Crosby had been terrified of hospitals since his guitarist Eddie Lang — the only person he was truly close to, Giddins suggests — died after a botched tonsillectomy.

It's the 108th anniversary of the birth of Lang, who died of complications from a tonsillectomy that his friend and collaborator, Bing Crosby, urged him to get. And it's been declared Eddie Lang Day ...

Within one week of Eddie Van Halen 's death, folk icon David Crosby (of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young fame) dismissed the guitarist's legacy in one word, " Meh," and later backtracked, issuing an ...