Rick Nelson • Lonesome Town
Last week we started a new tradition - It is “Fab Fifties Friday Night.”
Every Friday we’ll pick a different 50s artist to spotlight. I suggested last week that the 1950s was such a fun era of music, we must not allow it to become lost in time, like the hula hoop or the Edsel or roller rinks. We must fight to keep alive the memory of Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry and Connie Francis. So we’ll see how that goes. Anyway, for now I’m keeping my promise, so here’s another great 50s artist you are bound to love! Check it out:
Tonight, in the next installment of Fab Fifties Friday Night, we turn the spotlight on one of the original teen idols, Ricky Nelson! And we’ll attach here a couple of his singles that have of course become classics from that 50’s era.
Ricky Nelson. He was an American rock & roll star, pop pioneer when rock was very young, musician, and singer. Ricky (Originally “Ricky” Nelson, he insisted on dropping the “y” when he turned 21. Just “Rick!”); anyway, Ricky grew up from age 8 as a member of a television family. The TV show was The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. And it happened to be his own real family, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, and his brother Dave. In 1957, Ricky began a career as a popular recording artist. He was able to leverage his family’s TV fame at first, but his career quickly took off and zoomed way beyond the world of Ozzie and Harriet.
He went on to make a number of movies. In the music world he became a superstar. He placed 53 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, and its predecessors, between 1957 and 1973, including "Poor Little Fool” in 1958, which was the first No. 1 song on Billboard magazine's then-newly created Hot 100 chart. In addition, he recorded 19 additional Top 10 hits over the next five years. Rick Nelson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 21, 1987. Over time, Rick Nelson sold 60 million records, including 24 golds, and ranked fourth on the list of best-selling single artists.
Sadly, Nelson died in a plane crash on December 31, 1985, flying from Alabama to Dallas, Texas for a concert. The plane was his own plane, a Douglas DC-3, which had been experiencing a history of mechanical problems. All seven passengers aboard the plane died. Only the two pilots survived. Nelson's funeral took place at the Church of the Hills, Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery, on January 6, 1986, and he was privately buried at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.
His legacy of great music is still there for us to enjoy. Please view the attached videos from way back in the day. And Spotify has a great Rick Nelson playlist (link attached below).
Below, a few Videos and a Spotify Playlist:
A great live performance of Lonesome Town:
And now a live performance of It’s up to You:
Finally, here’s one from 1961 • Travelin’ Man:
Here’s “This is Ricky Nelson” on Spotify
(Click below to listen to this Playlist)
