Music
David Crosby of Crosby Stills Nash and Young Dead at Age 81
David Crosby, the brash rock musician who evolved from a baby-faced harmony singer with the Byrds to a mustachioed hippie superstar and an ongoing troubadour in Crosby, Stills, Nash & (sometimes) Young, died Thursday at the age of 81, according to several media outlets.
According to the New York Times, the musician died Wednesday night, citing a text message from Crosby’s sister-in-law. Several media outlets, citing anonymous sources, reported Crosby’s death; The Associated Press could not reach Crosby’s representatives or his widow.
Crosby received a liver transplant in 1994 after decades of drug use, and he lived through diabetes, hepatitis C, and heart surgery in his 70s.
While he only wrote a few well-known songs, Crosby was at the forefront of the cultural revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, whether triumphing on stage with Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young at Woodstock, testifying on behalf of a hirsute generation in his anthem “Almost Cut My Hair,” or mourning the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in “Long Time Gone.”
He was a founding member and focal point of the Los Angeles rock music community, which produced artists such as the Eagles and Jackson Browne. He inspired Dennis Hopper’s long-haired stoner in “Easy Rider,” a twinkly-eyed hippie patriarch. He was an unrepentant loudmouth who engaged in personal warfare and admitted that many musicians he worked with no longer spoke to him.
“Crosby was a colorful and unpredictable character who wore a Mandrake the Magician cape, didn’t get along with too many people, and had a beautiful voice — and architect of harmony,” Bob Dylan wrote in his memoir, “Chronicles: Volume One,” published in 2004.
David Crosby’s drug use
Crosby’s drug use left him bloated, bankrupt, and estranged. He overcame his addiction during a year in prison in Texas on drug and weapons charges in 1985 and 1986. The conviction was eventually reversed.
“I’ve always said that I picked up the guitar as a shortcut to sex, and after my first joint, I was convinced that if everyone smoked dope, the war would end,” Crosby said in his 1988 autobiography, “Long Time Gone,” co-written with Carl Gottlieb. “I was correct on the sex. When it came to drugs, I was completely wrong.”
He lived years longer than expected and experienced a creative renaissance in his 70s, releasing several solo albums while collaborating with others, including his son James Raymond, who became a favorite songwriting partner.
“Most guys my age would have done a covers record or duets on old material,” he told Rolling Stone shortly before the release of “Croz” in 2013. “This isn’t going to be a big hit. It’ll most likely sell nineteen copies. I don’t think kids will like it, but I’m not going to make it for them. I’m doing it for myself. “I have some things I need to get off my chest.”
Crosby was featured in Cameron Crowe’s documentary “David Crosby: Remember My Name” in 2019.
While his solo career flourished, his seemingly lifelong bond with Nash frayed, Crosby was enraged by Nash’s 2013 memoir “Wild Tales” (which he called “whiny and dishonest”), and their relationship devolved into an ugly public feud, with Nash and Crosby agreeing on one thing: Crosby, Stills, and Nash were done.
Crosby’s rise in the music world
Crosby did express interest in a Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young protest tour following Donald Trump’s election as President of the United States, but his former bandmates did not respond.
Crosby rose to prominence in the mid-1960s as a member of the seminal folk-rock band The Byrds, whose hits included “Turn! Turn! Turn!” and “Mr. Tambourine Man.” At the time, he was clean-cut and baby-faced, and he contributed harmonies that were an important part of the band’s innovative blend of The Beatles and Dylan. Crosby was one of the first American celebrities to become close to The Beatles and was instrumental in introducing George Harrison to Eastern music.
Crosby left The Byrds and formed a new band due to strained relationships with his bandmates. Crosby, Stills, and Nash’s first meeting is legendary: Stills and Crosby were working on the ballad “You Don’t Have to Cry” at Joni Mitchell’s house in 1968 (Stills would argue they were at Mama Cass’) when Nash suggested they start over. Nash’s high harmony added a magical layer to Stills’ rough bottom and Crosby’s mellow middle, forming a supergroup.
