Fifty-five years ago the trio of David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash first sang together on a party by Joni Mitchell in her house in California.
All three had become famous in bands noted for their harmonies: Crosby with the Byrds, Stills with Buffalo Springfield and Nash with the Hollies. When the Hollies reached Los Angeles in 1966, Nash met Cass Elliott of the Mamas and the Papas, who took him to Crosby’s house in Laurel Canyon. Later that night, Crosby took him to a party at the house of Peter Tork of the Monkees to meet Stills. Nash returned to England with a bunch of new friends.
In October 1967, Crosby was fired during the sessions for “The Notorious Byrd Brothers”. Buffalo Springfield broke up six months later, so Crosby and Stills began working together, writing and recording demos.
Meanwhile, Nash was feeling frustrated with the Hollies, wanting to record more ambitious material than the lightweight, albeit wonderful, pop with which they had made their name. (“On a Carousel” was released a few days before the Beatles put out “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane,” and “Carrie Anne” arrived the same week as “Sgt.Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”.) Their next single, Nash’s “King Midas in Reverse,” barely dented the U.K. Top 20. He’d also fallen deeply in love with Canadian Joni Mitchell, whom Crosby had brought to Los Angeles to produce her debut album.
Wààr het magische moment dan plaats heeft, varieert van wie het verhaal vertelt, maar op een bepaald moment Crosby and Stills began playing one of Stills’ songs, “You Don’t Have to Cry.” When they were done, Nash, blown away by the tune, asked them to play it again. And again. “On that third time, I’d learned the words, the melody — I knew what I was gonna do,” Nash recalled. “Whatever sound Crosby, Stills & Nash has was born in 30 seconds.” Ahmet Ertegun signed them to Atlantic, the home of Buffalo Springfield, and the trio’s self-titled debut came out in May 1969.
(Het volledige verhaal kunt u lezen op de website van Ultimate Classic Rock.)
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