what is the cause of death of the rock singer?

DAVID CROSBY. Rock legend David Crosby has died aged 81. It was the entourage of the singer and guitarist who announced it, evoking a “long illness” and specifying that he had died on the evening of Wednesday January 18.

Summary

[Mis à jour le 20 janvier 2023 à 19h40] Rock has lost one of its icons. David Crosby, singer and guitarist of several acclaimed bands in the history of American music, has passed away. His death was announced by his wife, Jan Dance, in a press release taken up, on the night of Thursday January 19 to Friday January 20, by the magazine Variety. This statement gave few details on the circumstances of the death of the rock legend, just evoking a “long illness” and specifying that David Crosby died surrounded by his wife and his son Django. Patricia Dance, sister of David Crosby’s wife, said in a text sent to the New York Times that the rock legend had passed away on the evening of Wednesday, January 18, without giving further details. His death has also been confirmed to theAFP and of Rolling Stone by sources close to the artist.

“Although he is no longer with us, his humanity and his good soul will continue to guide and inspire us. His legacy will continue to live on through his legendary music”, is it written in statement from his wife. Variety, the magazine which relayed this press release, nevertheless specifies that it was not able to corroborate it with other sources in the entourage of the musician. In any case, he was still very active on his Twitter account on Wednesday January 18, a few hours before his death. He had notably written that day, about paradise: “I heard that the place is overrated… cloudy.” Co-founder of the Byrds or the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and present at the first edition of Woodstock in 1969, the artist leaves many albums released during his sixty-year career to his fans.

How was David Crosby?

The singer David Crosby, present in Woodstock in 1969, was the emblem of his time. True to theamerican way of life years 1960-1970 followed by rock stars, the man has multiplied the excesses all his life by tasting almost all drugs. Excessive and addictive consumption that has not got the better of him. A chance of which the singer was aware, as he explained to the magazine Rolling Stone in 2014: “I don’t know why I’m alive, while Jimi [Hendrix] is not, that Janis [Joplin] isn’t… I was lucky.”

Drugs and excesses, however, did not spare David Crosby, who saw his health decline: diabetes, several heart attacks until a liver transplant in 1994. A time addict to heroin and crack, David Crosby had to perhaps his salvation to his short stay in prison in 1986, which forced him into forced drug addiction. The singer assured never to have touched illegal substances since his release. When he returned in 2014, the man seemed to have regained his health and was still artistically active in 2022. However, it was a “long illness” that took away David Crosby, according to the press release from his wife. An evil that had been gnawing at him slowly for several months? Relatives of the singer did not reveal anything about this.

Tribute to a “music giant”

David Crosby was inseparable from the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. No wonder then that the members of the legendary group were among the first to pay tribute to the musician. Graham Nash did not hide his “deep sadness” in the face of the “huge void” that the Californian rocker leaves behind him. “What always meant the most to David and me was the sheer joy of the music we made together, the sound we discovered and the deep friendship shared over all these years,” added the artist. Stephen Stills also had a few words for the singer and guitarist and hailed a “musical giant” and “his harmonic sensibility. [qui] was nothing but genius.” “I don’t know what to say except that I’m heartbroken. David was an incredible talent – ​​such a great singer and songwriter. And a wonderful person. I’m just at a loss for words. Love and mercy to David’s family and friends,” Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson tweeted.

The group The Doors also split a tribute to an “ethereal element of the Peace and Love movement of the 60s; a legend in its own right, and in every group of which it was a part”. American singer Melissa Etheridge, to whom David Crosby had donated sperm so that she could have two children with his partner Julie Cypher, also reacted to the announcement of the death of the artist: “I mourn the loss from my friend and the biological father of Bailey and David. He gave me the gift of a family. I will be forever grateful to him. His music and his legacy will inspire many generations to come. A true treasure.” So many messages from his peers that prove the mark left by David Crosby in the world of music.

David Crosby, rock ‘n roll legend

David Crosby embraced music very early on and never left it. While he was not 25, he helped give birth to the group Byrds, with whom he brought some of the first guitar riffs mixing influences from British rock and folk. After five years with the Byrds, the Californian singer began his adventure with the famous group Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in 1969. The folk rocker then began a solo career in 1971, during which he continued to produce songs and albums with his various musical formations. It is with these two groups that David Crosby was twice inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, while five albums to which he contributed are ranked by Rolling Stone in the top 500 greatest albums of all time.

After his success with his first two bands, David Crosby tried his hand at duos in the 1970s and 1980s with one of his friends, to form Crosby and Nash. But the musician quickly returns to what he knows by forming a new group in 1996, and once is not custom, the group finds its name by joining those of all its members: Crosby, Pevar & Raymond. After a break of a few years taken shortly before the 2010s, the Californian artist returns in 2014 for a new solo album, twenty years after his last solo project. Back on stage, David Crosby distinguished himself in music until 2022.

The Private Life and Drama of David Crosby

The Californian singer and musician was very early upset by a personal drama that made him sink a little more into his addictions. In 1969 David Crosby, then only 28 years old, lost his fiancée Christine Hinton in a tragic car accident. The young woman was barely 21 years old. “After Christine’s death, he was never the same again”, recognized, in memory of this time, the guitarist and friend of David Crosby, Graham Nash.

If this drama for a long time took up space in the private life of the musician, the man had different relationships and was a father several times. His first son, James Raymond, was born from his union with Celia Crawford Ferguson in 1962 but was placed for adoption, which did not prevent David Crosby from being found by his offspring and sharing the stage with her. in 1997. The folk rock singer had three more children: a daughter with Jackie Guthrie, a second daughter with Debbie Donovan and finally a son, Django, conceived with his last wife, Jan Dance. David Crosby married his last girlfriend in 1987 and the couple never left each other.