HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICKY NELSON !

Rick, born May 8th, 1940, is in the Rock 'N Roll Hall Of Fame and is noted for being America's fisrt "Teen Idol". Well....that ain't really so cause all of the "Teen Idols" from the 1950's were trying to sound like Frank Sinatra. While Rick was every bit as good looking and twice as talented, Ricky was wanting to sound like his Idol, CARL PERKINS

According to Ricky, he was out on a date with a girl named Arline. Elvis Presley's record (Rick didn't say which one) came on the radio and Arline went nuts. Rick felt that he had to say something so he told her "Well, I'm going a make a record". She laughed at him. He said in the interview "Even if I just made one record I was going to do it and just hand it to her". Ozzie, Rick's Dad and former band leader/recording artists, set up a session and three songs were cut. Here's the result:

"I'm Walkin' " originally written and recorded by Fats Domino was released. It was an after thought to do it on his Dad's T.V. Show but Ozzie felt "It'll be good experience for the boy". "I'm Walkin'" shot up to Number 4 on Billboard's Pop charts. The "Flip" side of the record "A Teenager's Romance" went to Number 2. "I'm Walkin'" got the Gold Record for selling a million. What happened to Arline after that? Well, according to Rick, she came by and asked him why they weren't going out anymore. He just said well I've been really busy recording, touring and the doing T.V. show. Can you say ....Karma???

The third and final song recorded for Verve records, basically a Jazz Label, was "You're My One & Only Love". The flip side was an instrumental cause Rick hadn't recorded any more songs for them at that time. This song got up to Number 14. Here's the 45 and 78 R.P.M. versions

Because of the popularity of "I'm Walkin' " Fats Domino's label, Imperial, bought Rick's contract from Verve. Rick's first release "Be Bop Baby" went to Number 3 on Billboard's charts. Here's the 78 R.P.M. in the original Imperial sleeve and a closer look at the Label.

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, "Be Bop Baby" was his second Million Seller.

Here's my all time favorite Ricky Nelson song "Stood Up". This is also my favorite Picture Sleeve as well. According to Billboard Magazine "Stood Up" is Rick's third biggest hit record behind "Poor Little Foll" (No. 1) and "Travelin' Man" (No.2) respectively. "Stood Up" made it to No. 2 on the charts for thre weeks. The song that kept it from going to No.1 was "At The Hop" by Danny & The Juniors. Other songs in the Top-10 that week were "Jailhouse Rock" by that fella from Memphis, "Great Balls Of Fire" by Jerry Lee, "Peggy Sue" by Buddy Holly & "Jingle Bell Rock" by Bobby Helms. The "Flip" side of this record didn't do too badly either. "Waitin' In School" went to No. 18.

Left to Right, here are two different "Looks" of the 78 R.P.M. version of "Stood Up" and the 45 R.P.M. on the right.

Here's the Gold Record for "Stood Up" which I'm proud to say I own. In the 1950's a Gold record was awarded to two people, the artist (in this case Ricky) and the record label owner (in this case Lou Chudd). Lou Chudd's estate put up all of his Gold records for auction a couple of years ago and I was lucky enough to get the Gold one for my favorite song. Me and my band peform "Stood Up" all of the time at our gigs.

Like "Stood Up" here's another one we do live. "Believe What You Say" is a real rocker and went to No. 4 on the charts.

Here's the 78 R.P.M. version of the record.

The "Flip" side of "Believe What You Say" was a song called "My Bucket's Got A Hole In It". This song did well rising up to No. 12 on Billboard's charts. For some strange reason, this Gold Record is for "Bucket" the "B" side and not "Believe What You Say'. Go figure..eh?

Here are the guys that sing most of the Back Up vocals for Rick. They're know as The Jordanaires.They're on a lot of people's records iincluding Patsy Cline, Conway Twitty and who was that fella from Memphis with the side burns? In this picture are, left to right, Gordon Stoler, Neil Mathews, Rick, Hoyte Hawkins & Ray Walker.I've gotten to know them and they also sing Back Up on a couple of tracks on my latest Album/CD "Big Daddy D"

Here's a real good friend of mine Mr. Larry Cole He's one talented Rockabilly cat and it's through Larry that I met the Jordanaires.

