Ricky Nelson

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Lore & Background

Nelson was born on May 8, 1940, in Teaneck, New Jersey, the second son of entertainment couple Ozzie and Harriet Nelson. He was a small and insecure child who suffered from severe asthma. He attended Gardner Street Public School, Bancroft Junior High, and Hollywood High School, from which he graduated with a B average. At age thirteen, he was making over $100,000 per annum, and at sixteen he had a personal fortune of $500,000. He played clarinet and drums in his tweens and early teens, learned rudimentary guitar chords, and vocally imitated his favorite Sun Records rockabilly artists. He was strongly influenced by the music of Carl Perkins and once said he tried to emulate the sound and the tone of the guitar break in Perkins's March 1956 Top Ten hit "Blue Suede Shoes". At age sixteen, with his father's help, he secured a one-record deal with Verve Records. On March 26, 1957, he recorded the Fats Domino standard "I'm Walkin'" and "A Teenager's Romance", released in late April 1957 as his first single. He made his television rock-and-roll debut on April 10, 1957, singing and playing the drums to "I'm Walkin'" in the Ozzie and Harriet episode "Ricky, the Drummer". His first Imperial single, "Be-Bop Baby", generated 750,000 advance orders, sold over one million copies, and reached No. 3 on the charts. His first album, Ricky, was released in October 1957 and hit No. 1 before the end of the year. He placed 54 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and its predecessors between 1957 and 1973, including "Poor Little Fool" in 1958, which was the first number one song on Billboard magazine's then-newly created Hot 100 chart. He recorded 17 additional top ten hits. In his twenties, he moved away from the pop music of his youth and began to perform in a country rock style after multiple straight country music albums. He formed the Stone Canyon Band in 1969 and experienced a career resurgence, buoyed by the live album In Concert at the Troubadour, 1969 and had a surprise hit with 1972's "Garden Party", which peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100. His comeback was short-lived, however, as his record label was bought out and folded, and his followup albums were not well promoted by his new label. He continued to perform live and take small television roles through the 1970s, though his label dropped him by the end of the decade. He released two more albums, with unimpressive results, before his death in a plane crash on New Year's Eve, 1985. Nelson was married once, to Sharon Kristin Harmon, from 1963 until their divorce in 1982. They had four children: actress Tracy Nelson, twin sons and musicians Gunnar and Matthew, and actor Sam.

Reader's Guide

Ricky Nelson's significance lies in his dual career as a television star and recording artist, bridging the gap between the family-friendly sitcom era and the rise of rock and roll. He was one of the first teen idols to successfully transition from acting to music, and his 1958 single "Poor Little Fool" became the first number one on Billboard's newly created Hot 100 chart, marking a milestone in music history. His later shift to country rock, exemplified by the 1972 hit "Garden Party", showed his artistic evolution. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 21, 1987, and in 1996 was ranked No. 49 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time. His legacy includes 54 charted singles and 17 additional top ten hits, as well as a memorable role in the classic western Rio Bravo.

Did You Know?

• Nelson's first single, "I'm Walkin'" b/w "A Teenager's Romance", was released on Verve Records (catalog number 10047X4S).
• At age sixteen, Nelson had a personal fortune of $500,000, equivalent to about $5,920,000 in 2025.
• He once collected and redeemed empty pop bottles to gain entrance to a movie theater for himself and a date because he was strapped for cash despite his wealth.
• Nelson's first Imperial single, "Be-Bop Baby", generated 750,000 advance orders before release.
• He was strongly influenced by Carl Perkins and tried to emulate the guitar break in Perkins's 1956 hit "Blue Suede Shoes".