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Ricky Nelson
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Eric Hilliard "Ricky" Nelson, later known as Rick Nelson (May 8, 1940 –December 31, 1985), was an American singer, musician and actor. With more than 50 Hot 100 hits, Nelson was second to Elvis Presley as the most popular rock and roll artist of the late 1950s.
in Teaneck, New Jersey, he was the younger son of Ozzie Nelson, the leader of a big band, and Harriet Hilliard Nelson, the band's singer.
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Eric Hilliard "Ricky" Nelson, later known as Rick Nelson (May 8, 1940 –December 31, 1985), was an American singer, musician and actor. With more than 50 Hot 100 hits, Nelson was second to Elvis Presley as the most popular rock and roll artist of the late 1950s.
Biography
Early years
Born in Teaneck, New Jersey, he was the younger son of Ozzie Nelson, the leader of a big band, and Harriet Hilliard Nelson, the band's singer. Along with brother David Nelson, the family starred in the long-running radio and television series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet from 1944 to 1954 on the radio, and 1952 to 1966 on television. However, David and Ricky Nelson did not join the cast until 1949; for the first five years of the radio show, the sons were played by professional actors.
Career
Nelson, who was the first teen idol to utilize television to promote hit records, began a rock and roll music career in 1957. He recorded his debut single, the Fats Domino song "I'm Walkin'", seeking to impress a date who was an Elvis Presley fan. After he performed it on TV, it was a hit, reaching #4 on the charts and selling over a million copies. Soon, each episode of the Ozzie & Harriet television show ended with a musical performance by "Ricky". It was during the sitcom's run that Ozzie Nelson, either to keep his son's fans tuned in or as an affirmation of his reputed behind-the-scenes persona as a controlling personality, kept Ricky from appearing on other TV shows that could have enhanced his public profile, American Bandstand and The Ed Sullivan Show in particular. Ironically, Rick finally did appear on the Sullivan show in 1967, but his career by that time was in limbo. Rick also appeared on other TV shows (usually in acting roles). In 1973, he had an acting role in an episode of The Streets of San Francisco, where he played the part of a hippy flute-playing leader of a harem of young prostitutes. In 1979, he guest-hosted on Saturday Night Live, where he proved to be a good sport in spoofing his TV sitcom image by appearing in a Twilight Zone send-up, where, always trying to go "home", he finds himself among the characters from other 1950s/early '60s-era sitcoms, Leave It to Beaver, Father Knows Best, Make Room for Daddy, and I Love Lucy.
Nelson knew and loved music, and was a skilled performer even before he became a teen idol, largely due to his parents' musical background. In addition to guitar, he played drums and the clarinet. (He showcased his drum skills in the same episode where he made his singing debut.) Nelson worked with many musicians of repute, including James Burton, Joe Osborn, and Allen "Puddler" Harris, all natives of Louisiana, and Joe Maphis, The Jordanaires, Scotty Moore and Johnny and Dorsey Burnette. While Elvis may have served as the catalyst for Rick's musical career, his real inspiration was Carl Perkins.
From 1957 to 1962, Nelson had thirty Top-40 hits, more than any other artist at the time except Presley (who had 53) and Pat Boone (38). Many of Nelson's early records were double hits with both the A and B sides hitting the Billboard charts. When Billboard introduced the Hot 100 chart on August 4, 1958, Nelson's single "Poor Little Fool" became the first song ever in the #1 position on that chart.
While Nelson preferred rockabilly and uptempo rock songs like "Believe What You Say" (Hot 100 #4), "I Got A Feeling" (Hot 100 #10), "My Bucket's Got A Hole In It" (Hot 100 #12), "Hello Mary Lou" (Hot 100 #9), "It's Late" (Hot 100 #9), "Stood Up" (Hot 100 #2), "Waitin' In School" (Hot 100 #18), "Be-Bop Baby" (Hot 100 #3), and "Just A Little Too Much" (Hot 100 #9), his smooth, calm voice made him a natural to sing ballads. He had major success with "Travelin' Man" (Hot 100 #1), "A Teenage Romance" (Hot 100 #2), "Poor Little Fool" (Hot 100 #1), "Young World" (Hot 100 #5), "Lonesome Town" (Hot 100 #7), "Never Be Anyone Else But You" (Hot 100 #6), "Sweeter Than You" (Hot 100 #9), "It's Up To You" (Hot 100 #6), and "Teenage Idol" (Hot 100 #5), which clearly could have been about Nelson himself.
