About Crosby, Stills & Nash

David Crosby likens his long-lived partnership with Stephen Stills and Graham Nash as being like “juggling bottles of nitroglycerin.” While Nash once explained, “we're more than friends; we're brothers. And, unfortunately, brothers fight occasionally. But it's been more than 30 years; something's going on.” The “something” in this case is now more than four decades of making, quite literally, beautiful music, laden with some of the most soaring harmonies and incisive songwriting to come out of the late '60s/early '70s singer-songwriter movement. So what's a little fighting among friends when they can make music that durable?

The concept of the rock 'n' roll supergroup had already been established by Cream when Crosby, Stills & Nash were introduced by mutual friend Mama Cass Elliot at her home in California's Laurel Canyon during 1968. But this was an even more formidable joining of talents, with Crosby taking flight from The Byrds, Stills rising from the ashes of Buffalo Springfield and Nash taking leave from The Hollies. It clicked right away, as the trio's self-titled debut album hit the Top 10 and launched the hits “Marrakesh Express” and Stills' epic “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” earning the group the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1970.

By that time, however, CSN had added a Y -- Neil Young, another Buffalo Springfield alumnus -- who joined in time for the Woodstock festival and was on board for the subsequent albums Deja Vu and the live Four Way Street – as well as the pointed protest single “Ohio” in 1970 (which Young wrote following the Kent State University shootings). But as a trio or a quartet, the group was a volatile unit as the musicians struggled to balance their strong individual visions with the needs of the collective. They spent much of the '70s apart -- though Crosby and Nash frequently collaborated -- before CSN reconvened for the quadruple platinum CSN album in 1977 and, after another break, the platinum Daylight Again in 1982. CSNY, meanwhile, reunited for the 1988 effort American Dream.

Despite their tumultuous relationship, abetted by rampant drug use on the part of certain members, the group remained a popular act live act throughout the early 90s. Their next 2 studio albums, Live It Up and After The Storm, failed to gain any traction and in turn, they decided to end their 28-year association with Atlantic Records in 1997 in order to pursue an independent path. Today, they continue to tour and after releasing Demos, a collection of previously unreleased demos from the earliest days of their musical collaboration, regrouped in the studio with acclaimed producer Rick Rubin for a covers album.

For millions of fans worldwide, CSN (and sometimes Y) are living proof that the social and musical values of the 1960s still have a place in the new millennium.