Graham Nash Remembers David Crosby and the ‘Pure Joy of the Music’ They Created

Graham Nash remembered his late collaborator David Crosby, who died on Thursday at the age of 81, in a poignant tribute shared on social media. The message was posted alongside a black and white photo of Crosby’s guitar case next to “Willy Nash.”

“It is with a deep and profound sadness that I learned that my friend David Crosby has passed. I know people tend to focus on how volatile our relationship has been at times, but what has always mattered to David and me more than anything was the pure joy of the music we created together, the sound we discovered with one another, and the deep friendship we shared over all these many long years,” Nash wrote. “David was fearless in life and in music. He leaves behind a tremendous void as far as sheer personality and talent in this world. He spoke his mind, his heart, and his passion through his beautiful music and leaves an incredible legacy. These are the things that matter most. My heart is truly with his wife, Jan, his son, Django, and all of the people he has touched in this world.”

A source close to Crosby confirmed the musician’s death to Rolling Stone, but did not disclose a cause of death. Crosby was a member of the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash, groups featuring his bright harmony singing that played a major role in the development of folk-rock, country-rock and the emergent “California sound” that dominated rock radio during the mid-Seventies.

Nash joined Crosby and Stephen Stills in the late 1960s, and the trio performed together for the first time at the L.A. home of Cass Elliot of the Mamas and the Papas. Their self-titled 1969 debut was a hit, producing the classic single “Judy Blues Eyes,” about Judy Collins.

Adding Neil Young later that year, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young played their second gig at Woodstock, in front of nearly 500,000 people, announcing the arrival of one of rock’s first — and greatest — supergroups. CSN&Y’s debut album, Déjà Vu, sold 7 million copies and produced the hit singles “Woodstock,” “Teach Your Children” and “Our House.”