In addition to his recording career, Nelson appeared in movies, including the Howard Hawks western classic Rio Bravo with John Wayne and Dean Martin (1959), plus The Wackiest Ship In the Army (1960) and Love and Kisses (1965).
On May 8, 1961 (his 21st birthday), the singer officially changed his recording name from "Ricky Nelson" to "Rick Nelson". However, not too long before his untimely death, Rick realized a dream of his. He met his idol, Carl Perkins, who, while musing that they were the last of the "rockabilly breed", addressed Nelson as "Ricky".
In 1963, Nelson signed a 20-year contract with Decca Records. After some early successes with the label, most notably 1964's "For You", a #9 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, Nelson's chart career came to a dramatic halt in the wake of The British Invasion.
In the mid-1960s, Nelson began to move towards country music, becoming a pioneer in the country-rock genre. He was one of the early influences of the so-called "California Sound" (which would include singers like Jackson Browne and Linda Ronstadt and bands like The Eagles). Yet Nelson himself did not reach the Top 40 again until 1970, when he recorded Bob Dylan's "She Belongs to Me" with the Stone Canyon Band.
In 1972, Nelson reached the Top 40 one last time with "Garden Party", a song he wrote in disgust after a Madison Square Garden audience booed him when he tried playing new songs instead of just his old hits. However, it has often been stated that the audience was in fact booing the police who were arresting unruly members of the audience while Nelson was performing. Since Nelson did not see the commotion in the audience, he incorrectly concluded that the booing was directed toward him. "Garden Party" reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and was certified as a gold single. (Coincidentally, "Garden Party" was a hit at the same time Elvis Presley was having his last Top-10 single, "Burning Love", as was Chuck Berry with "My Ding-a-Ling". Berry is among the musicians alluded to in the lyrics of "Garden Party".)
Nelson studied Karate earning a brown belt, before going on to learn Jeet Kune Do under Dan Inosanto. Inosanto described Nelson as a "good martial artist for those times".
Marriage, family, and troubles
Nelson married Kristin Harmon in April 1963, in what Life referred to as "The Wedding of the Year". Harmon is the daughter of Football All-American University of Michigan football legend and Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon and actress Elyse Knox, and is the older sister of movie and television star Mark Harmon, perhaps known best for the hit series NCIS.
The couple had one daughter, Tracy (born October 25, 1963), twin sons Gunnar and Matthew (born September 20, 1967), and a fourth child, Sam Nelson (born August 29, 1974).
After "Garden Party", Rick Nelson never regained his career's momentum. By the late 1970s, his life was in shambles and he was heavily in debt. After a highly tumultuous marriage (the antithesis of what the public had seen on Ozzie and Harriet and in Love and Kisses), Kristin filed for divorce and took their four children. He still recorded periodically, but commercial success eluded him. Rick's primary source of income was non-stop touring, ranging from intimate clubs and bars to the county and state fairs where he attracted large crowds that remembered him from his days as a teen idol.
Death
In 1985, Nelson joined a nostalgia rock tour of England. It was a major success, and it revived some interest in his work. He tried to duplicate that effect in the United States, and he began a tour of the South. Nelson and his band boarded a plane after a show at a small club in Guntersville, Alabama headed to the KLUV-FM New Year's Eve Sock-Hop concert in Dallas, Texas. The plane crashed northeast of Dallas in De Kalb, Texas killing Nelson and six others. Nelson was buried in the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.
The NTSB investigation stated that the crash was probably due to mechanical problems. The pilots attempted to land in a field after smoke filled the cabin. An examination indicated that a fire originated in the right hand side of the aft cabin area at or near the floor line. The passengers were killed when the aircraft struck obstacles during the forced landing; the pilots were able to escape through the cockpit windows and survived. The ignition and fuel sources of the fire could not be determined, although many believe that the most likely cause was a defective cabin heater. The pilot indicated that the crew tried to turn on the gasoline cabin heater repeatedly shortly before the fire occurred, but that it failed to respond. After the fire, the access panel to the heater compartment was found unlatched. The theory is supported by records that showed that DC-3s in general, and this aircraft in particular, had a previous history of problems with the cabin heaters.
According to a popular rumor, the cause of the cabin fire was a mishap resulting from the freebasing of cocaine by a passenger or passengers.
Tributes
Nelson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, and also to the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1515 Vine Street.
Nelson's twin sons, Gunnar and Matthew Nelson, also were teen idols, performing as the band Nelson and charting several hits in the 1990s. His daughter, Tracy Nelson, is an actress and a cancer survivor. She may be best known for her role in the television series Father Dowling Mysteries which starred Tom Bosley. Nelson's youngest son, Sam Nelson, is a music industry executive.
