Graham Nash: musical career explained as he features on BBC Four's Desert Island Discs show

English-American musician Graham Nash will feature on the renowned BBC Radio Four's Desert Island Discs to share the eight tracks, book and luxury he would take with him if cast away to a desert island.

The show will broadcast on 7 January, at 11:15 with Lauren Laverne as the host. But what is Graham Nash's musical background and what bands was he with? Here is what you need to know. 

Who is Graham Nash?

Graham Nash is an English-American musician, singer and songwriter as well as the co-founder of the Hollies and the Crosby, Stills & Nash. He is known for his light tenor voice. Nash was born on 2 February 1942, in Blackpool, England here his mother had been evacuated from her hometown of Salford when World War II began. The family returned to Salford, where Nash grew up - but he now lives in New York.

Nash holds four honorary doctorates, including one from the New York Institute of Technology, one in music from the University of Salford in 2011 and one in fine arts from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

What bands was Graham Nash in?

The Hollies

Nash co-founded the Hollies in the early 1960s with his school friend, Allan Clarke, and the band later became one of UK's most successful pop groups. He featured vocally on "Just One Look" (1964) and sang his first lead vocal on the original Hollies song "To You My Love" on the band's second album In The Hollies Style of the same year. 

He encouraged the band to write their own songs, initially with Clarke, then with Clarke and guitarist Tony Hicks. From 1964 to mid-1966 they wrote under the alias L. Ransford. 

In 1995, the band was awarded an Ivor Novello award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music, and they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. 

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY)

In 1966, Nash met both David Crosby and Stephen Stills in 1966 during a Hollies US tour, and left the Hollies to a new group with Crosby and Stills in 1968. A trio at first, Crosby, Stills & Nash later became a quartet in 1969 with Neil Young where they were a folk-rock supergroup. They are noted for their intricate vocal harmonies and lasting influence on American music and culture. In the 1969, the band won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.