Graham Nash Says David Crosby Had Reached Out Before His Death, Making It 'Easier' to 'Accept'

Lester Cohen/WireImage David Crosby and Graham Nash

Longtime bandmates David Crosby and Graham Nash were on the road to reconciliation after years of tumult when Crosby died.

Nash, 81, opened up about the loss of the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young singer to AARP.org, and said he's been comforted by the fact the two had been close to patching things up after a falling out in recent years.

"The fact is that we were getting a little closer at the end. He had sent me a voicemail saying that he wanted to talk to apologize, and could we set up a time to talk," Nash said. "I emailed him back and said, 'OK, call me at eleven o'clock tomorrow your time, which is two o'clock on the East Coast.' He never called, and then he was gone."

The musician said the message came shortly before Crosby died on Jan. 19 at age 81 after a long illness — and made him wonder whether the late star knew that he was in his final days.

"He was a very intelligent man. I wouldn't put it past him to know that he was actually at the very end. The truth is, we've been expecting David to pass for 20 years," he said. "Since his [1994] liver transplant and all his stents. He had seven stents. His body was really failing. But once again, I can only try to remember the good times, because we had many of them… I only want to concentrate on the good things that we did."

Nash and Crosby first joined forces (along with Stephen Stills) in 1968, and the trio later brought Neil Young into the fold. The two briefly branched off as Crosby and Nash in the 1970s, and the duo released their final album together in 2004.

RELATED: Remembering David Crosby

In 2014, Crosby disrupted any harmony left in the band when he made rude comments about Young's now-wife Darryl Hannah — and though he later apologized, Young said publicly that CSNY would "never tour again, ever."

By 2021, Crosby had also fallen out with Nash, and in an interview that year, said Nash was "definitely my enemy," and that they hadn't spoken in several years while rejecting the idea of any future reconciliation.

Even so, Nash told AARP.org that the two were back in contact, and the mending of fences was "very significant" for him.

RELATED: David Crosby, Founder of The Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash, Dead at 81 After 'Long Illness'

"It made David's death a little easier for me, because I realized that we were going to get together later in his life," he said. "Crosby was my dear friend, my best friend for over 50 years. I can only concentrate on the good stuff. Our reaction to his comments about Neil's wife and the other things that separated David from us — but if he was willing to call me and apologize for what he had done and how he had hurt me, it made his death a little easier for me to accept."

getty Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

As he discussed the loss, Nash said he was trying to only "remember the good times" that the two shared, and praised Crosby's "unbelievable uniqueness" as a musician.

Crosby's death prompted a flood of tributes from his other bandmates, too, including from Stills, who called him "the glue that held us together."

"David and I butted heads a lot over time, but they were mostly glancing blows, yet still left us numb skulls.. I was happy to be at peace with him," he wrote. "He was without a question a giant of a musician, and his harmonic sensibilities were nothing short of genius… I am deeply saddened at his passing and shall miss him beyond measure."

RELATED: Neil Young Shares Tribute to David Crosby: 'The Heart of Our Band'

Young, meanwhile, said Crosby was "the soul of CSNY."

"David is gone, but his music lives on," he wrote on his website. "We had so many great times, especially in the early years. Crosby was a very supportive friend in my early life, as we bit off big pieces of our experience together. David was the catalyst of many things… Thanks David for your sprit and songs, Love you man."