Multiple outlets reported the singer/songwriter/guitarist's death on 19 Jan., though a cause of death was not revealed. Crosby, a founding member of '60s rock bands The Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash (later Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young), was 81 years old. Former bandmate Graham Nash paid tribute to Crosby in a statement to Rolling Stone. "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."
Fellow Crosby, Stills & Nash founder Stephen Stills wrote to Rolling Stone: "He was without question a giant of a musician, and his harmonic sensibilities were nothing short of genius. The glue that held us together as our vocals soared, like Icarus, towards the sun. I am deeply saddened at his passing and shall miss him beyond measure."