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|  | Ricky Nelson biography |
Rick Nelson was one of the very biggest of the '50s teen idols, so
it took awhile for him to attain the same level of critical respectability
as other early rock greats. Yet now the consensus is that he made
some of the finest pop/rock recordings of his era. Sure, he had more
promotional push than any other rock musician of the '50s; no, he
wasn't the greatest singer; and yes, Elvis, Gene Vincent, Carl
Perkins, and others rocked harder. But Nelson was extraordinarily
consistent during the first five years of his recording career, crafting
pleasant pop-rockabilly hybrids with ace session players and
projecting an archetype of the sensitive, reticent young adult
with his accomplished vocals. He also played a somewhat
underestimated role in rock & roll's absorption into mainstream
America — how bad could rock be if it was featured on one of
America's favorite family situation comedies on a weekly basis?
Nelson entered professional entertainment before his tenth
birthday, when he appeared with father Ozzie (once a jazz
musician), mother Harriet, and brother David on a radio
comedy series based around the family. By the early '50s,
the series was on television, and Ricky grew into a teenager in
public. He was just the right age to have his life turned around
by rock & roll in 1956 and started his recording career almost
accidentally the following year. The story's sometimes been told
that he had no professional singing ambitions until he recorded
his debut single to impress a girlfriend. The single, a cover of
Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin'" that went to number four, was
helped immensely (as all of his early singles would be) by
plugs on the Ozzie & Harriet TV show.
So far the script was adhering to the Pat Boone teen idol
prototype — a whitewash of an R&B hit stealing the thunder
from the pop audience, sung by a young, good-looking fella
with barely any musical experience to speak of. What happened
next was easy to predict commercially but surprisingly satisfying
musically as well. Nelson was a fairly hip kid who preferred the
rockabilly of Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley to the fodder dished
out for teen idols, and over the next five years he would offer his
own brand of rockabilly music, albeit one with some smooth
Hollywood production touches and occasional pure pop ballads.
Nelson recruited one of the greatest early rock guitarists, James
Burton, to supply authentic licks (another great guitarist, Joe
Maphis, played on some early sides). Some of his best and
toughest songs ("Believe What You Say," "It's Late") were written
by Johnny and/or Dorsey Burnette, who had previously been in one
of the best rockabilly combos, the Johnny Burnette Rock 'n Roll Trio.
Ricky could rock pretty hard when he wanted to, as on "Be-Bop
Baby" and "Stood Up," though in a polished fashion that wasn't
quite as wild and threatening as rockabilly's Southern originators.
Nelson really hit his stride, though, with mid-tempo numbers and
ballads that provided a more secure niche for his calm vocals and
narrow range. From 1957 to 1962, he was about the highest-selling
singer in the U.S. except for Elvis, making the Top 40 about 30
times. "Poor Little Fool" and "Lonesome Town" (1958) were early
indications of his ballad style; in the early '60s, "Travelin' Man,"
"Young World," "Teen Age Idol," and other hits pointed to a more
countrified, mature style as he honed in on his 21st birthday
(by which time he would shorten his billing from "Ricky" to "Rick").
He could still play rockabilly from time to time, the most
memorable example being "Hello, Mary Lou" (co-written by Gene
Pitney), with its electrifying James Burton solos.
Nelson was lured away from the Imperial label by a mammoth
20-year contract with Decca in 1963 (which would be terminated
prematurely in the mid-'70s), and for a year or so the hits continued,
at a less frenetic pace. Early-1964's "For You," however, would be
his last big smash of the '60s. The fault wasn't all the Beatles and
changing music trends — on both singles and albums, much of the
material was either substandard pop or dusty Tin Pan Alley
standards, although isolated tracks still generated some sparks.
He wasn't exactly starving, as he continued to appear on Ozzie and
Harriet. But by the mid-'60s even that institution was declining in
popularity, leading to its cancellation in 1966.
Nelson had a strong country feel to much of his material from the
beginning, and by the late '60s it was becoming dominant. He
covered straight country material by the likes of Willie Nelson
and Doug Kershaw and formed one of the earliest country-rock
groups, the Stone Canyon Band, with musicians who had played
(or would play) with Poco, Buck Owens, Little Feat, and Roger
McGuinn. A cover of Bob Dylan's "She Belongs to Me" made the
Top 40 in 1970, but his country-rock outings attracted more
critical acclaim than commercial success, until 1972's "Garden
Party." A rare self-composed number, based around the frosty
reception granted his contemporary material at a rock & roll oldies
show, it became his last Top Ten hit.
Nelson would continue to record off and on for the next dozen
years and toured constantly, yet he was unable to capitalize on his
assets. A big part of the problem was that although Nelson wanted
to play contemporary music, he didn't write much of his own
material, which was a basic precept of self-respecting rock acts
after the advent of the Beatles. Nor did he tap into good outside
compositions, and there's little of interest on the albums he
recorded over the last decade or so of his life. He died (along with
his fiancée) in a private plane crash on December 31, 1985, on his
way to a New Year's Eve gig in Dallas, at the age of 45. |
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