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Willie Nelson

Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country singer, guitarist and songwriter. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restrictions of the Nashville sound. The critical success of his album Shotgun Willie (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger (1975) and Stardust (1978), made Nelson one of the most recognized artists in country music. Nelson has acted in over 30 films, co-authored several books, and has been involved in activism for the use of biofuels and the legalization of marijuana.

For the American boxer, see Willie Nelson (boxer). For the Scottish rugby player, see Willie Neilson. For other people, see William Nelson (disambiguation).

Willie Nelson

Willie Hugh Nelson

(1933-04-29) April 29, 1933
  • Singer
  • musician
  • songwriter
  • actor
  • activist

1956–present

  • Martha Matthews
    (m. 1952; div. 1962)
  • (m. 1963; div. 1971)
  • Connie Koepke
    (m. 1971; div. 1988)
  • Annie D'Angelo
    (m. 1991)

8, including Lukas and Paula

Bobbie Nelson (sister)

  • Vocals
  • guitar

Nelson wrote his first song at age seven and joined his first band at ten. During high school, he toured locally with the Bohemian Polka as their lead singer and guitar player. After graduating from high school in 1950, he joined the U.S. Air Force but was later discharged due to back problems. After his return, Nelson attended Baylor University for two years but dropped out because he was succeeding in music. He worked as a disc jockey at radio stations in his native Texas, and in several radio stations in the Pacific Northwest, all the while working as a singer and songwriter throughout the late 1950s. During that time, he wrote songs that would become country standards, including "Funny How Time Slips Away", "Hello Walls", "Pretty Paper", and "Crazy". In 1960 he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and later signed a publishing contract with Pamper Music which allowed him to join Ray Price's band as a bassist. In 1962, he recorded his first album, ...And Then I Wrote. Due to this success, Nelson signed in 1964 with RCA Victor and joined the Grand Ole Opry the following year. After mid-chart hits in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, Nelson grew weary of the corporate Nashville music scene, and in 1972 he moved to Austin, Texas. The ongoing music scene of Austin motivated Nelson to return to performing, appearing frequently at the Armadillo World Headquarters.


In 1973, after signing with Atlantic Records, Nelson turned to outlaw country, including albums such as Shotgun Willie and Phases and Stages. In 1975, he switched to Columbia Records, where he recorded the critically acclaimed album Red Headed Stranger. The same year, he recorded another outlaw country album, Wanted! The Outlaws, along with Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser. During the mid-1980s, while creating hit albums like Honeysuckle Rose and recording hit songs like "On the Road Again", "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", and "Pancho and Lefty", he joined the country supergroup The Highwaymen, along with fellow singers Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson. In 1985, he helped organize the first Farm Aid concert to benefit American farmers; the concerts have been held annually ever since and Nelson has been a fixture, appearing at every one.


In 1990, Nelson's assets were seized by the Internal Revenue Service, which claimed that he owed $32 million. The difficulty of paying his outstanding debt was aggravated by weak investments he had made during the 1980s. In 1992, Nelson released The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories?; the profits of the double album—destined to the IRS—and the auction of Nelson's assets cleared his debt. During the 1990s and 2000s, Nelson continued touring extensively, and released albums every year. Reviews ranged from positive to mixed. He explored genres such as reggae, blues, jazz, and folk.


Nelson made his first movie appearance in the 1979 film The Electric Horseman, followed by other appearances in movies and on television. Nelson is a major liberal activist and the co-chair of the advisory board of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), which is in favor of marijuana legalization. On the environmental front, Nelson owns the biodiesel brand Willie Nelson Biodiesel, whose product is made from vegetable oil. Nelson is also the honorary chairman of the advisory board of the Texas Music Project, the official music charity of the state of Texas.

