b. 3 January 1945; Dallas, TX
A musical prodigy from a young age, Stills dropped out of college to pursue his dreams. He moved to New York and met Richie Furay through a common band, the Au Go Go Singers, for which Stills played guitar. The band toured Canada along with The Squires (notable for their lead guitarist Neil Young) before Stills followed the Folk gold rush to California.
In 1966, Stills teamed up with Young and Furay to form Buffalo Springfield. The band, with drummer Dewey Martin and bassist Bruce Palmer, made it to the charts with "For What It's Worth" and gained a following that put them on par with the Byrds for the title of most popular Folk band.
After three albums and less than two years, the band members went their separate ways. Stills passed the time with a solo project, Super Session. The year was 1968, and the world was changing in ways that no one was ready for.
Stills next teamed up with David Crosby from the Byrds and Graham Nash, best known for his work with The Hollies. The first Folk-rock "supergroup" was formed. Crosby, Stills, and Nash released a self-titled debut album in 1969. The record exploded, mostly thanks to the single "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes." In August of that year, the vocally harmonic trio of talented guitarists grabbed Stills' former bandmate and incendiary guitarist Young and headed to Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel, New York for a little musical festival.
The quartet recorded the album Four Way Street with the help of legends like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. Despite the record being well-accepted and profoundly successful, the band split amicably and went their separate ways.
Stills continued on a solo career marked with less-than stellar performance but still solid sales and chart work.
In the early 80s, CSN reunited for several albums before disbanding while Crosby served time in prison for drug charges. The band collaborated again with Young starting in 1988. Throughout the 90s, Stills turned out albums both on his own and with Crosby, Nash, and Young.
Discography
with CSN(Y)
Solo
Other Notables
Stills also performed percussion on a couple Bee Gees tracks. For the purposes of this writeup, you will ignore this fact.
References:
All Music Guide (http://www.allmusic.com)
CDNow (http://www.cdnow.com)
IMDB (http://us.imdb.com)
Numerous Woodstock, CSN and Buffalo Springfield fan websites