After a well documented split as collaborators and friends, it turned out David Crosby had planned on making amends with Graham Nash, just before his death last month.
In an interview with AARP, Nash, 81, revealed how he was expecting a phone call from his former bandmate that could have put to rest many of their old grievances and demons.
'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 told Rob Tannenbaum.
Nash continued, 'I emailed him back and said, "OK, 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.'
Crosby and Nash were longtime bandmates as a trio known as Crosby, Stills & Nash and also as half of the famed supergroup when Neil Young joined the outfit known as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Both helped shape what would be know as the California sound in the 1970s.
Amends on horizon: Graham Nash revealed that his former Croby, Stills, Nash & Young bandmate and friend David Crosby had planned to apologize, in an effort to put their years-long rift to bed, just before he died in January
But over the years the two musicians would have a falling out that led to an intensely acrimonious battle of words after CSN imploded in 2015, resulting in scathing exchanges, largely through the media, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.
In a 2018 interview with the publication, Nash declared: 'Crosby, Stills & Nash will never play another note together,' before adding, 'I just don’t like Crosby. I can't make music with him. It’s done. It’s over.'
In more recent years, Crosby told the Guardian in 2021, 'I don't want to talk to [Nash], I'm not happy with him at all.'
Then in 2022 Nash announced, 'My patience, my love for [Crosby], it all just stopped.'
But, in the end, the two songwriters sounded like they were the cusp of rekindling their friendship, which Nash takes some comfort from in the wake of his passing on January 18, at the age of 81.
'Our reaction to his comments about Neil's wife and the other things that separated David from us — but if he was willing to call me and apologize for what he had done and how he had hurt me, it made his death a little easier for me to accept,' the Teach Your Children singer-songwriter confessed, in a reference to the disparaging comments the notoriously brash Crosby made about Young's partner.
While he suffered from a series of serious ailments over the years, including diabetes and arterial disease, blackouts, seizures, along with drug and alcohol addiction, Stills’ ex-wife Véronique Sanson revealed on French television that Crosby had died in his sleep from complications of COVID-19.
'He was on his fifth day, went to take a nap, and never woke up,' she shared of his passing.
Legendary: The two singer-songwriters were half of the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, which helped shape the so-called California sound in the 1970s
Last hurrah: The musicians also saw success as a trio known as Crosby, Stills & Nash; they are seen in December 2015, just before the band imploded
Believing he was 'probably going to die fairly soon', Crosby had planned his funeral at least three years prior to his death, to be held at his horse ranch in Santa Ynez, California, in hopes that he would be reconciled with his former Byrds and CSN bandmates so that they would attend.
Despite thinking that Crosby was dying for the last 20 years of his life, still hasn't made his actual death any easier, describing the loss 'like an earthquake.'
'It was only two or three days after he passed that I realized that he was actually gone,' the Blackpool, England native said. 'I wish to God that David would have had a better ending. But him being happy at the end made it much better for me to be able to accept.'
Crosby's combined work with the Byrds, CSNY and CSN has sold over 35 million albums
The Los Angeles native was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: once for his work in The Byrds and again for his work with CSN.
RIP: Crosby, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work in The Byrds and again for his work with CSN, reportedly died from complications from COVID-19; he is picture playing with CSN&Y in September 1969
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