One of my favorite quotes from the acerbic wit of John Lennon is that "Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans." As was the case when he uttered those words, we still find ourselves today rushing, planning and scheming only to find out what we really have to understand is that there are powers that shape events that are way beyond our control. The concepts of planning for the future is sound; however the execution of that premise doesn’t always yield the result in the way we had hoped.
As a youngster growing up the 50’s and a teenager in the 60’s, I was witness to the great television revolution. The one and only black and white television we had in our apartment was situated in the living room became the focal point of the family’s evening activities. Mom, dad, sisters, brothers and neighbors who had not as yet found the funds to purchase a television, would gather around each night to see the latest "G Rated" fare on the tube. In retrospect, it was remarkable how these broadcast pioneers were able to present these shows with most basic of technologies. Many shows were live, but all topics or words that were presented at that time had to be suitable for the entire family.
One of the early shows to be presented was "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet." Ozzie was a bandleader in the 40’s, where he met his wife, Harriet who was a singer. Ozzie understood the power of television and adeptly moved from radio performing in the 40’s to television acting in the 50’s. Each week, we got to see Ozzie, Harriet and their two sons, David and Ricky, solving a problem and living happily ever after until the following week where a new crisis had to be resolved. As time went on, we watched Ricky grow from a cute kid to handsome teenager. We also found out that Ricky was a talented musician. Beginning in 1957, to showcase Ricky’s talent and incredibly good looks, he began to perform a song each week usually to a screaming throng of young girls.
The power of television coupled with Ricky’s talent combined to make him one of the best selling artists of his time. To give you an idea of how successful he was, his first record was a cover of the Fat Domino tune, "I’m Walkin’" which went to #4 and sold a million copies. The flip side was "A Teenager’s Romance" which hit #2 on the charts. From 1957 through 1961, he had over twenty top ten hits, of which many were double sided hits. He married Kris Harmon in the early 60’s, became the father of Tracy, twins Matthew and Gunnar, and one more child, Sam to make four kids. He made movies and signed a twenty year movie contract in 1963.He had it all, talent, looks, wealth and then as Mr. Lennon alluded to, life took over.
As consumers of music and videos, we like our performers to stay within the box we are most comfortable in seeing them. Ricky Nelson did not want to perform the bubble gum type of music that made him popular. Furthermore, he was an adult and felt that he should called Rick as opposed to Ricky. As a result, he began recording music as Rick and embraced country rock He met ex-Poco bassist, Randy Meisner and formed the Stone Canyon Band in the early 70’s. They had some minor successes, but the public was unwilling to accept the new and improved Rick Nelson. The classic story was that Rick was recruited to play oldies show at Madison Square Garden in 1971 and was booed off the stage because he had the nerve to play his new material and not play the old hits. He wrote "Garden Party" to describe the events that occurred that night and the song became his last million selling record.
From that point, life reared its ugly head for Rick Nelson. He spent the majority of his time on the road, away from family which eventually cost him his marriage. Lacking hit records, meant performing in front of small crowds, which meant small revenue, which, resulted in Rick finding himself in debt.
Within the music industry however, he was acknowledged for his work so much so that in 1984, he was invited to play on the Sun Records Class of 1955 reunion album with Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis. He won a Grammy for his work on this record. In 1985, he signed a new record deal with Curb/MCA and it looked like his hopes and dreams would finally come true. On December 31, 1985, the plane that he was on crashed and killed Rick, his fiancnd his band.
I started buying Rick Nelson records when he became Rick I have four of his LP’s. "Rick Sings Nelson" (Decca # 75236), "Rudy the Fifth" (Decca # 75297), "Garden Party" (Decca #75391) and "Playing To Win" (Capitol # 12109). All are amazing records. This month, Capitol is releasing a 20-track compilation of his greatest hits from 1957 -1972. Included in this set, are some highlights of his work with the Stone Canyon Band. Although this CD offering sounds like a nice set to own, I would hold out for a CD set that takes into account his Stone Canyon Band work.
The life of Rick Nelson was one that remains unfulfilled because we will only have his old material to hear. He was a remarkably gifted musician that left this world far too early.