In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of Ricky Nelson's passing, PBS aired a one hour documentary entitled Ricky Nelson Sings featuring interviews with his children, as well as James Burton and Kris Kristofferson. The only time Kristofferson played with Nelson was in Elroy, Wisconsin at a "Party in the Park" show on July 3, 1985. That performance has since been released on DVD.
The American rock n roll band The Cramps dedicated their 1986 album A Date With Elvis to the memory of Ricky Nelson, as written on the album's back cover before the credits.
The song "Ricky" (originally titled "Ricky Nelson"), track 4 on John Frusciante's 2004 album Shadows Collide with People, is a tribute to Nelson, and is sung in a similar style.
Bob Dylan, in his 2004 memoir, "Chronicles, Vol. 1", wrote about Nelson's influence on his music. Also in 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Nelson #91 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
On December 27, 2005, EMI Music released an album titled Ricky Nelson's Greatest Hits, with 25 songs. It peaked at #56 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
In Stephen King's short-story collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Nelson appears in "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band" as an evil version of himself, who torments an unsuspecting couple trapped in a town inhabited by late rock 'n' roll legends. Nelson was portrayed by William McNamara in the 2006 television mini-series adaptation, Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King.
Nelson's estate is run as The Rick Nelson Company, LLC, and owns ancillary rights to the classic Ozzie and Harriet television series. As of 2007, after years of public domain video releases on VHS and DVD, an official edition of the show has been released via Shout! Factory.
Albums
(Highest chart success on the Billboard charts.)
Singles discography
Nationally charted hits shown in bold.
| Year | A-Side | B-Side | Label + Cat. No. | Chart positions |
|---|
| US Hot 100 | US C&W | UK |
|---|
| 1957 | I'm Walkin' | | Verve 10047 | 4 | | | | | A Teenager's Romance | Verve 10047 | 2 | | | | You're My One and Only Love | Honey Rock | Verve 10070 | 14 | | | | Have I Told You Lately that I Love You | | Imperial 5463 | 29 | | | | | Be Bop Baby | Imperial 5463 | 3 | | | | 1958 | Stood Up | | Imperial 5483 | 2 | 8 | 27 | | | Waitin' in School | Imperial 5483 | 18 | 12 | | | My Bucket's Got a Hole in It | | Imperial 5503 | 12 | 10 | | | | Believe What You Say | Imperial 5503 | 4 | 10 | | | Poor Little Fool | Don't Leave Me This Way | Imperial 5528 | 1 | 3 | 4 | | Someday | | London 8732 (UK only release) | | | 9 | | Lonesome Town | | Imperial 5545 | 7 | | | | | I Got A Feeling | Imperial 5545 | 10 | | 27 | | 1959 | It's Late | | Imperial 5565 | 9 | | 3 | | | Never Be Anyone Else But You | Imperial 5565 | 6 | | 14 | | Just a Little Too Much | | Imperial 5595 | 9 | | 11 | | | Sweeter Than You | Imperial 5595 | 9 | | 19 | | I Wanna Be Loved | | Imperial 5614 | 20 | | 30 | | | Mighty Good | Imperial 5614 | 38 | | | | 1960 | Young Emotions | | Imperial 5663 | 12 | | 48 | | | Right by My Side | Imperial 5663 | 59 | | | | I'm Not Afraid | | Imperial 5685 | 27 | | | | | Yes Sir, That's My Baby | Imperial 5685 | 34 | | | | You Are the Only One | | Imperial 5707 | 25 | | | | | Milk Cow Blues | Imperial 5707 | 79 | | | | 1961 | Travelin' Man | | Imperial 5741 | 1 | | 2 | | | Hello Mary Lou | Imperial 5741 | 9 | | 2 | | A Wonder Like You | | Imperial 5770 | 11 | | | | | Everlovin' | Imperial 5770 | 16 | | 23 | | 1962 | Young World | | Imperial 5805 | 5 | | 19 | | | "Summertime" | Imperial 5805 | 89 | | | | Teen Age Idol | | Imperial 5864 | 5 | | 39 | | | I've Got My Eyes on You (And I Like What I See) | Imperial 5864 | 105 | | | | It's Up to