Their self-titled debut album was an instant success, helping to redefine commercial music. The songs were longer and more personal than their previous releases, but they were easily relatable to an audience embracing a more open lifestyle.
Their vibrant harmonies and themes of peace and love became synonymous with the late 1960s and early 1970s. Their cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock” served as the theme for a documentary about the 1969 rock concert at which the group made only its second live appearance. Crosby had produced Mitchell’s first album, “Song to a Seagull,” in 1968 and had been her boyfriend at the time (as was Nash).
Harmony and rhythm guitar
Crosby, now sporting the drooping, bushy mustache that would define him for the rest of his life, provided harmony and rhythm guitar, and his songs reflected his volatile personality. They ranged from “Guinevere’s” misty-eyed romanticism to “Deja Vu’s” spirituality to “Almost Cut My Hair’s” operatic paranoia.
Some criticized the group for being soft-headed and self-indulgent.
“If you’re into living-room rock, fireplace harmonies, and a hint of good old social consciousness, this is your band,” said Rolling Stone, who never missed an opportunity to write about the band.
But CSN, as they were soon known, won a Grammy for best new artist and became a global touring act and brand name decades later.
The first album was a lighthearted, upbeat recording, but the mood darkened during the second, “Deja Vu.” Neil Young joined the band, having feuded with Stills while both were in Buffalo Springfield and continuing to do so.
Everyone in the band was in turmoil: Nash and Mitchell had split up, as had Stills and singer Judy Collins. Meanwhile, Crosby was so devastated by the death of his girlfriend, Christine Hinton, in a car accident that he would sob on the studio floor.
Solo artists, duos, trios
The album featured a rougher, less unified sound, was released in 1970 and was another commercial success. Within two years, the quartet had disbanded, destined to reunite and splinter for the rest of their lives.
They worked as solo artists, duos, trios, and, on rare occasions, all four simultaneously. They performed in stadiums and clubs. They were present at the Berlin Wall as the Cold War ended in 1989 and in New York for the Occupy Wall Street protests in 2011.
Crosby has toured frequently in recent years and has answered questions on Twitter with affection and exasperation, whether commenting on rock star peers or assessing the quality of a fan’s marijuana joint. He loved sailing, and aside from hard drugs, his greatest regret was selling his 74-foot boat due to financial difficulties. Among the songs completed on the boat was the classic “Wooden Ships,” co-written with Stills and Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane.
Crosby was born David Van Cortlandt Crosby in Los Angeles on August 14, 1941. Floyd Crosby, the Oscar-winning cinematographer behind “High Noon,” was his father. His mother, Aliph, and brother, Floyd Jr., later relocated to Santa Barbara.
Crosby grew up listening to classical, folk, and jazz music. Crosby stated in his autobiography that as a child, he used to harmonize while his mother sang, his father played mandolin, and his brother played guitar.
“I wasn’t into it when rock ‘n’ roll came in during that era, and the Age of Elvis possessed America,” he recalled.
The Beatles inspired Crosby.
His brother taught him to play the guitar, and he began performing in Santa Barbara clubs while still in his teens. In 1960, he moved to Los Angeles to study acting but dropped out and became a folk singer, touring the country before joining The Byrds. Like many other folk performers, Crosby was inspired by the Beatles’ 1964 film “A Hard Day’s Night” and decided to pursue a career as a rock star.
In 1987, Crosby married his longtime girlfriend, Jan Dance. Django, the couple’s son, was born in 1995. Crosby and Debbie Donovan had a daughter, Donovan. Crosby was reunited with Raymond, who had been placed for adoption in 1961, shortly after undergoing the liver transplant. Raymond, Crosby, and Jeff Pevar later formed a band called CPR.
“I regretted losing him many times,” Crosby said of Raymond in 1998 to the Associated Press. “I was too immature and irresponsible to parent anyone.”
