Graham Nash Reveals The Heartbreaking Plans He Had With David Crosby Before His Death

The estranged bandmates were working on repairing their relationship before the singer-songwriter passed away in January.

Graham Nash is looking back on his rocky relationship with estranged former bandmate, David Crosby, which he said was cut short by the musician's death in January.

Crosby, who passed away at age 81 on Jan. 19 of this year, was a founding member of the legendary '60s rock group Crosby, Stills & Nash (later Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) with Nash for years. The two eventually had a falling out and stopped speaking to each other, though their relationship was apparently heading in an upward direction shortly before Crosby's death.

"Crosby and I were getting closer toward the end there, and he did call me and we did set up a time to be able to FaceTime each other," Nash, 81, told PEOPLE in a story published Thursday, March 2. "Unfortunately, it was a little too late. He passed before we could do that."

Despite the poor timing of the situation, Nash said he has still been able to find solace in the fact their friendship had been on the mend before Crosby's death.

"We were getting closer and he left me a voicemail saying that he thinks that he needs to apologize for some things that he said, and that made me smile," he added.

Thursday's interview isn't the first time Nash addressed the passing of his former friend, as he previously told AARP.org in February, "He was a very intelligent man. I wouldn't put it past him to know that he was actually at the very end."

"The truth is, we've been expected David to pass for 20 years," he admitted. "Since his [1994] liver transplants and all his stents. he had seven stents. His body was really failing. But once again, I can only try to remember the good times, because we had many of them...I only want to concentrate on the good things that we did."

Nash and Crosby first united in 1968 in a trio with Stephen Stills, later adding Neil Young into the group. They briefly broke off as the duo Crosby and Nash in the '70s and released their final album together in 2004.

Crosby—also a founding member of the musical group The Byrds—was a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer. He died after battling a long illness, though no official cause of death was revealed.

He is survived by his wife, Jan, and son Django.