You | | Imperial 5901 | 6 | | 22 | | | I Need You | Imperial 5901 | 83 | | | | 1963 | I'm In Love Again | | Imperial 5910 | 67 | | | | | That's All | Imperial 5910 | 48 | | | | You Don't Love Me Anymore (And I Can Tell) | | Decca 31475 | 47 | | | | | I Got a Woman | Decca 31475 | 49 | | | | If You Can't Rock Me | | Imperial 5935 | 100 | | | | | Old Enough to Love | Imperial 5935 | 94 | | | | A Long Vacation | Mad Mad World | Imperial 5958 | 120 | | | | Gypsy Woman | | Decca 31495 | 62 | | | | | String Along | Decca 31495 | 25 | | | | There's Not A Minute | Time After Time | Imperial 5985 | 127 | | | | Fools Rush In | | Decca 31533 | 12 | | 12 | | | Down Home | Decca 31533 | 126 | | | | Today's Teardrops | Thank You Darlin' | Imperial 66004 | 54 | | | | For You | That's All She Wrote | Decca 31574 | 9 | | 14 | | 1964 | Congratulations | One Minute to One | Imperial 66017 | 63 | | | | The Very Thought of You | I Wonder (If Your Love Will Belong to Me) | Decca 31612 | 26 | | | | Lucky Star | Everybody But Me | Imperial 66039 | 127 | | | | There's Nothing I Can Say | | Decca 31656 | 47 | | | | | Lonely Corner | 1964 | 113 | | | | A Happy Guy | Don't Breathe a Word | Decca 31703 | 82 | | | | 1965 | Mean Old World | When the Chips Are Down | Decca 31756 | 96 | | | | Come Out Dancing | Yesterday's Love | Decca 31800 | 130 | | | | Say You Love Me | Love and Kisses | Decca 31845 | | | | | 1966 | Fire Breathin' Dragon | Your Kind of Lovin' | Decca 31900 | | | | | You Just Can't Quit | Louisiana Man | Decca 31956 | 108 | | | | Things You Gave Me | Alone | Decca 32026 | | | | | 1967 | They Don't Give Medals (To Yesterday's Heroes) | Take a Broken Heart | Decca 32055 | | | | | Take a City Bride | I'm Called Lonely | Decca 32120 | | 58 | | | 1968 | Suzanne on a Sunday Morning | Moonshine | Decca 32176 | | | | | Dream Weaver | Baby Close Its Eyes | Decca 32222 | | | | | 1969 | Don't Blame It on Your Wife | Promenade in Green | Decca 32284 | | | | | Don't Make Promises | Barefoot Boy | Decca 32298 | | | | | She Belongs to Me | Promises | Decca 32558 | 33 | | | | 1970 | Easy to Be Free | Come On In | Decca 32635 | 48 | | | | I Shall Be Released | If You Gotta Go, Go Now | Decca 32676 | 102 | | | | Look at Mary | We've Got Such a Long Way to Go | Decca 32711 | | | | | 1971 | How Long | Down Along the Bayou Country | Decca 32739 | | | | | Life | California | Decca 32779 | 109 | | | | 1972 | Thank You Lord | Sing Me a Song | Decca 32860 | | | | | Gypsy Pilot | Love Minus Zero/No Limit | Decca 32906 | | | | | Garden Party | So Long Mama | Decca 32980 | 6 | 44 | 41 | | 1973 | Palace Guard | A Flower Opens Gently By | MCA 40001 | 65 | | | | Lifestream | Evil Woman Child | MCA 40130 | | | | | 1974 | Windfall | Legacy | MCA 40187 | | | | | One Night Stand | Lifestream | MCA 40214 | | 89 | | | Try (Try to Fall in Love) | Louisiana Belle | MCA 40392 | | | | | Rock and Roll Lady | Fade Away | (MCA 40458) | | | | | 1977 | You Can't Dance | It's Another Day | Epic 50458 | | | | | 1978 | Gimme a Little Sign | Something You Can't Buy | Epic 50501 | | | | | 1979 | Dream Lover | That Ain't the Way Love's Supposed to Be | Epic 50674 | | 59 | | | It Hasn't Happened Yet | Call It What You Want | (Capitol 4974) | | | | | Believe What You Say | The Loser Babe Is You | (Capitol 4988) | | | | | Give 'em My Number | No Fair Falling in Love | (Capitol 5178) | | | | | You Know What I Mean | Don't Leave Me This Way | (MCA 52781) | | | | | 1986 | Dream Lover (re-issue) | Rave On | Epic 06066 | | 88 | | | 1991 | Hello Mary Lou (UK only re-issue) | | Liberty EMCT 2 | | | 45 | |
Literature
- Philip Bashe: Teenage Idol, Travelin' Man: The Complete Biography of Rick Nelson. New York: Hyperion 1992. ISBN 1-56282-969-6
See also
- Best selling music artists
External links
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