He also appeared frequently on recordings by other artists, including Joni Mitchell, Jefferson Airplane, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Elton John and David Gilmour.

His brother inspired his early love of jazz, particularly John Coltrane and Miles Davis; the latter would later recommend that Columbia Records sign the Byrds, and then cover the Crosby composition "Guinnevere.

Late in 1964, Chris Hillman joined the band as bassist,[17] and Crosby relieved Gene Clark of rhythm guitar duties.

[20] Crosby took the opportunity to hone his craft and soon became a relatively prolific songwriter, collaborating with McGuinn on the up-tempo "I See You" (covered by Yes on their 1969 debut) and penning the ruminative "What's Happening".

[21] Because Crosby felt responsible for and was widely credited with popularizing the song "Hey Joe",[18] he persuaded the other members of the Byrds to record it on Fifth Dimension.

Tensions were high after the Monterey International Pop Festival in June when Crosby's onstage political diatribes and support of various John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories between songs outraged McGuinn.

[23] He further annoyed his bandmates when, at the invitation of Stephen Stills, he sat in with Buffalo Springfield's set the following night, after Young had quit the band and was replaced by guitarist Doug Hastings.

[24] The internal conflict boiled over during the initial recording sessions for The Notorious Byrd Brothers (1968) that summer, where differences over song selections led to intra-band arguments.

In particular, Crosby was adamant that the band should record only original material despite the recent commercial failure of "Lady Friend", a Crosby-penned single that stalled at No.

While Crosby contributed to three compositions and five recordings on the final album, his controversial ménage à trois ode "Triad" was omitted.

[28] Around the time of Crosby's departure from the Byrds in 1968, he met Stephen Stills at Laurel Canyon in California through Cass Elliot (of the Mamas & the Papas),[29] and the two started meeting informally and jamming together.

[38] In December 1969, Crosby appeared with CSNY at the Altamont Free Concert, increasing his visibility after also having performed at the Monterey International Pop Festival and Woodstock.

At the beginning of 1970, he briefly joined with Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, and Mickey Hart from Grateful Dead, billed as "David and the Dorks", and making a live recording at The Matrix on December 15, 1970.

[45][46] In 1971, Crosby released his first solo album, If I Could Only Remember My Name, featuring contributions by Nash, Young, Joni Mitchell, and members of Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, and Santana.

Panned on release by Rolling Stone magazine, it has been reappraised amid the emergence of the freak folk and New Weird America movements and remains in print.

During the mid-1970s, Crosby and Nash enjoyed careers as session musicians, contributing harmonies and background vocals to albums by Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne (whom Crosby had initially championed as an emerging songwriter), Dave Mason, Rick Roberts, James Taylor (most notably "Lighthouse" and "Mexico"), Art Garfunkel, Carole King, Elton John,[48] JD Souther, and Gary Wright.

[51] In January 2014, Crosby released his first solo album in 20 years, Croz, recorded in close collaboration with his son James Raymond (of the CPR band) at the latter's home studio.

[52] On July 14, 2016, Crosby announced a new solo album named Lighthouse, which was released on October 21, 2016, and shared a new track from it titled "Things We Do for Love".

[53] The album was produced by Michael League of the big band Snarky Puppy, whom he met on Twitter, and also featured contributions by future collaborators Becca Stevens and Michelle Willis.

[72] Pevar has toured with many artists over his productive career, including CSN, Ray Charles, Rickie Lee Jones, and Marc Cohn.

In January 2000, Melissa Etheridge announced that Crosby was the biological father of two children with her partner Julie Cypher by means of artificial insemination.

[83][84] Crosby, in partnership with longtime friend and entrepreneur Steven Sponder, developed a craft cannabis brand called "MIGHTY CROZ".

Crosby also credited cannabis and cannabidiol (CBD) with alleviating his chronic shoulder pain, allowing him to continue touring and making new music well into his seventies.

He credited the Mayan as being a songwriting muse; he wrote some of his best-known songs aboard the boat, including "Wooden Ships," "The Lee Shore," "Page 43," and "Carry Me.

He publicly questioned the report of the Warren Commission covering the assassination of John F. Kennedy onstage during the Byrds's appearance at the Monterey Festival in 1967, to the anger of his bandmates.

[94][95] For the 2020 presidential election, he said in an interview that Mayor Pete Buttigieg was his favorite candidate for president and was smarter than all the others combined;[96] however, he eventually voted for Bernie Sanders.

Describing him as a "decent guy", Crosby noted that the personal tragedies Biden experienced with the deaths of his first wife and daughter in 1972 and his oldest son, Beau, in 2015, made him a better human being.

Crosby pleaded guilty in New York State Supreme Court to attempted criminal possession of a weapon on July 4, 2004; he was fined $5,000 and received no jail time.

Prosecutors did not seek a more severe penalty on the weapons charge because the pistol was registered in California and was stowed safely in his luggage when it was found.

[14] During an October 2008 concert, Crosby, looking much thinner than in previous years, announced to the audience that he had recently shed 55 pounds (25 kilograms) as a result of his struggles with the disease.