Music career

Beginnings (1956–1971)

Nelson was hired by KVAN in Vancouver, Washington, and appeared frequently on a television show.[16][22] He made his first record in 1956, "No Place for Me", that included Leon Payne's "Lumberjack" on the B-side.[23] The recording failed.[24] Nelson continued working as a radio announcer and singing in Vancouver clubs.[25] He made several appearances in a Colorado nightclub, later moving to Springfield, Missouri. After failing to land a spot on the Ozark Jubilee, he started to work as a dishwasher. Unhappy with his job, he moved back to Texas. After a short time in Waco, he settled in Fort Worth, and quit the music business for a year.[16] He sold bibles and vacuum cleaners door-to-door,[26] and eventually became a sales manager for the Encyclopedia Americana.[27]


After his son Billy was born in 1958, the family moved to Houston, Texas. On the way, Nelson stopped by the Esquire Ballroom to sell his original songs to house band singer Larry Butler. Butler refused to purchase the song "Mr. Record Man" for $10, instead giving Nelson a $50 loan to rent an apartment and a six-night job singing in the club.[28] Nelson rented the apartment near Houston in Pasadena, Texas, where he also worked at the radio station as the sign-on disc jockey. During this time, he recorded two singles for Pappy Daily on D Records[29] "Man With the Blues"/"The Storm Has Just Begun" and "What a Way to Live"/"Misery Mansion".[30] Nelson then was hired by guitar instructor Paul Buskirk to work as an instructor in his school. He sold "Family Bible" to Buskirk for $50 and "Night Life" for $150.[31] "Family Bible" turned into a hit for Claude Gray in 1960.[32]


Nelson moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1960, but was unable to find a label to sign him. During this period he often spent time at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, a bar near the Grand Ole Opry frequented by the show's stars and other singers and songwriters.[33] There Nelson met Hank Cochran, a songwriter who worked for the publishing company Pamper Music, owned by Ray Price and Hal Smith. Cochran heard Nelson during a jam session with Buddy Emmons and Jimmy Day. Cochran had just earned a raise of $50 a week, but convinced Smith to pay Nelson the money instead to sign him to Pamper Music. On hearing Nelson sing "Hello Walls" at Tootsie's, Faron Young decided to record it.[34] After Ray Price recorded Nelson's "Night Life", and his previous bassist Johnny Paycheck quit, Nelson joined Price's touring band as a bass player. While playing with Price and the Cherokee Cowboys, his songs became hits for other artists, including "Funny How Time Slips Away" (Billy Walker), "Pretty Paper" (Roy Orbison), and, most famously, "Crazy" by Patsy Cline.[25] Nelson and Cochran also met Cline's husband, Charlie Dick at Tootsie's. Dick liked a song of Nelson's he heard on the bar's jukebox. Nelson played him a demo tape of "Crazy". Later that night Dick played the tape for Cline, who decided to record it.[6] "Crazy" became the biggest jukebox hit of all time.[35]

Willie: An Autobiography, Simon & Schuster, 1988, with

Bud Shrake

The Facts of Life and Other Dirty Jokes, Random House, 2002

Farm Aid: A Song for America, Rodale Books, foreword by Willie Nelson, 2005

The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart, Gotham, 2006, with Turk Pipkin

On the Clean Road Again: Biodiesel and the Future of the Family Farm, Fulcrum Publishing, 2007

A Tale Out of Luck (a novel), Center Street, 2008, with Mike Blakely

Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die: Musings From the Road, William Morrow, foreword by Kinky Friedman, 2012

It's a Long Story: My Life, Little, Brown and Company, 2015 with David Ritz

Pretty Paper, Penguin Random House, 2016 with David Ritz

Willie Nelson's Letters to America, HarperCollins, 2021 with Turk Pipkin

Me and Sister Bobbie: True Tales of the Family Band, Penguin Random House, 2021 with Bobbie Nelson and David Ritz

Sister, Brother, Family: An American Childhood in Music, Penguin Random House, 2021 with Bobbie Nelson and Chris Barton

Me And Paul: Untold Stories of a Fabled Friendship, HarperCollins, 2022 with David Ritz

Energy Follows Thought: The Stories Behind My Songs, HarperCollins, 2023 with Mickey Raphael and David Ritz

List of celebrities who own cannabis businesses

List of Country Music Hall of Fame inductees

List of country music performers

Music of Austin, Texas

The Encyclopedia of Country Music, ed. Paul Kingsbury, pp. 374–76 "Willie Nelson", Bob Allen, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Nelson, Susie (1987). Hear Worn Memories: a Daughter's Personal Biography of Willie Nelson. First ed. Eakin Press.  0-89015-608-5.

ISBN

Official website

at AllMusic

Willie Nelson

at IMDb

Willie Nelson

from Texas Archive of the Moving Image.

Willie Nelson Interview with reporter Jim Ruddy about "A Horse Called Music" in 1989

1989 from Texas Archive of the Moving Image

Willie Nelson performs with Dallas Symphony Orchestra