What Was David Crosby's Net Worth?
David Crosby was an American singer, songwriter, and actor who had a net worth of $10 million at the time of his death. David Crosby died on January 19, 2023, at the age of 81. Crosby was known for being a founding member of the bands the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for his work in both groups. As we detail later in this article, over the years, David complained of experiencing various financial problems. He suffered a difficult financial blowback after a car accident, which resulted in a $3 million settlement. In March 2020, David claimed that losing all his touring gigs due to the COVID-19 pandemic could lead to him losing his home. Roughly a year later, he sold his music catalog rights for what is believed to be a payday north of $20 million.
Early Life
David Crosby was born David Van Cortlandt Crosby on August 14, 1941, in Los Angeles, California. His father was Academy Award-winning cinematographer Floyd Crosby, who filmed over 100 movies throughout the course of his thirty-six-year career. On his father's side, his lineage traces back to the historically significant Van Rensselaer family, who were among the first Dutch settlers of New York and whose patriarch Steven Van Rensselaer is one of the wealthiest humans in history. David's mother was Aliph Van Cortlandt Whitehead, who also descended from a historically significant Dutch family. Growing up, Crosby went to several schools, and he showed little interest in academics. When he was in school, he took part in the theater productions. He briefly attended Santa Barbara City College to study drama but dropped out in order to pursue a career in music. David played with jazz singer Terry Callier and began performing with Les Baxter's Balladeers in 1962.
Early Career
In 1963, Crosby recorded his first solo session with the help of producer Jim Dickson. The following year, he formed a band called Jet Set with guitarist and vocalist Jim McGuinn and singer-songwriter Gene Clark. Crosby introduced the other two musicians to Jim Dickson, who agreed to be their manager. The trio recorded songs that wouldn't be released until much later in the compilation albums "PreFlyte," "In the Beginning," and "The PreFlyte Sessions." Later that year, drummer Michael Clarke was recruited primarily because of his good looks, and Dickson completed the band with bassist Chris Hillman. Thanks in part to an endorsement from acclaimed jazz musician Miles Davis, they signed with Columbia Records. Shortly after their signing, they rebranded as The Byrds. They began recording their debut single, "The Tambourine Man," and its B-side "I Knew I'd Want You" in early 1965. Leading up to its release, the group took a residency at Ciro's Le Disc nightclub off the Sunset Strip, which helped them perfect their stage performances. The band released the single in April 1965, and it reached #1 on the US Billboard'Hot 100 and on the UK Singles Chart within three months. They followed this with the album "The Tambourine Man," released in the summer of that year. It was commercially a success and peaked at #6 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and #7 in the UK. The album was influential in popularizing folk music and made them internationally famous. They followed this album with the Bob Dylan-inspired single "All I Really Want to Do," which reached #4 in the UK but was less popular in the US.
In 1966, Gene Clark left the band, and Crosby became their main songwriter. They released the single "Eight Miles High" in the spring of that year. It reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 but was prevented from climbing higher after it was banned by radio stations because of its references to recreational drugs. The band was also accused of advocating for the use of drugs by the "Gavin Report," a weekly newsletter about the music scene published in San Francisco. The group and their publicist denied the allegations. Their third album, "Fifth Dimension," was released in 1966 to critical praise and commercial success. By the time they had completed their fourth album, "Younger Than Yesterday," in 1967, Crosby had become increasingly controlling about the band's creative direction. He had also alienated some of the other members with his outlandish political views and was let go in mid-1967 before production of their fifth album began.
Crosby, Stills & Nash
In 1968, Crosby formed a band with Stephen Stills, the former guitarist and vocalist from the act Buffalo Springfield, and Graham Nash, the former songwriter and vocalist for The Hollies. Because each had experience working with well-known bands, they named their act based on their surnames so that the band could not continue to exist without any one of them. They were later joined by Neil Young, and when the trio performed with him, they were known as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Their debut self-titled album was released in 1969 and was a commercial hit. They brought in Young to play the keyboard for their second album, "Déjà Vu," which was an even greater success than their previous one. It spawned three Top 40 singles and was praised by critics. A combination of personal stressors and substance abuse caused arguments among the members, and following their tour for the album, they split up until their 1974 reunion. Although their reunion tour was successful, there were still frequent spats and conflicts fueled by drugs, differing lifestyles, and strange beliefs. Young traveled with an entirely separate crew due to the group's heavy drug use and erratic behaviors. They decided not to record any music together. Crosby and Nash continued to work together and produced three albums in the 1970s. The foursome would reunite in the late '70s, but the band would continue to be plagued with contention. Despite their long history and touring in the 2000s, Stills announced in 2016 that the group would not perform together again due to his personal qualms with Crosby.
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Personal Life
Crosby married Jan Dance in 1985, and they had one son together. He had three children from other relationships. In 2000, Melissa Etheridge revealed that he was the sperm donor for her two children, who she welcomed with her longtime partner Julie Cypher. David married Jan Dance in 1987, and they remained together until his death in 2023. He had several children.
Crosby partnered with his friend Steven Sponder in 2019 to create a craft cannabis brand called Mighty Croz. He has credited cannabis for his songwriting ability and creative talents. He has also been arrested on a number of drug and weapon-related offenses, and he served nine months in a Texas prison for possession of cocaine and heroin in 1985.
Financial Problems
In March 2015, David struck a jogger while driving his Tesla Model S. The jogger was left with a broken shoulder, arm, leg, and ribs, as well as kidney damage. He sued Crosby, alleging that the rocker was under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol (which was never proven conclusively). David was ultimately forced to pay a $3 million settlement.
In March 2020, David told GQ magazine that the Coronavirus pandemic could potentially cause him serious financial harm if he is not able to tour:
"You know they don't pay us for records anymore, right? So touring is all we got. That's really the only thing that we can do to make any money. And to lose it is just awful. I may—honest to God—I may lose my home. I don't know what to do about it, except just try to roll with the punches and keep going. Truthfully, if I lose the tours, I probably will lose my home."
Catalog Sale
In March 2021, David reached a deal to sell his publishing rights to Irving Azoff's Iconic Artists Group. The sale price was not disclosed. Several months earlier, he made several posts on social media in which he claimed to be financially stressed to the point where he was forced to explore catalog sale options.
