We’ve been doing this altogether too much in the last couple weeks. The Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash founder David Crosby passed away a mere eight months after he announced he was quitting touring, when he stated”I’m too old to do it anymore.”

Like several other rock stars, Crosby’s talents for vocals, guitar and, to a slightly lesser extent songwriting, brought the Byrds and both CSN and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young to fame but, on the downside, his personal habits contributed to each of the groups’ undoing. He was fired from the Byrds and Neil Young quit CSN&Y over personal differences. In an Elmore interview, we asked Stephen Stills what he was most proud of in his career, and he answered,”That I haven’t killed David Crosby.” Drugs, alcohol and weapons contributed to his problems, which included a prison stint.

Nevertheless, Crosby played on, including two memoirs (one aptly titled Since Then: How I Survived Everything and Lived to Tell About It (G.P. Putnam, 2006)), voice-overs for The Simpsons, several acting turns on TV and films, and six—yes, six—studio albums in the last decade, as well as the live David Crosby & The Lighthouse Band Live at the Capitol Theatre CD, debuting only a month ago.

All told, a life…well, … lived.