Melissa Etheridge revealed in 2000 that Crosby was the father of her two children with then-partner Julie Cypher. Etheridge told Rolling Stone that Cypher carried the children Crosby fathered through artificial insemination. Beckett, one of the sons, died in 2020.
David Crosby did not assist in raising the children but stated, “If, you know, in time, at a distance, they’re proud of who their genetic father is, that’s great.”
Source: AP
According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Sean “Diddy” Combs will not face charges in connection with a 2016 video that appears to show him abusing then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a hotel.
“We find the images extremely disturbing and difficult to watch,” the office of Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón posted on Instagram Friday (May 17). “If the conduct depicted occurred in 2016, unfortunately we would be unable to charge as the conduct would have occurred beyond the timeline where a crime of assault can be prosecuted.”
Combs appears to push Ventura to the ground near an elevator bank, kick her multiple times while she is on the ground, and pull her down a hallway in the footage, which CNN received on March 5, 2016.
According to the statement, law enforcement has not presented the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office with “a case related to the attack depicted in the video against Mr. Combs, but we encourage anyone who has been a victim or witness to a crime to report it to law enforcement or reach out to our office for support from our Bureau of Victims Services.”
The video’s contents resemble an assault complaint Ventura made in a now-settled lawsuit against Diddy in November, in which she also claimed one incidence of rape and another of Combs forcing her to have sex with male sex workers while he masturbated.
“The gut-wrenching video has only confirmed Mr. Combs’ disturbing and predatory behavior,” said Ventura’s attorney, Douglas Wigdor, in a statement to Billboard. “Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that Ms. Ventura has shown in coming forward to bring this to light.”
Ventura and Combs had an on-and-off romance for 11 years until splitting in 2018. In the lawsuit, she claimed she met Combs in 2005, when she was 19 and he was 37. After signing with his Bad Boy Records company, Ventura alleged that Combs “lured” her into a sexual relationship in which he “asserted complete control” over her life.
Combs has faced four further sexual misconduct complaints after Ventura filed hers late last year. The entrepreneur resigned as chairman of his digital media business Revolt in November, and he reportedly sold his interest in the company in March. Also in March, federal officials raided Combs’ houses in Los Angeles and Miami “in connection” with a federal sex trafficking probe, CNN reported.
Combs has flatly denied all allegations of sexual assault leveled against him. “Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged,” he declared in a statement shared on social media on December 6. “I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
Sean “Diddy” Combs
Sean “Diddy” Combs is a multi-talented mogul who has made his mark in music, fashion, and business. Born in Harlem, he began his career as a talent director at Uptown Records. Combs later created his own label, Bad Boy Records, which launched the careers of musicians such as The Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J. Blige.
His debut album, “No Way Out,” achieved multi-platinum success, cementing his reputation as a rapper and producer. Diddy expanded his business interests, launching the apparel line Sean John and investing in beverage businesses such as Ciroc and DeLeon. With an estimated net worth of $900 million, he is one of hip-hop’s wealthiest individuals.
Combs is a presence in Hollywood, appearing in films and television series while also influencing music and society. His commercial savvy, paired with his musical talents, have elevated him to the status of rap icon.
Source: Billboard
Celebrity
Rock Band Cage The Elephant Emerge From Loss And Hospitalization With New Album ‘Neon Pill’
NEW YORK — To say Cage the Elephant’s latest album had a rocky start would be an understatement. The band coped with loved ones’ deaths, the pandemic, and its lead singer’s arrest and illness.
“It’s no secret that I had a medical crisis,” Matt Shultz tells The Associated Press from Nashville on the eve of the Friday release of the 12-track album “Neon Pill.” “I am fully recovered. It does leave a scar, but it is one that can be ignored.”
The Kentucky-born singer-songwriter was charged with criminal possession of firearms in January 2023 after police discovered his guns inside his Bowery Hotel room in Lower Manhattan.
