An American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known for being a founding member of the Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY). He helped create and popularise the highly influential folk-rock sound, forging the richly harmonic, acoustic approach which defined the West Coast music scene for years to follow.

Born in Los Angeles, he was originally a drama student, but dropped out of drama school to pursue a career in music. He moved toward the same Greenwich Village scene as Dylan participated in, and even shared a mentor of Dylan's in Fred Neil. With the help of producer Jim Dickson, Crosby cut his first solo session in 1963.

Early in 1964, Crosby started performing in clubs with Roger McGuinn (then known as Jim) and Gene Clark under the name the Jet Set. They soon changed the name to the Byrds, and were joined by bassist Chris Hillman and drummer Michael Clarke. They somehow managed to obtain a demo recording of Bob Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man and recorded a cover version of the song featuring McGuinn's 12-string guitar and Crosby's and Clark's vocal harmonising. The song was a massive hit, and went to #1 on the charts.

In 1966, Clark, who then was the band's primary songwriter, left the group due to stress. This put all the group's songwriting responsibilities in the hands of Crosby and McGuinn. Crosby soon blossomed into a prolific and talented songwriter, including early efforts such as the classic 1966 hit Eight Miles High, which he co-wrote with Clark and McGuinn. The song Hey Joe was popularised by Crosby after he picked it up from Dino Valente. He taught the song to Bryan MacLean and Arthur Lee of Love, who then taught it to members of the Leaves, and persuaded the other members of the Byrds to cover it on Fifth Dimension.

By Younger Than Yesterday (1967), Crosby was starting to find his trademark style. Friction existed between Crosby and the other Byrds, which came to a head in 1967 over two specific issues: his substitution, at the invitation of Stephen Stills, for an absent Neil Young during Buffalo Springfield’s set at the Monterey Pop Festival in June; and the Byrds’ rejection of Crosby’s controversial Triad composition as either a single or an album cut on Notorious Byrd Brothers in August. This angered Crosby so much that he began to frequently skip sessions and as a result was dismissed from the Byrds in the fall of 1967. Triad was recorded by Jefferson Airplane and released on their album Crown of Creation in 1968. Crosby sang a solo acoustic version on CSNY's 1971 double live album Four Way Street. The Byrds' version appeared decades later on the 1988 Never Before release and is now available on the CD re-release of Notorious Byrd Brothers.

In March 1968, Crosby met a recently unemployed Stephen Stills at a party at the home of Cass Elliot and the two started meeting informally together and jamming. They were soon joined by Graham Nash, who left his commercially successful group the Hollies to play with Crosby and Stills. Their first album, Crosby, Stills & Nash (1969) was an immediate hit. While in CSN, Crosby wrote many important songs, including Guinnevere, Almost Cut My Hair and Long Time Gone. He also co-wrote Wooden Ships with Paul Kantner and Stills.

In 1969, the group was joined by Neil Young, and with him they recorded the album Déjà Vu, which went to number 1 on the charts. In August 1969, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY) made just their second live appearance to date at the Woodstock Festival. That same year, Crosby's longtime girlfriend Christine Hinton was killed in a car accident only days after Hinton, Crosby, and fellow girlfriend Debbie Donovan moved from Los Angeles to the Bay Area. Crosby was devastated and he began abusing drugs much more severely than he had before.

After the release of the double live album Four Way Street, the group took a temporary break to focus on their respective solo careers. In 1971, Crosby released his first solo album If I Could Only Remember My Name, featuring contributions by Nash, Young and Joni Mitchell, along with members of Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead and Santana. He also briefly did a stint with members of the Grateful Dead, recording David and the Dorks at the Matrix in December 1970.

In 1972, Crosby and Nash issued the first of several albums as a duo and Crosby also took part in a short-lived Byrds reunion.

CSNY reunited in 1973 to embark on a reunion tour. It was also around this time that they began recording a new album, entitled Human Highway. The recording, which took place at Young's ranch, was marked by constant bickering and the album was eventually cancelled. Even so, they once again re-united the following year to go on a stadium tour. Another attempt at a new album was made, but it was cancelled early on and only a greatest hits compilation entitled So Far was released.

CSN got together again in 1977 for the multi-platinum album CSN. However, as Crosby's longstanding drug problem continued to worsen, he eventually fell out with both Stills and Nash and a planned second solo album, Might as Well Have a Good Time, was rejected by Capitol in 1980.

A series of arrests for cocaine possession and illegal weapons charges hampered him throughout the years to follow, even as he reunited with Stills and Nash in 1982 for Daylight Again. After completing the follow-up, Allies, in 1983, the trio did not record together for another seven years.

In late 1985, Crosby was sentenced to prison after fleeing the drug rehabilitation clinic he had entered in lieu of serving out a previous jail term. By his release the following August, he had finally overcome his addiction. In 1988, Crosby reunited with Stills, Nash and Young for American Dream. His second solo effort, Oh Yes I Can, finally appeared the following year as well.

After the 1990 release of CSN's Live It Up, Crosby continued to suffer personal misfortunes: first he was severely injured in a motorcycle accident, and then in 1994 he lost his LA home as a result of massive earthquake damage. Months later, he returned to the headlines when it was announced he was diagnosed with hepatitis C and dying of liver failure, undergoing a successful organ transplant in 1995.

During the recovery period which followed, Crosby met James Raymond, the son he had given up for adoption over three decades earlier and also a professional musician. The two soon began writing songs together and with guitarist Jeff Pevar they formed CPR, releasing a series of albums and touring regularly. Young returned to the fold for 1999's Looking Forward, with a resulting millennial tour (dubbed CSNY2K). CSN continue to tour and record.