context of the group's tradition of political activism amid the
presidency of Donald Trump Presidency of Donald Trump may refer to:
* First presidency of Donald Trump, the United States presidential administration from 2017 to 2021
* Second presidency of Donald Trump, the United States presidential administration since 2025
See also
* ...
: "I believe that the issues that are keeping us apart pale in comparison to the good that we can do if we get out there and start talking about what's happening. So I'd be totally up for it even though I'm not talking to David and neither is Neil. But I think that we're smart people in the end and I think we realize the good that we can do." In a May 2021 interview for ''
CBS News Sunday Morning
''CBS News Sunday Morning'' (frequently shortened to ''Sunday Morning'') is an American television newsmagazine that has aired on CBS since January 28, 1979. Created by Robert Northshield and E.S. "Bud" Lamoreaux III, and originally hosted by ...
'', Nash said "when that silver thread that connects a band gets broken it's very difficult to glue the ends together." He suggested reuniting with Crosby and the others would be preferable "because of the loss of the music."
On January 18, 2023, David Crosby died at 81, ending any possibilities of a full reunion.
Political activism

CSNY's music reflected the tastes and viewpoints of the
counterculture
A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Ho ...
in the late 1960s and early 1970s. With protest against the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
gearing up in 1970, the group (and Crosby in particular) made no secret of their political leanings.
As a group, they recorded one hit song in response to political events although they recorded other political songs as solo artists and in various combinations. The song, "Ohio", was written in response to the
deaths of four students at Kent State University. The students were shot by
Ohio National Guardsmen during an anti-war protest on the campus in May 1970.
Between "Ohio", their appearance in both the festival and movie of ''
Woodstock
The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...
'', and the runaway success of their two albums, the group found themselves in the position of enjoying a level of adulation far greater than experienced with their previous bands, as evidenced by the 27 Platinum certifications they received across seven albums.
The band has been continuously associated with political causes throughout its existence, the latest example being the song "Almost Gone (The Ballad of Bradley Manning)" which focuses on the length and conditions of
Chelsea Manning
Chelsea Elizabeth Manning (born Bradley Edward Manning, December 17, 1987) is an American activist and whistleblower. She is a former United States Army soldier who was convicted by court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage ...
's pre-trial confinement.
Crosby, Nash,
and Young
were all vocal in their support for
2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders
Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...
.
Legacy and influence
Allison Rapp of ''
Ultimate Classic Rock
Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...
'' conferred the title of the "folk rockiest of all the folk rock bands" on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
The band's collective abilities allowed CSNY to straddle all the
genre
Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...
s of popular music eminent at the time, from
country rock
Country rock is a music genre that fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal sty ...
to confessional ballads, from acoustic guitars and voice to electric guitar, and three-part harmony. With the Beatles' break-up made public by April 1970, and with
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
in reclusive low-key activity since mid-1966, CSNY found themselves the adopted standard bearers for the
Woodstock Nation, serving an importance in society as counterculture figureheads, equaled at the time in rock and roll only by
the Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...
or
the Who
The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...
. Such was their standing in 1970 that Bill Graham referred to them as "The American Beatles". Producer
Peter Fonda
Peter Henry Fonda (February 23, 1940 – August 16, 2019) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. He was a two-time Academy Award nominee, both for acting and screenwriting, and a two-time Golden Globe Award winner for his a ...
wanted CSN to create the soundtrack for ''
Easy Rider
''Easy Rider'' is a 1969 American road drama film written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern. It was produced by Fonda and directed by Hopper. Fonda and Hopper play two bikers who travel through the American Southwest and the S ...
'', but director
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker, photographer and visual artist. He was considered one of the key figures of New Hollywood. He earned prizes from the Cannes Film Festival and Venice Internatio ...
nixed the idea.
Stills's composition, "
Find the Cost of Freedom" (on the flip side of "Ohio"), was the only song known to be offered for the soundtrack.
Members
Official members
*
David Crosby
David Van Cortlandt Crosby (August 14, 1941 – January 18, 2023) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He first found fame as a member of the Byrds, with whom he helped pioneer the genres of folk rock and psychedelic music, psych ...
– lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar
*
Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and Manassas (band ...
– lead and backing vocals, lead and rhythm guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion
*
Graham Nash
Graham William Nash (born 2 February 1942) is a British and American musician, singer and songwriter. He is known for his light tenor voice and for his contributions as a member of the Hollies and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crosby, Stills ...
– lead and backing vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar
*
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...
– lead and backing vocals, lead and rhythm guitar, keyboards, harmonica
Timeline
Discography
''For individual discographies, see entries on
David Crosby
David Van Cortlandt Crosby (August 14, 1941 – January 18, 2023) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He first found fame as a member of the Byrds, with whom he helped pioneer the genres of folk rock and psychedelic music, psych ...
,
Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and Manassas (band ...
,
Graham Nash
Graham William Nash (born 2 February 1942) is a British and American musician, singer and songwriter. He is known for his light tenor voice and for his contributions as a member of the Hollies and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crosby, Stills ...
, and
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...
. See also
Crosby & Nash duo discography.''
* 1969: ''
Crosby, Stills & Nash
Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) was a folk rock supergroup comprising the American singer-songwriters David Crosby and Stephen Stills and the English-American singer-songwriter Graham Nash. When joined by the Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Youn ...
'' (CSN)
* 1970: ''
Déjà Vu
''Déjà vu'' ( , ; "already seen") is the phenomenon of feeling like one has
lived through the present situation in the past.Schnider, Armin. (2008). ''The Confabulating Mind: How the Brain Creates Reality''. Oxford University Press. pp. 167–1 ...
'' (CSNY)
* 1977: ''
CSN'' (CSN)
* 1982: ''
Daylight Again'' (CSN)
* 1988: ''
American Dream
The "American Dream" is a phrase referring to a purported national ethos of the United States: that every person has the freedom and opportunity to succeed and attain a better life. The phrase was popularized by James Truslow Adams during the ...
'' (CSNY)
* 1990: ''
Live It Up'' (CSN)
* 1994: ''
After the Storm'' (CSN)
* 1999: ''
Looking Forward'' (CSNY)
Tours
*
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young 1969–1970 tours
*
CSNY 1974
''CSNY 1974'' is a live album by Crosby, Stills, & Nash, and their seventh in the CSNY quartet configuration. Issued on Rhino Records in 2014, it consists of concert material recorded in 1974 on the band's tour during the summer of that year. It ...
*
CSN 1977 & 1978 Tour
*
CSN 1982 & 1983 Tours
*
CSN 1980–90's Tours
*
List of Crosby, Stills, Nash (& Young) concert tours (2000s–10s)
Tour personnel
References
;Sources
* Zimmer, Dave, and Diltz, Henry. ''Crosby Stills & Nash: The Authorized Biography'' (First edition), St. Martin's Press, 1984. .
* Crosby, David, and Gottlieb, Carl. ''Long Time Gone'' (First edition), Doubleday, 1988. .
* McDonough, Jimmy. ''Shakey, Neil Young's Biography'' (First edition), Random House, 2002. .
* Nash, Graham. ''Wild Tales: A Rock & Roll Life'' (First Edition), Crown Archetype, 2013. .
External links
*
Official CSN site*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
1968 establishments in California
American country rock groups
American activists
American soft rock music groups
Atlantic Records artists
Folk rock groups from California
Grammy Award winners
Musical groups established in 1968
Musical groups disestablished in 2016
American rock music supergroups