The Jordanaires are now in the Country Music Hall Of Fame. Gordon Stoker and Ray Walker (Both Center) are still singing with the group to this day

"Poor Little Fool" according to Billboard Magazine is Rick's Biggest Hit record. It was No. 1 for two weeks and charted a total of 15 weeks. The song was written by Shelly Sheeley who was, at the time, Eddie Cochran's girl friend. She met Rick through Eddie and offered the song to him. Rick, according to his Biography, didn't like the song but she told him the Elvis Presley was going to record it if he didn't. Rick recorded it and burried it on an album. A disk jocky in Philladelphia got hold of it and started playing it and the rest is history. Many of Rick's 45's had Picture Sleeves to them, like Presley, but "Poor Little Fool" did not. Again, according Rick's biography, it was in Rick's contract that he had final say over any of the art work used on his singles, E.P.s and albums. So to protest the fact that he didn't like this song and it was released as a single against his wished, he didn't approve the art work. Imperial released the song anyway in a standard paper sleeve. Also worthy of mention, Rick never performed this song on the Ozzie & Harriet Show.The 45 R.P.M. version, above left, is the actual record that my sister Ginney bought in 1958 and, yes I can remeber her buying it. The 78 R.P.M. version on the right I got last year from an auction on E-Bay.

"Poor Little Fool" Rick's fifth Millinon Seller

Here's an E.P. that I bought at W.S. Grants , a store in the Westlake Shopping Center in Daly City California. For those of you who don't know, E.P. stands for "Extended Play". This was a format used from the 1950's until about 1968 in the U.S.A. Basically, E.P.s were 45 R.P.M. records with two of three songs on each side of it. Unlike a single which only had one song on each side. They also came in cardboard covers like L.P. Albums and not paper sleeves like singles. You might even say that they were "Mini Albums". An E.P. generally sold for $1.50 were as a single would be $1.00 or less sometimes. You can see that this was marked down to forty nine cents. Oh yeah, don't tell anybody, but this was the first record I ever bought with my allowance money the wasn't an Elvis Presley record sssshhhhhhh!

MIllion Seller number six for Rick. "Lonesome Town". The flip side of the single "I Got A Feeling" made the Top-10 as well.

1959 was another good year for Ricky. Both sides of this single made Billboard's Top-10. "It's Late" the Rocker went up to No. 9 and the "Flip" side went to No. 6. Me and the guys do both of these songs in our shows.

Ricky's seventh Million Seller. The award is given to the "Ballad" side of the record, the song "Never Be Anyone Else But You"

Another E.P. cover from 1959

Here's an E.P. from April 1960. It's a four song collection of Ricky singing Spiritual songs. I never knew this existed until about a year ago. I learned about it from the four CD box set and then a few months later saw it at a collector's show for, well let's just say I got real lucky on the price of it.

Here's the double sided hit from 1961. "Travelin Man" is, due to radio airplay, probably Rick's most popular song. According to Billboard, it's Rick's second biggest Hit Record, behind "Poor Little Fool". The song was written by a guy name Jerry Fuller who went on to write songs like "Woman Woman" , "Lady Will Power" and others for Gary Pukett & The Union Gap. He also wrote a big hit in the 1970's called "Show & Tell" for Al Wilson. "Travelin' Man" by Rick went to No. 1 for two weeks and charted a total of sixteen weeks. The "Flip" side of the record was "Hello Mary Lou". Mary Lou went to No. 9 and charted for 15 weeks.

"Travelin' Man" was Rick's eighth Million Seller and the last record to show the name Ricky. Rick had turned twenty-One and felt that the name Rick was more appropriate.
Okay Gang, a few weeks ago on the Burce Latimer T.V. Show we did the song "Hello Mary Lou" by Ricky Nelson and if folks phoned in and guessed who wrote the song, they won and Album..........ah...........CD. My scanner was down so, sorry about this being posted a little bit late but here's the answer !!!!!

Gene was put into the Rock 'N Roll Hall Of Fame a few years ago. In doing a little research, I found that he also wrote "He's A Rebel" which was done by the Crystals.