Shultz claims that in the aftermath, he discovered that for the past three years or more, he had been experiencing a negative reaction to a set of prescribed medications (Shultz did not specify which), resulting in episodes of psychosis.
AP – VOR News Image
Rock Band Cage The Elephant Emerge From Loss And Hospitalization With New Album ‘Neon Pill’
“It’s shocking how night and day the difference is from being on whatever medication is causing psychosis and being off of it,” he continues. “Once I got off the drug, I returned to my normal self. And that was strange because it felt like someone else had taken over your life.”
That so-called other person had contributed to the five-year recording of “Neon Pill,” and it was up to Shultz — who was hospitalized for two months and underwent around six months of outpatient therapy — to unravel the music.
“I went back to the lyrics, obviously to finish the album, and it was like reading the words of a totally different person and trying to decode what they meant,” he recalls. “A lot of it was going back and trying to find the sentiment of what I was trying to communicate.”
Shultz escaped jail time after pleading guilty to three firearms offenses.
“I’m so blessed it wasn’t worse than it was,” adds the man. “And grateful that I received the medical attention I required. I’m extremely fortunate to be surrounded by my family and my wife. God got me through it. I’d be dead numerous times over.
“Neon Pill” reunites the band with producer John Hill, who worked on their previous 2019 Grammy-winning album, “Social Cues.” It presents a kaleidoscope of rock, from the strutting glam of “Ball and Chain” to the piano ballad of “Out Loud” and the breezy alt-rock of “Float Into the Sky.” One song, “Rainbow,” is infectiously poppy, as if Cage covered a Dead or Alive tune.
“It was like a culmination of all the Cage records combined,” claims Shultz. “John Hill had a greater impact on this album, without a doubt.” Not that he didn’t impact ‘Social Cues,’ but with this one, he pushed us harder to go within ourselves and compose the greatest material we could.
AP – VOR News Image
Rock Band Cage The Elephant Emerge From Loss And Hospitalization With New Album ‘Neon Pill’
The album explores Shultz’s experiences, including the lyrics “Double-crossed by a neon pill/Like a loaded gun, my love, I lost control of the wheel.” The song is the band’s 11th number-one hit on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay list.
“We definitely felt like that was the title track once everything came to be,” adds Shultz, who is joined by his guitarist brother Brad, bassist Daniel Tichenor, drummer Jared Champion, guitarist Nick Bockrath, and pianist Matthan Minster.
Two songs are about Matt and Brad’s father, Brad Shultz Sr., one of which is “Out Loud.” It is about the day the older Shultz and his father had a violent dispute, and their father fled to Florida, hitching the entire way. After a year, the younger man felt sorrow and created an apology song, which he hitchhiked back to Kentucky to play for his father.
Matt Shultz says the narrative inspired him, “so I wrote a song about the song he wrote.” The lyrics to that song are: “Man, I really messed up now/ Clipped those wings and I came back home/Tried my best just to carry on.”
The album’s final tune, “Over Your Shoulder,” laments his father’s death in 2020. The Shultz brothers inherited milk crates containing hundreds of their father’s tunes on ancient cassette recordings. A new original Cage song appeared, similar to their father’s style, with the lyrics: “Don’t look back over your shoulder/I’m not saying don’t ask/When it feels like it gets colder/Every season will pass.”
AP – VOR News Image
Rock Band Cage The Elephant Emerge From Loss And Hospitalization With New Album ‘Neon Pill’
“We’d be in the studio, trying to replicate and emulate. But with this record, I believe we were simply relaxed into ourselves and striving to create something we loved.”
SOURCE – (AP)
Celebrity
Lainey Wilson Wins Big At The 2024 Academy Of Country Music Awards, Including The Top Honor
It was Lainey Wilson’s night in a variety of ways. At the 2024 Academy of Country Music Awards, she won Female Artist of the Year as well as Entertainer of the Year.
