David Crosby was one of music’s most fascinating figures.

The singer-songwriter, who died this week at 81, was, to some, known as much for his belligerent attitude and struggles with addiction as his music.

But he was a genius artist whose work is among the most instrumental in the development of folk-rock.

“I know people tend to focus on how volatile our relationship has been at times, but what has always mattered to David and me more than anything was the pure joy of the music we created together, the sound we discovered with one another, and the deep friendship we shared over all these many long years,” his band mate Graham Nash wrote in tribute.

Crosby added an experimental yet refined edge to the folk and pop music that was dominant through the 1960s and 70s.

He made music alone, but his most celebrated work came as part of his time in acts like Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and The Byrds.

Prodigiously talented and fearlessly creative, Crosby pushed musical boundaries in a way that many critics and peers couldn’t understand at the time, but that now position him as a key architect of a range of genres from soft rock to psych rock.

“David was fearless in life and in music,” Nash said.

“He leaves behind a tremendous void as far as sheer personality and talent in this world. He spoke his mind, his heart, and his passion through his beautiful music and leaves an incredible legacy. These are the things that matter most.”

The following five tracks merely scratch the surface of his incredible career.