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Ricky Nelson was a teen idol who had something more than good looks going for him - namely, talent. On television,
he acted out his real-life role as the son of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson in the Fifties. As a rock-and-rolling teenager on The
Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, he practically grew up in the nation's living rooms. In the recording studio, having landed
a contract based on his TV stardom, he more than made the grade. No mere rock and roll pretender, Nelson was the real thing:
a gentle-voiced singer/guitarist with an instinctive feel for the country-rooted side of rockabilly. And he had exquisite
taste in musicians, utilizing guitarist James Burton (formerly a Dale Hawkins sideman, later an Elvis Presley accompanist)
as his secret weapon in the studio.
May 8, 1940
Ricky Nelson was born.
1956
Ricky Nelson hears James Burton playing guitar in the office of Imperial Records in Los Angeles. Burton is asked
to join Nelson's backup band and regularly appears in the closing musical segments on the Ozzy and Harriet TV sitcom.
September 23, 1957
Ricky Nelson hits #14 with "Honey Rock". The instrumental recording was by the Barney Kessel Orchestra.
July 29, 1958
Poor Little Fool (Ricky Nelson) was a hit.
April 6, 1959
Ricky Nelson hits #9 with "It's Late."
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Nelson's first single - "A Teenager's Romance" b/w "I'm Walkin'," the latter a Fats Domino song - made the Top Ten shortly
after its release in April 1957. He was sixteen years old at the time. The next year, he reached #1 with "Poor Little Fool"
(which was written by Sharon Sheeley, who was Eddie Cochran's girlfriend). His discerning taste in material - a rare talent
in one so young - also led him to "Hello Mary Lou" (his signature song) and "Travelin' Man," both of which topped the charts.
All totaled, Nelson scored an incredible 33 Top Forty hits in a seven-year period.
For his sixth album, titled Rick is 21, he dropped the "y" from his name. As the maturing Nelson's appeal with the teen
audience waned, he turned his attention to a more country-flavored sound. One of the first country-rockers, Nelson experienced
a creative renaissance at the outset of the Seventies. He formed the Stone Canyon Band, whose sweet country-rock sound anticipated
the laid-back likes of the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt. One of the biggest hits of his career, "Garden Party," pointedly rejected
the notion that he would allow himself to be relegated to a nostalgia act. Until his untimely death in a 1985 plane crash,
Nelson remained a hard-working musician who performed up to 200 dates a year.
May 22, 1961
While Ricky Nelsons Travelin Man tops the charts, its Gene Pitney-penned flip side, Hello Mary Lou, becomes
a Top Ten hit in its own right and one of Nelsons best-loved recordings.
May 23, 1961
Travelin' Man (Ricky Nelson) was a hit.
November 4, 1972
Rick Nelson hits #6 with "Garden Party."
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