Departing from the Hollies at the end of 1968, Graham moved to Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles and formed Crosby, Stills and Nash with David Crosby and Stephen Stills. He wrote some of the group’s classic songs, including ‘Teach Your Children’, ‘Our House’ and ‘Marrakesh Express’. For their second album, Déjà Vu, their line-up now included Neil Young. Released in 1970, the record topped the US chart and sold over 8 million copies. The following year Graham released Songs for Beginners, the first of seven solo albums to date.

CSN didn’t play together again until a 1974 reunion and regrouped again in late 1976. Over the ensuing decades they have reconvened at various points to tour and record together, sometimes with Neil Young, sometimes as a trio, before returning to solo projects.

Graham has twice been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, first as a member of Crosby, Stills and Nash in 1997 and then as a member of the Hollies in 2010. That same year he received an OBE and he holds four honorary doctorates awarded by universities in the US and UK. Graham’s autobiography, Wild Tales: A Rock and Roll Life, was published in 2013. 

Mike Read