Graham Nash in Concert
Graham Nash's long and tuneful career includes his singing with the Hollies' bright British folk-pop, the tightly harmonized classic folk-rock of Crosby, Stills & Nash (& Young), and his own deeply personal singer-songwriter albums.
Born in 1942 in war-scarred northern England, Nash was always on a high, at least vocally. He began singing airy tenor harmonies as a teenager alongside school friend Allan Clarke, and the pair co-founded the Hollies � named after Texas rocker Buddy Holly � in 1962. Nash-Clarke creations such as "On a Carousel," "Bus Stop," and "Jennifer Eccles" are just a few of the Merseybeat combo's more than 30 charting singles.
Following a life-changing evening of music at soon-to-be-girlfriend Joni Mitchell's Hollywood Hills home in 1968, Nash left everything behind to cast his fate with former Byrds member David Crosby and former Buffalo Springfield member Stephen Stills as Crosby, Stills & Nash. Nash's "Marrakesh Express" and "Lady of the Island," an ode to Mitchell, made the supergroup's 1969 debut album an American folk-rock classic.
The trio wouldn't record another album until 1977's CSN. Nash found a creative outlet in the luminous Songs for Beginners, the first of several solo albums, and Graham Nash David Crosby, which launched the duo's productive longtime partnership onstage and in the studio.
Nash is both a romantic and an activist. His ravishing love songs are counterbalanced by politically engaged material like "Military Madness," "Chicago," "Barrel of Pain," "Soldiers of Peace," and "Immigration Man."
A photo collector since the early 1970s, Nash auctioned off more than 2,000 prints through Sotheby's in 1990 for $2.4 million, a record amount for a single collection of photographs. "Recycling is fun," Nash commented as iconic images by Diane Arbus and Ansel Adams found new owners.
Inspired by a major life change, the two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee released This Path Tonight, his first solo album in 14 years, in 2016. In 2018, he released Over the Years, a career-spanning anthology. He's back on the road again and singing better than ever.
"I want my audience to know two things," Nash told Songwriting. "One, I want to be there for them... And the second thing I want is to see them smiling on the way out. That's when I know that I've done my job as a musician."