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Ricky Nelson Biography
Eric Hilliard Nelson was an American rock and roll star, singer-songwriter and musician. He starred in the radio and television series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet together with his family from the age of eight. He registered 19 extra top 10 hits and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 21, 1987. Nelson was ranked #49 on the 50 Greatest All-Time TV Stars of the TV Guide in 1996.
Ricky Nelson Age
Nelson was born in Teaneck, New Jersey, on May 8, 1940. Nelson attended Gardner Street Public School, Bancroft Junior High, and Hollywood High School between 1954 and 1958, from which he graduated with an average B. In interscholastic tennis games, he played football at Hollywood High and represented the college.
Twenty-five years later, Nelson informed the Los Angeles Weekly that he hated school because it “smelled of pencils” and he was compelled to rise early in the morning to attend. Ozzie Nelson was a Rutgers alumnus and keen on college education, but eighteen-year-old Ricky was already in the 93 percent income tax bracket and saw no reason to attend.
Ricky Nelson Album Covers
Ricky Nelson is the second album published in 1958 by teen idol Ricky Nelson. The album charted on the charts of the Billboard album in the Top 10 and has since been reissued on iTunes. The album included his first composition, “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” and a track written by his lead guitarist James Burton together with bass player James Kirkland called “There Goes My Baby.”
The album also included a cover of “I’m in Love Again” by Fats Domino, together with a cover of “Down the Line” by Roy Orbison. Covers of then-recent hits and older songs that were updated for his style were also included. The Jordanaires give vocals of support.
Ricky Nelson Songs
♦ Shake Rattle & Roll
♦ Runaround Sue
♦ Ain’t That A Shame
♦ Chantilly Lace
♦ Rock & Roll Is Here To Stay
♦ Sweet Nothin’s
Ricky Nelson
♦ Blue Jean Bop
♦ Stagger Lee
♦ Little Bitty Pretty One
♦ Why Do Fools Fall In Love
♦ (I Don’t Know Why) But I Do
♦ Will You Love Me Tomorrow
♦ Travelin’ Man
♦ Halfway To Paradise
♦ Donna
Click on the link provided to get more of Nelson’s songs-https://www.oldies.com/artist-songs/Ricky-Nelson.html
Ricky Nelson Actor
He made his film debut in Here Come the Nelsons (1952) and played a small role as a boy in The Story of Three Loves (1953) at MGM directed by Vincente Minnelli. Following his success on television and singing, Howard Hawks cast him with John Wayne and Dean Martin as a gunslinger in Rio Bravo (1959); Hawks attributed Nelson much of the film’s box office success.
In The Wackiest Ship in the Army (1960), Nelson co-starred with Jack Lemmon, who was popular enough to create a TV series. He starred at General Electric Theater (“The Wish Book”) and starred with Jack Kelly in a romantic piece of comedy written and directed by his dad, Love, and Kisses (1965).
Nelson’s guest starred at Hondo playing Jesse James and played a supporting role with Walter Brennan and Pat O’Brien in The Over-the-Hill Gang (1969). Nelson was in Fol-de-Rol (1972), guest starred at McCloud, San Francisco Streets, Owen Marshall, Law Counselor, Petrocelli, The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries, and The Love Boat.
He played the part of “Tony Eagle” on The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries and performed several well-known Nelson songs throughout the episode. He had support roles in the TV films Three on a Date and High School USA (1983).
Ricky Nelson Dating
When Nelson was 17 in 1957, he met and fell in love with Marianne Gaba, who played the role of Ricky’s girlfriend in three episodes of Ozzie and Harriet. Nelson and Gaba were too young to entertain a serious relationship, although “we used to neck for hours” according to Gaba.
Nelson fell in love with Lorrie Collins, a 15-year-old country singer appearing on a weekly television broadcast called Town Hall Party, the next year. Nelson’s first composition, “My Gal,” was written by the two, and she introduced him to Johnny Cash and Tex Ritter. Collins appeared in an Ozzie and Harriet episode as Ricky’s girlfriend and sang “Just Because” with him in the musical finale.
They went steady and discussed marriage, but their parents discouraged the idea. During those younger years, Harriet Nelson never approved of Ricky’s teenage friendships or dating. She had some expectations for the personal life and career of Ricky.
