Ethan Crosby
| Ethan Crosby | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Floyd Delafield Crosby, Jr. |
| Born |
March 7, 1937 Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Died | 1997 (aged 59–60) Trinity National Forest, California, United States |
| Genres | Jazz, folk, folk rock |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, environmentalist |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, bass |
Floyd Delafield Crosby, Jr. (1937–1997) was an American musician, singer, songwriter and environmentalist. He is the older brother of David Crosby of The Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
Ethan Crosby (born Floyd Delafield Crosby Jr. March 7, 1937, died December 11, 1997) was the son of Floyd Crosby and Aliph Van Cortlandt Whitehead. He grew up in the Los Angeles area. He described himself in his childhood years as a "loner" who preferred reading to socializing, and first took up playing music when his parents bought him a guitar as a gift when in the fifth or sixth grade. Beginning in the mid-1940s, Ethan and brother David attended summer camp at Camp Trinity in the Trinity National Forest in Northern California. The camp's emphasis on the outdoors and a lack of reliance on technology made a strong impression on Crosby. For eight years he would return to the camp every summer, eventually becoming a senior counselor.
After graduating from Carpinteria High School, Crosby briefly attended junior college in Santa Barbara, then one quarter at Cal Poly with the intention of studying agriculture; but dropped out after becoming disillusioned with the curriculum.
Crosby spent much of the early to mid-1960s as a working musician performing on the jazz and folk circuits playing guitar and stand up bass. Sometimes performing with his brother David, he traveled around the country wherever work was to be found, playing in California, Miami, Las Vegas, and Colorado.
As younger brother David's fame grew, Ethan continued to struggle as a working-class musician pursuing his own artistic vision, at one point using his own money to have a wind organ built on Mount Tamalpais near San Francisco. His lifestyle became more unconventional as he began living in Volkswagen buses and becoming increasingly idealistic in his attitudes. Ethan eventually became frustrated with the music business and its emphasis on material gain, rather than musicians using their privileged positions to effect positive change.
After his disappointment with the music industry, Ethan retreated to Big Sur on the central California coast, beginning his life as a self described "hermit" and "back to the land"-er, living a rugged lifestyle on the ridges above the Pacific Ocean. However, frequent encounters and confrontations with tourists and dirt bike enthusiasts eventually convinced him it was time to move on.
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