Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) was a folk rock supergroup composed of the American singer-songwriters David Crosby (formerly of the Byrds) and Stephen Stills (formerly of Buffalo Springfield) and the British-American singer-songwriter Graham Nash (formerly of the Hollies). When joined by the Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young (also formerly of Buffalo Springfield), they were known as 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.
CSN formed in 1968 shortly after Crosby, Stills and Nash performed together informally, discovering they harmonized well. Crosby had been fired from the Byrds in late 1967, Buffalo Springfield had broken up in early 1968, and Nash left 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 an official member, while drummer Dallas Taylor and bassist Greg Reeves were also recruited as touring/session musicians. As Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, they performed at 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. In subsequent years, both CSN and CSNY would reunite several times and release six further studio albums, the last of which was CSNY's Looking Forward in 1999. They continued touring until 2015. Crosby died in 2023.
Crosby, Stills & Nash were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, and all three members have also been inducted for their work in their previous groups: Crosby for the Byrds, Stills for Buffalo Springfield, and Nash for the Hollies. Young has been inducted as a solo artist and as a member of Buffalo Springfield, though he was not included in the CSN induction.
History CSN formation and debut album: July 1968 – May 1969 CSN emerged when David Crosby, a guitarist and singer-songwriter for the Byrds and Stephen Stills, a guitarist, keyboardist, and singer-songwriter with Buffalo Springfield (which also featured Neil Young), joined with Graham Nash, a guitarist, singer, and songwriter with the Hollies.
Crosby had been sacked from the Byrds in October 1967 due to disagreements over his songwriting. His first meeting with Stills was at the Monterey Pop Festival, where Crosby subbed for Neil Young (who quit the band before the gig) with Buffalo Springfield. By early 1968, Buffalo Springfield had disintegrated and Stills was unemployed following recording of their final album. 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.Zimmer and Diltz, p. 65
Graham Nash first met Crosby on the Byrds' UK tour of 1966. Two years later, Nash relocated to California in 1968 and resumed his acquaintance with him.Crosby and Gottlieb, p. 103 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 differZimmer and Diltz, pp. 72–3), 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 all been successful harmony bands: as Nash said in a 2014 interview, "We knew what we were doing". He continued, "Whatever sound Crosby, Stills, and Nash has was born in 30 seconds. That's how long it took us to harmonize."
Nash decided to quit the Hollies in December 1968 and flew to Los Angeles two days later, feeling that the new-forming CSN would be a better fit for him. 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.Crosby and Gottlieb, p. 144. 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.McDonough, p. 252. 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.Zimmer and Diltz, pg. 79
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.Robert Greenfield. The Last Sultan: The Life and Times of Ahmet Ertegun. Simon and Schuster. 2011. 202-3.
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.
CSNY: Déjà Vu to 4 Way Street, August 1969 – April 1971 With the exception 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.Zimmer and Diltz, p. 92 Ertegun suggested Neil Young, also managed by Elliot Roberts, as a fairly obvious choice; Young proved valuable because he could assist with guitar and keyboards by alternating with Stills and Nash in a live setting.Crosby and Gottlieb, pp. 163–4 Initially, Stills and Nash 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 after Young had lunch with Nash. 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."Zimmer and Diltz, p. 94 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.
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,Neil Young is notably absent from the documentary film. In an interview in 2000 for VH1 , he revealed that he objected to being photographed at close quarters, so the cameras avoided him. In February 2019, it was reported that plans to release a restored version of the film would include footage of Young. 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. 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 the Stills-sung cover of Mitchell's "Woodstock" (#11) 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. 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.