A Teenager's Romance
Ricky Nelson
Ricky Nelson, born in 1940, was one of America's first teen heartthrobs and has the honour of being the first artist ever to have a number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
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The late singer began his career as a child actor, performing in his parents’ radio shows in the early 1950s, before finding success on screen as a bona fide teenage heartthrob. Becoming the first teen idol to utilise TV to sell recordings, Nelson gained a huge fan following off the back of hits such as 'A Teenager's Romance' and 'I’m Walkin’'. Unfortunately he was held back by a controlling father, who refused the young Ricky to appear on popular US TV shows of the time including American Bandstand and The Ed Sullivan Show, which some say could have hindered his promising career and exposed him to an even greater fan base.
Regardless, Ricky had a hugely successful career, singing up tempo rockabilly songs such as 'Hello Mary Lou' and ballads like the number 1 single 'Poor Little Fool'. Although Ricky’s career came to a dramatic halt with the emergence of the British Invasion in the mid 1960s, he began a move toward country music, eventually becoming a pioneer of the country rock genre. His sound would later influence acts such as Jackson Browne and Linda Ronstadt, although Nelson himself didn’t achieve another top 40 hit again until 1970, with a cover of Dylan’s 'She Belongs to Me'.
In 1972, Nelson reached the Top 40 one last time with 'Garden Party', a song he wrote in disgust after a New York audience booed him when he tried playing new songs instead of just his old hits. However, it’s since been said that the crowd were booing the policing of the event, without Nelson realising. After being dropped from his record label in 1974, Nelson struggled to continue his career. He was tragically killed in a plane crash in 1985, after completing a Rock n Roll Nostalgia tour throughout England, which garnered him renewed interest in his back catalogue.
He was inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame posthumously in 1987.(SM)
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