"He was broke and badly in debt. He kept vampire hours,rising as the sun set and going to bed at dawn. His children rarely saw him,although they lived in the same rambling mansion in the Hollywood Hills,originally built by the dissolute movie star Errol Flynn. His startlinggood looks were fading, and even on a post-midnight grocery shopping trip, hewould never leave his house without full makeup.
Many people take charge of their destinies and make thingshappen. Rick was the sort of person that things happened to. He wasthe fortunate son who stood still while providence came to him. When lifesmiled on him, he accepted its gifts gratefully. When his luck ran dry,he never complained.
Rickyand James Burton
He grew up thesunniest of California’s golden boys, a teenager whose wealth and fame exceededthat of powerful statesmen, lauded scholars and literary geniuses many yearshis age. Raised as the celebrated son of an almost mythical Americanfamily, Rick Nelson never escaped a life of frustration and defeat despite ayouth of unparalleled privilege and glory.
Rick himself was a cipher. His closest friendsremembered him fondly but not well, invariably first and foremost recalling himas “nice.” Other, more pointed details always proved vague ormissing entirely. It was as if he had been there in shape but notsubstance. The shadowy figure bundled together contradictions: warmand remote, witty and dull, fortunate and hapless, confident and shy, proud anddocile.
He learned to becautious around strangers, shy to the point of paranoia, and he grew to readhis life from a script. Over the years, he would respond to the questionsof interviewers with identical answers, almost word for word, like littlespeeches he had memorized."
NOTE:
I saw Ricky Nelsonperform in person only once. It was atthe Bottom Line, a very nice club in Manhattan, and I think he was promotingthe album he made for Epic Records.
Hehad been playing for a long time as “Rick Nelson” by then; this was several years after “Garden Party" and the affecting Bob Dylan covers (“SheBelongs To Me” and “Love Minus Zero/No Limit.”)
Ricky was magnificent,simply the most natural and unaffected performer I’d ever seen. His band was quite good also and he played all ofhis many hits, making each and everyone of them live and shine.
Of course it would havebeen nice to see him with his original band, including the great James Burton,but you can’t have everything.
I can recommend JoelSelvin’s biography, Ricky Nelson: Idol For A Generation (Chicago, ContemporaryBooks, 1990), for the information it conveys and the stories it tells more thanI can for its prose and attempts at psychology. While it might be nice, I suppose, to know what made Ricky tick, he left suchan enduring body of work, and I really think the “message,” such as it is, and the meaning liesthere – in the records, the television and movie acting, the liveconcerts, and in his single (I believe) Saturday Night Live appearancewhere he was so natural and deft it was scary.
In my experience,musicians are often naturally quiet people and basically all about music all the time. Selvin’s observation about Ricky’s “pat”interview answers reminds me of something Caroline once told me about one of herlabel artists, who shared a love of rockabilly with Ricky (also enormous musicaltalent).
At the height of this musician’sdizzying rise to fame, he told Caroline, his publicist, that he couldn’t do anymore interviews because he had run out of things to say. He was being utterly sincere and he'd been at the task many fewer years than Ricky. Caroline coached him back into the game, butwith a lot of sympathy and affection because of his honesty.
After Ricky died, Iremember Roy Orbison saying with sardonic admiration that Ricky was the onlyperson he knew who had learned how to sing on Number 1 records. It didn’t take Ricky very long to do this, he admitted, and Roy’scandor about his own jealousy – of Rick’s looks, his easy, natural, disarmingmanner, his great records, and his astonishing lead guitarist - was appealing.
Ricky Nelson: Teenage Idol (Link)
Ricky Nelson: It's Late(Link)
Ricky Nelson: Believe What You Say (Link)
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