Happy Birthday Neil!
In 1966, while languishing in the clubs with poor reviews for his solo act, he was invited to join the Mynah Birds, an R&B band featuring Rick James. Shortly after Neil joined the band, they signed a deal with Motown. Things were looking up; they were recording their first album – Neil was finally making it. But Ricky, who was on the lam from the navy, was arrested and dragged off. The band fell apart, Motown dropped them and the album never got finished. Neil was at the crossroads again – more blood was required.
Neil had heard that Stills was in LA looking to form a band. The logical thing to do, obviously, was to pawn the Mynah Birds equipment, bought for them by their manager John Craig Eaton, buy a 1952 Pontiac hearse, Mort 2, and head for California where it was all happening. So that’s what he and Bruce Palmer did.
Stills had been doing session work in LA and had been promised a deal if he could put a band together. He’d already recruited one member – Richie Furay. The winds of fate blew a pleasant breeze, tinged with LA smog, onto Neil’s face as he sailed into Los Angeles looking for Stills. One can only imagine what was going through the minds of those young 21-year-olds: cool, hip, running on dreams and optimism. I can visualise the two of them floating down the fabled Sunset Boulevard in LA in their hearse – digging all the possibilities that lay ahead – cruising along the most famous boulevard in the world, grooving on the vibe, soaking up the scene. They were two young, hip and horny lads in the heart of where it was happening, with pockets full of possibilities, looking for fun and adventure, looking to seize every opportunity coming their way in a hearse. Pretty cool. This is where the hearse plays an important part in the story.
They searched the clubs for a week and were running out of luck and money, but there was no sign of Stills. Broke and bereft of ideas, they finally decided that the only thing left to do was to cut their losses and head back to Toronto. Neil and Bruce were downhearted, heading out of LA, dreams shattered, with one last drive down Sunset. Who should come cruising by in the opposite direction? – none other than Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. They recognised the black hearse with the Ontario plates and both realised that it could be none other than Neil. Stills threw his car into an illegal U-turn and caught up with that hearse. Neil heard this voice bellowing out, ‘Neil. Is that you?’ They pulled off the road into a supermarket car park. I can picture that joyous reunion. A meeting of minds. They’d finally reconnected.
Stills was super excited about putting the band together. They played Neil their arrangement of ‘Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing’ and it clicked. They dragged in Dewey Martin, already a veteran from various garage rock bands, having played with Roy Orbison and country bands like the Dillards and Patsy Cline. The line-up was complete and they set about producing music. The chemistry worked.