Biography by Richie
Unterberger
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.Content provided All Music Guide. Copyright 2008
All Media Guide, LLC.