Wilson began her address with, “I’ve been in Nashville for 13 years doing this.” “Everybody in this category has loved on me and believed on me,” she said. “And I love y’all for that.”
Miranda Lambert, awarded Entertainer of the Year in 2022, is one of only a few women to have won the top prize. Carrie Underwood and Thomas Rhett tied for the title in 2020, marking the first tie in history and the first time a woman had won the category since Taylor Swift in 2012.
AP – VOR News Image
Lainey Wilson Wins Big At The 2024 Academy Of Country Music Awards, Including The Top Honor
Wilson also opened the 59th annual ACM Awards with a cover of Little Texas’ “God Blessed Texas,” seamlessly transitioning into her new hit, “Hang Tight Honey.” Clay Walker and Randy Travis then presented Jordan Davis the song of the year for his popular country radio smash “Next Thing You Know.”
In his victory speech, he remarked, “First and foremost, I want to thank the fans for their love of this song.” “I love songwriting because of songs that won song of the year, so to be holding this right now is crazy.”
Wilson won the year’s music event, as did Jelly Roll for his hit “Save Me.”
“No pun intended, but seriously, this song saved me,” Jelly Roll stated during his address. “I thought I would die and go to jail,” he added, getting upset — but instead, he celebrated winning an ACM award
Reba McEntire hosted the American Country Music Awards, which were held at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, just north of Dallas.
In one of the show’s most anticipated performances, Jason Aldean lit up the stage with a touching homage to the late Toby Keith.
He offered the audience a moving, acoustic version of Keith’s famous “Should’ve Been a Cowboy.” They sang along, and Keith’s family watched from the audience.
Keith has won 14 ACM Awards in his career, including the title of Entertainer of the Year twice. He died in February at the age of 62 after being diagnosed with stomach cancer.
Chris Stapleton won both Album and Male Artist of the Year. “There’s so many great guys in that category, and I’m just happy to be included in this company,” he stated in his acceptance speech.
And Dua Lipa joined him as a special guest when it was time to perform his brand-new single, “Think I’m in Love with You.”
AP – VOR News Image
Lainey Wilson Wins Big At The 2024 Academy Of Country Music Awards, Including The Top Honor
It wasn’t the only surprise: Post Malone dropped a brand-new song, “Never Love You Again,” which bled into his massive new single with Morgan Wallen, “I Had Some Help.” Wallen didn’t perform.
Instead, McEntire later joined Post Malone to perform a brief duet of the Allman Brothers Band’s “Ramblin’ Man” in honor of Dickey Betts, who died last month. He was eighty.
Earlier in the evening, Luke Combs, the night’s most nominated artist with eight, won single of the year for his cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.” Last year, Chapman’s 1988 ballad won Song of the Year at the Country Music Awards for Combs’ cover, becoming her the first Black songwriter to do so.
Dan Shay and Old Dominion won awards for duo and group of the year, respectively.
Performances came fast and furious: Jelly Roll Morton started with a thumping rendition of his new song “Liar,” followed closely by Kelsea Ballerini and Noah Kahan, who turned her song “Mountain with a View” into his viral hit “Stick Season.”
Tigirlily Gold sang “I Tried A Ring On,” Texas-born Cody Johnson performed “Dirt Cheap,” and Miranda Lambert introduced her new track “Wranglers.”
Kane Brown sang a beautiful cover of “Georgia on My Mind.” Thomas Rhett sang “Beautiful As You,” and Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani performed “Purple Irises” on the ACM stage.
AP – VOR News Image
Lainey Wilson Wins Big At The 2024 Academy Of Country Music Awards, Including The Top Honor
Park McCollum played his smash “Burn It Down,” new male artist of the year Nate Smith and pop-punk superstar Avril Lavigne performed their new song “Bulletproof,” and presenter McEntire finished out the program with her new track “I Can’t.”
The ACM Awards were broadcast live on Prime Video and the Amazon Music channel on Twitch Live.
SOURCE – (AP)
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