David Crosby’s Cause of Death: What to Know

David Crosby died after he was diagnosed with COVID-19, his former bandmate Graham Nash said in April. The Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young singer’s family originally said he died after a “long illness,” but Nash shared more details about his friend’s final days in a new interview. Crosby, whose songs include “Almost Cut My Hair,” “Deja Vu” and “Guinnevere,” died on Jan. 18, 2023, at age 81.

“He was rehearsing for a show to do in Los Angeles with a full band,” Nash told Kyle Meredith on his Kyle Meredith With podcast on April 7, via the New York Post. “After three days of rehearsals, he felt a little sick. And he’d already had COVID and he had COVID again. And so he went home and decided that he would take a nap, and he never woke up. But he died in his bed and that is fantastic.”

Nash, 81, said it was “astonishing” that Crosby made it to 81, considering the struggles he faced throughout his life. “But [his death] was a shock. It was kind of like an earthquake, you know?” Nash said. “You get the initial shock and then you figure out that you survived. But these aftershocks kept coming up, and they’re diminishing in size as I go along.”

Crosby faced several health challenges after he was diagnosed with hepatitis C in the early 1990s. He needed a liver transplant in 1994, reportedly paid for by Phil Collins. In a 2002 interview, Crosby told the Post the liver donation added extra years to his life. “I have seven extra years on my life after I was supposed to be dead,” Crosby said at the time. “It’s a slow-moving disease, and it’ll take another 20 years for it to kill this liver. I’ll take the 20 years. Hep C is one of the worst problems the world has to face.”

Nash, the only U.K.-born member of CSN(Y), co-founded The Hollies. After meeting Crosby and Stephen Stills in 1966, he joined them to form CSN in 1968. Neil Young joined them in 1969, and they became Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. After the group broke up for the first time in 1972, Crosby and Nash recorded several successful albums as a duo. However, the two were estranged in the years before Crosby’s death. In February, Nash told AARP Magazine the two were working to fix their relationship.

“The fact is that we were getting a little closer at the end. He had sent me a voicemail saying that he wanted to talk to apologize, and could we set up a time to talk,” Nash explained. “I emailed him back and said, ‘Okay, call me at 11 o’clock tomorrow your time, which is 2 o’clock on the East Coast.’ He never called, and then he was gone.”

After Crosby’s family announced his death, Nash shared a heartbreaking tribute to his friend on Instagram, alongside a picture of their guitar cases. “It is with a deep and profound sadness that I learned that my friend David Crosby has passed,” Nash wrote. “I know people tend to focus on how volatile our relationship has been at times, but what has always mattered to David and me more than anything was the pure joy of the music we created together, the sound we discovered with one another, and the deep friendship we shared over all these many long years.”

“David was fearless in life and in music,” Nash continued. “He leaves behind a tremendous void as far as sheer personality and talent in this world. He spoke his mind, his heart, and his passion through his beautiful music and leaves an incredible legacy. These are the things that matter most. My heart is truly with his wife, Jan, his son, Django, and all of the people he has touched in this world.”