Drummer Dallas Taylor, best known for his work with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, has died. He was 66.
The Denver native died on Sunday morning in a Los Angeles hospital. According to Billboard, his wife, Patti McGovern-Taylor, announced his death on Facebook, but did not make his cause of death public.
“This morning at 2:30 am I lost the love of my life Dallas W Taylor, he came into my life almost 18 yrs ago and saved me as much as i may have saved him, To me he was just a Good Man, a Good Friend, a Good Father, a Good Grandfather or Pop Pop, a Great Drummer and much beloved by many,” she wrote.
Taylor was already a well-known session musician by the late 1960s, when David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash picked him to drum on their self-titled 1969 album. In 1970, Young joined them and Taylor drummed on their iconic second album, Deja vu. He even performed with them at Woodstock. Taylor’s drug abuse forced the group to fire him after Deja vu, although Stills worked with him again.
As the Los Angeles Times notes, Taylor struggled with alcoholism, needing a liver transplant in 1990. He later became an addiction counselor though, helping addicts reunite with their families. Still, he struggled with his health in recent years. In 2007, McGovern-Taylor gave him one of her kidneys.
Taylor is survived by McGovern-Taylor, son Dallas, daughter Lisa and five grandchildren.