David Crosby, who died in 2023 aged 81, is being remembered on what would have been his 85th birthday for his influential and outspoken role in American folk-rock. As a founder of both the Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, he helped shape the 1960s folk-rock movement and the 1970s “California sound”, while also becoming a countercultural figure despite personal and legal difficulties.

Born in California in 1941, Crosby began as a solo folk performer before joining Roger McGuinn and Gene Clark to form the Byrds in 1964. Their recording of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” topped charts in several countries, but Crosby was dismissed in 1967 amid tensions over his substance use and political outspokenness. He soon formed Crosby, Stills & Nash with Stephen Stills and Graham Nash; Neil Young later joined, and their 1970 album Deja Vu reached number one on the Billboard 200.