Oswald George Nelson was already a successful bandleader when, in 1932, he signed an up and coming singer to join his act. Her name was Harriet Hilliard, and though they wouldn’t have believed it at the time, they were to become the patriarchs of one of America’s most beloved families. Having married on October 8th 1935, they were soon welcoming the arrival of their first born, David, a year later on October 24th 1936. Then on May 8th 1940, Eric Hilliard Nelson was born at the Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, New Jersey.

The Nelsons place in history was confirmed when on October 8th 1944 they began work on a radio show which was to become the longest running sit-com in U.S. history: The Adventures Of Ozzie & Harriet. After a few episodes it was decided that the show would benefit from the introduction of the couples children, David and Ricky. But instead of the actual David and Ricky, actors were hired to portray them. However it didn’t take long for the boys to persuade their dad that they were more than capable of playing themselves on the show. And so, on February 20th 1949, a unique event occurred on air. A family, portraying themselves, with many referances to events in their own lives. It was in many ways, the worlds first reality show, and listeners were hooked.

By 1951, Ozzie had in mind a move to televison and began scripting a big screen adaptation which would be a perfect chance to discover how people took to seeing the family for the first time. Here Come The Nelsons was a hit and convinced Ozzie that television was a viable option. Ever the businessman, Ozzie took on the role of producer, director, head writer and story editor of the show which began filming at General Services Studio in Hollywood for ABC. The first episode entitled, The Rivals, debuted on October 3rd 1953. It was to continue for a further 11 seasons and created the stereotypical image of the family of the ‘50’s that survives to this day.

Ricky was 13 by now and had established himself as the “irrepressible Ricky” a wise-cracking kid, who likes nothing more than getting one over on his older, more sensible brother. Off-screen Ricky was developing a keen interest in sports, even joining David in perfecting a dazzling trapeze act, but his pasion lay in tennis, for which he reached the semi-finals of the National Indoor Junior Championships at the age of 16. And while a near fatal car accident that same year landed him in hospital with a crackled vertebrae it was to be something totally different that would lure Ricky away from taking up tennis professionally. Ricky Nelsons entry into the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall Of Fame, began as a boast to get the attentions of a girl he had taken on a date. Whilst driving her home, she began telling Ricky how wonderful she thought the guy on the radio was, a new singer called Elvis Presley.

Presley was wowing the kids of America like no one before him with his unique sounds and every girl dreamed after him. Ricky was no fool, and immediately informed the girl that he too was going to release a record. By the time he got home he had decided that this wasn’t such a bad idea and set about persuading his dad of this. Ozzie duly obliged and Ricky recorded a cover of the Fats Domino classic I’m Walkin’ (The only song which he knew in it’s entirety) To promote the record it was decided that Ricky would perform it on an up-coming episode of the show. On 30th April 1957, Ricky The Drummer aired with 16 year old Ricky performing for the first time. A few weeks later teenagers up and down the country were catapulting the single up the charts and Ricky became a Rock ‘N’ Roll star practically overnight. Suddenly the youngest son of America’s favourite family was performing this music, which had long been seen as a bastion of moral evil in homes throughout the states. Ricky was rightly credited with making Rock ‘N’ Roll accessible to millions and changing the opinions of the older generation. After all, if Ozzie & Harriet approved it couldn’t be as dangerous to the youth of America as people had feared.

Pretty soon Ricky was making personal appearances world-wide and was signed to the Imperial label with a five year contract. His first full album Ricky was released in October 1957, reaching the no. 1 spot and spawning such top five hits as “Be Bop Baby” and “Stood Up”. His second album Ricky Nelson garnered Ricky his first no. 1 single with Poor Little Fool whilst the haunting Lonesome Town, from his third album Ricky Sings Again, showed the world that Ricky Nelson had a quality to his voice that belied his young age. In fact Ricky proved very early on that he was certainly not an Elvis wannabe and that he was in fact a serious recording artist with his own unique sense of style and pacing. Never a hip swiveller, Ricky was able to portray the vitality of his music just standing at a microphone or with his beloved guitar in front of him.