Ricky Nelson Kris Harmon
Nelson started dating Sharon Kristin “Kris” Harmon on April 26, 2018, at Christmas 1961, the daughter of football player Tom Harmon and actress Elyse Knox and the older sister of Kelly and Mark Harmon. The Nelsons and the Harmons had long been friends. Rick and Kris had a lot in common: quiet arrangements, upbringings from Hollywood and high-powered domineering fathers
On April 20, 1963, they married. Kris was pregnant and later Rick defined the union as a “wedding with shotguns.” Nelson, a non-practitioner Protestant, was instructed in Catholicism at the insistence of the parents of the bride and signed a pledge to raise in the Catholic faith any children of the union.
In 1963, Kris Nelson joined the television show as a regular cast member. Their children were four: actress Tracy Kristine Nelson, twin sons Gunnar Eric Nelson and Matthew Gray Nelson, who formed the Nelson band, and Sam Hilliard Nelson.
By 1975, after the birth of their last child, the marriage had deteriorated and the press had covered for several years a very public, controversial divorce involving both families. Kris filed for divorce in October 1977 and requested for alimony, their four children’s custody, and a part of community property.
The pair settled their disagreements momentarily, but Kris kept her attorney after years of legal proceedings, they were divorced in December 1982. The divorce was financially devastating for Nelson, with attorneys and accountants taking over $1 million. Years of legal wrangling followed.
Ricky Nelson Helen Blair
Nelson encountered Helen Blair in Las Vegas in 1980, a part-time model and exotic-animal trainer. She became his road companion within months of her meeting, and she moved with him in 1982. After his divorce, she was the only woman he dated.
Blair served as Nelson’s personal assistant, organizing his day and liaising with his fan club, but Nelson’s mom, brother, business manager, and manager disapproved of her presence in his life. He planned to marry her but eventually declined. Blair died in the aircraft fire with Nelson.
At Nelson’s funeral, her name was never referenced. Blair’s parents wanted their daughter buried at the Forest Lawn Cemetery next to Nelson, but the idea was rejected by Harriet Nelson. The Blairs refused to bury the remains of Helen and filed an unjust death suit of $2 million against the estate of Nelson. They got a tiny settlement. In his will, Nelson didn’t provide for Blair.
Ricky Nelson Plane Crash
Nelson dreaded flying but refused to travel by bus. In May 1985, he decided he needed a private plane and paid $118,000 for a fourteen-seat 1944 Douglas C-3 (N711Y) that had once belonged to the DuPont family and later to Jerry Lee Lewis. The plane had been plagued by a history of mechanical problems.
In one incident, after an engine blew, the group was compelled to push the aircraft off the runway, and in another incident, a malfunctioning magnet prevented Nelson from attending the first Farm Aid concert in Champaign, Illinois.
Nelson and the band left for a southern United States three-stop tour on December 26, 1985. After shows in Orlando, Florida, and Guntersville, in Dallas, Texas, Alabama, Nelson, and members of the group took off from Guntersville for an extravaganza New Year’s Eve. The aircraft crashed northwest of Dallas in De Kalb, Texas, about two miles from a landing strip in a cow pasture.
Of the nine occupants, seven were murdered: Nelson and his companion, Helen Blair, 27; Patrick Woodward, 35; Rick Intveld, 22; Andy Chapin, 34; Bobby Neal, 38; and Donald Clark Russell, 35. Pilots Ken Ferguson and Brad Rank escaped through the windows of the cockpit, though heavily burned Ferguson.
Ricky Nelson Age At Death
Nelson was buried privately days later in Los Angeles ‘ Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery. Kris Nelson threatened to sue the Nelson clan for the life insurance money of her former husband and attempted to wrest control of his estate from his administrator David Nelson. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge dismissed her bid. Nelson left his entire property to his kids and did not provide for it.
One of several possible causes for the plane crash was just days after the funeral, rumors, and newspaper reports suggested freebasing cocaine. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) refuted these allegations. An examination showed that a fire originated at or near the floor line on the right side of the aft cabin area.
Some accounts said when the aircraft hit barriers during the forced landing, the passengers were murdered. The fire’s sources of ignition and fuel could not be determined. According to another report, the pilot stated that, soon before the fire happened, the crew repeatedly attempted to switch on the gasoline cabin heater, but did not react.
The heater compartment access panel was discovered unlatched after the fire. The hypothesis is backed by documents showing that DC-3s in general, and particularly this aircraft, had a history of issues with the