Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) was a folk-rock supergroup made up of the American singer-songwriters David Crosby and Stephen Stills and the English singer-songwriter Graham Nash. When joined by the Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young, they were called Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY). They are noted for their intricate vocal harmonies and lasting influence on American music and culture, their political activism and their tumultuous relationships.
"Crosby, Stills & Nash" redirects here. For their self-titled debut album, see Crosby, Stills & Nash (album).
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
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 in late 1967, Stills's band Buffalo Springfield had broken up in early 1968, and Nash left his band the Hollies in December. They signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records in early 1969. Their first album, Crosby, Stills & Nash (1969) produced the Top 40 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 played the Woodstock festival that August.
The band's first album with Young, Déjà Vu, 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", "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.
Crosby, Stills & Nash were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and all three members were also inducted for their work in other groups: Crosby for the Byrds, Stills for Buffalo Springfield and Nash for the Hollies.[6] Young was also inducted as a solo artist and as a member of Buffalo Springfield but not as a member of CSN. CSN's final studio album was 1999's Looking Forward, and they remained a performing act until 2015. Crosby died in 2023.
History[edit]
CSN formation and debut album: July 1968 – May 1969[edit]
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; Stephen Stills had been a guitarist, keyboardist, vocalist, and songwriter in the band Buffalo Springfield (which also featured Neil Young); and Graham Nash had been a guitarist, singer, and songwriter with the Hollies.[7]
Crosby had been sacked from the Byrds in October 1967 due to disagreements over his songwriting.[8] At the Monterey Pop Festival, 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, 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 was the song "Wooden Ships", composed in collaboration with another guest, Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane.[9]
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.[10] Nash met Stills at a party at Peter Tork's house in Laurel Canyon. He was captivated by Stills "banging the shit out of" a piano in a "Brazilian, and Latin, and boogie woogie, and rock and roll" style. In July 1968, over dinner at a party at another Laurel Canyon house (the home of either Joni Mitchell or Cass Elliot -- accounts by the three members differ[11][12]), 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 been harmony bands, with Nash later saying in a 2014 interview, "We knew what we were doing," referring to the success of each of the individual bands. 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' Apple Records. However, back in California, Ahmet Ertegun, who had been a fan of Buffalo Springfield and was disappointed by that band's demise, signed them to Atlantic Records.[13] 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, who got them signed to Atlantic and helped to gain clout for the group in the industry.[14] 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.[15]
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 through the Hollies. Ertegun cut a deal with Clive Davis to essentially trade Nash to Atlantic in exchange for Richie Furay (who was also signed to Atlantic by virtue of his membership in Buffalo Springfield) and Poco, his new band.[16]
The trio's first album, Crosby, Stills & Nash, 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 hits ("Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" [#21] and "Marrakesh Express" [#28]) and significant airplay on FM radio. The album ultimately earned a RIAA triple platinum certification in 1999 and quadruple platinum certification in 2001.[17][18][19]
CSNY: Déjà Vu to 4 Way Street, August 1969 – April 1971[edit]
With the exceptions 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, who was already occupied with the newly formed group Blind Faith.[20] 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.[21] 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.
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; according to Crosby, "Bruce Palmer was into another instrument and his head was not where it should have been."[22] Teenaged Motown session bassist Greg Reeves joined in Palmer's place at the recommendation of Rick James, a friend and former bandmate of Neil Young.[22]
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 in Chicago, with Joni Mitchell as their opening act. They mentioned they were going to someplace called Woodstock the next day, but that they had no idea where it was. Their one-hour show at the Woodstock Festival in the early morning of August 18, 1969, was a baptism by fire. 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,[23] 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 on September 13–14, 1969) appears in the movie Celebration at Big Sur. They also appeared at the violence-plagued Altamont Free Concert on December 6, 1969, alongside Santana, Jefferson Airplane, the Flying Burrito Brothers, and the headlining Rolling Stones. 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.[24] 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, 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 Mitchell's "Woodstock" [#11] with Stills singing lead and both of Nash's contributions ("Teach Your Children" [#16] and "Our House" [#30]). Certified septuple platinum by RIAA, 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.[25] 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.[26]
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 [he] suddenly decided he was an Apache witch doctor."[27] He further opined that "[Reeves] freaked too much on the bass and no one could keep up because [he] did 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."[27] He was replaced by Calvin "Fuzzy" Samuels, a homeless West Indian musician recently discovered by Stills at Island Records' 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) 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 when reports of the Kent State shootings arrived, inspiring Young to write the protest song "Ohio". Recorded and rush-released weeks later with the new rhythm section, it peaked at No. 14 in August 1970, providing another American Top 20 hit for the group.[28] 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' alcohol and cocaine abuse, culminating in an extended solo set not countenanced by the other band members at the Fillmore East, when he was informed that Bob Dylan 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. [29][30][31] Singer Rita Coolidge 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.[32] 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.
For individual discographies, see entries on David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young. See also Crosby & Nash duo discography.
Tour personnel