It was inevitable that the movies would pick up on the box office potential of this teenage idol (a phrase first coined to describe Ricky!) and sure enough in 1958 Ricky began filming Rio Bravo a big screen western directed by the legendary Howard Hawkes and co-starring John Wayne, Dean Martin and a young Angie Dickinson. As Colorado, the sharp shooting gun slinger who joins Wayne and Martin in defending the law, Ricky gave a solid performance and even managed to duet with Dino on My Rifle, Pony And Me. However it was clear that acting was not the great passion in Ricky’s life, perhaps because he had been so used to reading his lines off hidden prompt cards on the set of the T.V. show for all those years. It was brother David who had to stop Ricky from practising his shooting and horse-riding and coach him on his lines! Never the less the movie became a classic of the genre and ensured that Ricky would return to the screen two years later in The Wackiest Ship In The Army starring alongside Jack Lemmon.

I n 1961 his 6th album, Rick is 21, declared to the world that the teenage idol was now a man with a letter less in his name but with a new woman at his side. Kristin Harmon had first met Rick when she was thirteen. In the proceeding years she had become an attractive 16 year old and Rick began to date her. The Nelsons and the Harmons were family friends and the blossoming relationship between the pair was met with approval on both sides. By 1963 they were married and Kris, together with her new sister-in-law June Blair, became the on-screen wives of the Nelson boys. Also that year, Rick’s contract with Imperial ended and he signed with Decca Records for a then un-heard of 20 year contract.

In February 1967, the final episode of The Adventures Of Ozzie And Harriet aired. After over 22 years on radio and television and having seen the boys grow from pre-teens to married men, the world said goodbye to the family a generation had grown up with. On top of that his music was no longer selling as well as it had. His first few albums for Decca continued to ride the charts, but the sixties was proving to be a time when many in American music were displaced by the sudden and all consuming rise in popularity of the English sound, led by the Beatles. Like many of his contemporaries, Elvis included, Rick began to find it increasingly difficult to get his songs played on the radio. Subsequently he began to search for new directions to take his music.

Ironicaly, it was this willingness to not just accept, but embrace change, that kept Rick fresh during this difficult period in his career. Though not as commercially successful as he would have liked, his albums of this period proved to be an important learning curve for Rick in which he experimented with country music and the style of new idols like Bob Dillon. This was also the beginning of Rick’s songwriting career. Up to now Rick had mainly left that side of the business to others. There was hardly a lack of good songs sent to him at the time and when you have major talents like Jerry Fuller, Dorey Burnette and Baker Knight penning classics like A Wonder Like You, Lonesome Town and It’s Late, especially for you, who would blame him? But as Rick began exploring different sides of music, he began penning his own classics, such as one of his most poignant tracks Easy To Be Free. Featured on his album Rick In Concert (which was recorded at the Troubador Club in West Hollywood) it was a mature and thought provoking piece of work which heralded the arrival of Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band.

The Stone Canyon Band started out as Tom Brumley, Allen Kemp, Pat Shanahan and Randy Meisner, (Later additions included: Tim Cetera, Steve Love, Denis Larden , Ty Grimes and Jay DeWitt White). They were pioneers of what became known as Country Rock. With two superb albums, Rick Sings Nelson and Rudy The Fifth, Rick had transformed himself completely from the young teen heartthrob of the fifties into the songwriter and lead singer of a credible and ground-breaking band.

However, the critical raves heaped on these albums was not matched in chart success. This Rick was not the one that America had watched grow up on their T.V. sets. Things came to a head for Rick when he headlined a Rock 'N' Roll revival in Madison Square Garden on October 5th 1971. After performing 12 of his past hits to the 20,000 strong crowd, Rick began to perform his version of the Rolling Stones hit Honky Tonk Woman. Almost immediatley boo's began erupting from the audience who had payed to see the idol of their childhood, not this long haired rocker. Deeply affected by this response, Rick channelled his frustration into what would become his first top ten hit since 1963, Garden Party. The album which followed the release of the single was heaped with critical acclaim and things were finally looking up for Rick Nelson. However subsequent singles failed to reach the top 50. The 1974 album Windfall, shared much the same fate. Then in 1975, Rick's dad, Ozzie, passed away after losing his battle with cancer.

