Circle, Rockets, Crazy Horse

(d. 18 November 1972)

Crazy Horse evolved in 1969 when singer Neil Young,  invited Danny Whitten, Billy Talbot (b. New York, bass) and Ralph Molina (b. Puerto Rico; drums) – all formerly of struggling local attraction the Rockets – to accompany him on his second album, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. The impressive results inspired an attendant tour, but although the group also contributed to Young’s After The Goldrush, their relationship was sundered in the light of Whitten’s growing drug dependency.  Crazy Horse, completed with the assistance of Jack Nitzsche and  Nils Lofgren, featured several notable performances, including the emotional ‘I Don’t Want To Talk About It’, later revived by Stewart, Rod and Everything But The Girl. Whitten succumbed to a heroin overdose in November 1972. // The deaths of Whitten and road crew member Bruce Berry inspired the harrowing Tonight’s The Night, on which Young’s bare-nerved emotions were expounded over his bleakest songs to date.  // The title track, performed twice, was a direct  narrative about Berry, while… Danny Whitten was heard singing “Come on Baby Let’s Go Downtown,” a live track recorded years earlier.