David Crosby dead at 81: rock star swept away by “long illness”

It’s a tragedy for the rock world. David Crosby, co-founder of the Byrds died at the age of 81. The one who joined the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young group died on Thursday January 19, 2023. It was his wife who announced the sad news, indicating that her husband had died of a “long illness”. After a fairly eventful life, the artist wanted to take care of himself. “I don’t know why I’m alive, when Jimi (Hendrix) isn’t, Janis (Joplin) isn’t…” he was surprised with Rolling Stone magazine in 2014. “I was lucky.”

In effect, David Crosby was infamous for his cocaine addiction. “The important things in my life are not the problems I had, it’s this magic that happened to me, which allowed me to create all this music”. At 25, he founded the band The Byrds. But his addictions will make his life hard. “At the end of a concert, you’re on top, that’s when I took a lot. It allowed me to hold on after the show”. In 1969, his partner was killed in a car accident. And it’s the music that will save him. “The only place I could cope was the studio.”

An eventful life

But in 1986, he spent five months in prison for having been arrested in possession of cocaine and a loaded pistol. In 1994, he had to undergo a liver transplant. Two years later, he must go to rehab. “I actually feel pretty damn good. What I do is not just play guitar and sing. I’m not the best at either.”told the old bard to AFP in January 2021. “Where I’m really good is breaking that fourth wall, taking you on a little journey”he continued. “Make you laugh, so I can make you cry. That’s my job.”