In 1977 Rick and the band signed with Epic and released their final album Intakes. By now the Stone Canyon Band had changed so much that it no longer worked as a unit and they disbanded. Rick's life and career at this time was not going well. His marriage to Kris (which had produced four children) was ending in a bitter battle and his next album, Back To Vienna, was un-released. It was clear that a change of direction was needed and so in 1978, Rick travelled to Memphis with John Beland to record his second Epic album The Memphis Sessions. A labour of love for both men, the album was tampered with by Epic and a furious Rick left the label soon after. (A tampered version of the album was posthumously released to a luke warm reception in 1986.) In 1980 Rick signed with Capitol records for a two album deal. Determined to return to his roots, he recorded what was to be his final studio album, Playing To Win. However once again, commercial success eluded him.

It was now the mid 80's and Rick Nelson had been in showbusiness for almost 35 years, but he showed no signs of slowing down. While his recent albums had not received the kind of popularity he hoped, or deserved, he was still a highly sought after entertainer and continued to perform live to sell out crowds across the globe. Shunning the type of cabaret style show that many of his contemporaries had done, he remained true to his music and to himself. He also continued to act, taking on many cameo roles in popular T.V. shows of the time, including stand-out performances in The Streets Of San Fransisco and A Hand For Sonny Blue. In many of these shows he played a singer and would often play his own music, most notably in The Hardy Boys and McCloud. His personal life was also looking brighter, he had begun a relationship with a girl who had come backstage to meet him after one of his shows, model Helen Blair. Helen was very good for Rick and it was quite clear to all who shared time with them that they were very much in love. In 1985 he began work on the second of his two album deal for Capitol records, sadly it remains an incomplete and un-released work in progress.

On the 30th of December 1985, Rick was playing at the nightclub of Pat Upton in Guntersville, Alabama. It was a small venue for Rick, but Pat was a friend. The next day he was due to fly to Dallas for a New Years Eve show. Despite a life long fear of flying, Rick had recently purchased a second hand, twin-engine DC-3 plane. At 14:00 on 31st December, Rick, Helen (now his fiancee) and band members, Bobby Neal, Rick Intveld, Andy Chapin and Pat Woodward, together with his road manager Clark Russel, boarded the plane and headed for the skys.

The first anyone on the ground knew of any problems with the flight was when the pilot reported that there was smoke in the cabin area of the plane. Shortly after he reported that smoke and flames had penetrated into the cock-pit and he was going to attempt an emergency landing. However during the landing attempt the damaged plane hit some power lines and trees and exploded into a ball of flame on impact. Luckily the force threw the pilot and co-pilot to safety. They attempted to rescue the passengers but were pushed back by the intense heat and flames. Emergency services arrived at the scene too late to save the seven souls on board. Upon entering the plane, investigators discovered that Rick and Helen were still strapped in their seats, with Rick shielding his fiancee. A final act of bravery and love.

Tragicaly the Nelson family would all hear of the tragic death of their beloved Rick from news coverage of the accident. Rick was laid to rest at Forest Lawns Memorial Park in Los Angeles on 6th of January 1986. A crowd of over a thousand people showed up to pay their last respects to a man who they had watched grow from a young boy. In the coming days a news report in the Washington Post reported that the crash may have been caused by the band members free-basing in the plane, a process in which cocaine is ignited. It was claimed that aerosol cans which could have been used for this purpose were found on the plane. It was later confirmed that no evidence of any drug abuse was discovered anywhere on the plane. Most of the aerosols were in the baggage area of the plane and this was a time when the use of aerosols for cosmetic use was at it's highest. It was also discovered that the cause of the fire was in actual fact a faulty heater on the aircraft. However the damage had been done and this final slur on the name of a man who could no longer defend himself, deeply affected his family.