"Young World" was a Top-10 record for "Rick" Nelson in 1962

Rick, and a lot of Rock 'n Rollers from the 1950's went through a "Dry Spell" in the late sixties due to the British invasion. Rick was disenchanted with his recordings so to shake things up he went in a different direction and started recording Country music. The singles and albums weren't very sucessful though. This was however the genisis of what became the "County Rock" scene in L.A. in the late '60s early 70's. Rick dosen't get the artistic credit he deserves for this. Most folks think of the Eagles, Flying Buritto Rothers and Linda Ronstadt for startring this "new sound" but Rick was there in L.A. performing this music at clubs like the Trubador right along with them. Rick formed the Stone Canyon Band. The Bass player, at the time was a cat named Randy Misner who went on to be a founding member of the Eagles. Randy co-wrote and sang lead on the song "Take It To The Limit". Rick's album "In Concert" was recorded at the Trubador and sparked an interest in his music again. In 1969 Rick had two minor hit singles, "She Belongs To Me" written by Bob Dylan and "Easy To Be Free" which Rick wrote himself. Live versions of both these songs are on the "In Concert" album.

The "In Concert" album also show cased three of Rick's early hit singles, "Hello Mary Lou" , "I'm Walkin" and "Believe What You Say" though they were performed in a Country style and didn't sound at all like the original hit versions. According to Randy Misner, Rick really didn't want to do any of his hits from the 50's and early 60's. Like most artists, he wanted to be know for what he was currently doing, not for his past succes. So Rick would "Sprinkle" in one or two but do them in this new Country style. Rick felt that doing this breathed new life into the songs and I agree. The audiences however did not and so this was the inspiration for his song "Garden Party" which became his nineth Gold Single. As he wrote in the song "If memories were all I sang, I'd rather drive a truck" .....'nuff said.

 In the 1980's Rick came to terms with his Rick vs Ricky identity. He also came to terms with himself musically and started performing his 50's and 60's hits in the original styles again. I saw him three times live during this period and his band could recreate his hits note for note...they ROCKED. Rick was in the process of recording a new album when he died and this was the first single off of it. "You Know What I Mean" was a rockabilly song that could have been recorded in the 1950's. It even had Upright bass and the Jordanaires on it.

I was playing the Sprotsman Club in San Bruno Ca. on the New Year's Eve that Rick's plane went down. This fella, wearing a Black "Rick Nelson" tour jacket asked me if I knew any Ricky Nelson songs. He explained that he used to be a sound engenier for Rick. He asked me if I 'd heard the news and I said no, then he told me of Rick's passing. I asked him "Do you want 5 mins or 45 mins of Ricky Nelson music?" He said 45 and I had no problem doing it. Later put $20.00 in my tip jar.

Okay Gang, Here's the Ricky Nelson Top-20 list of hits according to Billboard magazine:

1)Poor Little Fool .................................No. 1 1958

2)Travelin' Man ....................................No.1 1961

3) Stood Up............................................No. 2 1957

4) A Teenager's Romance.................No. 2 1957

5) Be Bop Baby.....................................No. 3 1957

6) I'm Walkin' ........................................No. 4 1957

7) Believe What You Say.....................No. 4 1958

8) Young World......................................No. 5 1962

9) Teen Age Idol.....................................No. 5 1962

10) Garden Party....................................No. 6 1972

11) Never Be Anyone Else But You.....No. 6 1959

12) It's Up To You....................................No.6 1962

13) For You...............................................No. 6 1963

14) Lonesome Town.............................No. 7 1958

15) Hello Mary Lou................................No. 9 1961

16) It's Late ...........................................No. 9 1959

17) Just A Little Too Much..................No. 9 1959

18) Sweeter Than You ........................No. 9 1959

19) A Wonder Like You........................No.11 1961

20) My Bucket's Got A Hole In It.........No.11 1958

You know, looking at this list it's a wonder that oldies radio stations basically play only two or three of Rick's records. If you just listen to oldies radio, you'd think the only two songs he ever recorded were "Travelin Man" and "Garden Party". I'm not complaining here it's just a fact. Rick scored 18 Top - 10 records and a buch more that just missed getting in the Top -10 but we only hear two of 'em. There's a new album.....................I mean CD out with all of the songs listed here. I encourage anyone who wants to know more about REAL Rock ' N Roll, Rockabilly, or about Ricky Nelson's music to get this one.

Whew................................This took me a few days to put together for you gang so I REALLY hope you enjoyed this one ! Enjoy the music. enjoy the pics, enjoy the little "Class" here on Ricky and always KEEP ON ROCKIN' !

I'll plant you now and dig you later

Dave