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William Hugh "Willie" Nelson (born April 30, 1933) is an American entertainer and songwriter, born in Abbott, Texas and raised in Fort Worth. He reached his greatest fame during the outlaw country movement of the 1970s.

Biographical details

Beginnings

Nelson and his sister, Roberta Nelson, were raised by their grandparents after their father died and their mother ran away. His Grandparents gave him mail order music lessons starting at age six. Willie played the guitar, while Bobbie played the piano. She met Bud Fletcher, a fiddler, and both siblings joined his band Bohemian Fiddlers while Willie was in high school.

After graduation, Nelson joined the Air Force, but left due to back problems. He also attended Baylor University for one year. Eventually, he became a DJ at a country radio station in Fort Worth, Texas, while singing locally in honky tonk bars. In 1956, Nelson moved to Vancouver, Washington to begin a musical career by recording "Lumberjack" by Leon Payne. The single sold respectably but did not establish a career. Nelson continued to DJ and sing in clubs, and sold a song called "Family Bible" for fifty dollars; the song was a hit for Claude Gray in 1960, has been covered widely, and is often considered a gospel music classic.

Popular songwriter

Nelson moved to Nashville, Tennessee but was unable to land a record label contract. He did, however, receive a publishing contract at Pamper Music. After Ray Price recorded Nelson's "Night Life" (reputedly the most covered country song of all time), Nelson joined Price's touring band as a bassist. While playing with Ray Price & the Cherokee Cowboys, many of Nelson's songs became hits. "Funny How Time Slips Away" (Billy Walker), "Hello Walls" (Faron Young), "Pretty Paper" (Roy Orbison) and, most famously, "Crazy" (Patsy Cline) became popular songs in the 1960s. Nelson signed with Liberty Records in 1961 and released several singles, including the hits "Willingly" (with his wife, Shirley Collie) and "Touch Me". He was unable to keep his momentum going, though, and Nelson's career ground to a halt. Demo recordings from his years as a songwriter for Pamper Music were later discovered and released as Crazy: The Demo Sessions (2003). His personal life during this period was also colorful, to say the least. His alcoholism, failed day jobs, and penchant for carrying guns got him in trouble with the law and his wife a number of times.

Austin

In 1965, Nelson moved to RCA Records and joined the Grand Ole Opry, followed by a series of minor hits. Frustrated with the music business which tried to force him into a mold, Nelson retired and moved to Austin, Texas. While in Austin, with its burgeoning hippie music scene (see Armadillo World Headquarters), Nelson decided to return to music. His popularity in Austin soared, as he played his own brand of country music marked by rock and roll, jazz, western swing, and folk influences. A lifelong passion for running and a new commitment to his own health also began during this period.

Outlaw country

Signing with Atlantic Records, Nelson released Shotgun Willie (1973), which won excellent reviews but did not sell well. Phases and Stages (1974), a concept album inspired by his divorce, included two hit singles, "Bloody Mary Morning" and "After the Fire is Gone". Nelson then moved to Columbia Records, where he was given complete creative control over his work. The result was the critically acclaimed, massively popular concept album, Red Headed Stranger (1975). Though Columbia was reluctant to release an album with mostly just a guitar and piano for accompaniment, Nelson (with the assistance of Waylon Jennings) insisted and the album was a huge hit, partially because it included a popular cover of "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" (Rose 1945).

Along with Nelson, Waylon Jennings was also achieving massive success in country music in the early 1970s, and the pair were soon combined into a genre called outlaw country ("outlaw" because it did not conform to Nashville standards). Nelson's outlaw image was cemented with the release of Wanted: The Outlaws! (1976 with Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser), country music's first platinum album. Nelson continued to top the charts with hit songs during the late 1970s, including "Good Hearted Woman" (a duet with Jennings), "Remember Me", "If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time", "Uncloudy Day", "I Love You a Thousand Ways" and "Something to Brag About" (a duet with Mary Kay Place). In 1978, Nelson released two more platinum albums, Waylon and Willie (a collaboration with Jennings that included one of Waylon's signature songs, "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys") and Stardust, an unusual, string-based album of pop songs produced by Booker T. Jones. Though most observers predicted that Stardust would ruin his career, it ended up being one of his most successful LPs.

Acting career

Nelson began acting, appearing in The Electric Horseman (1979), Honeysuckle Rose (1980), Barbarosa (1982), Red-Headed Stranger (1986, with Morgan Fairchild), Wag the Dog (1997), Gone Fishin (1997) as Billy 'Catch' Pooler, and the 1986 TV movie Stagecoach (with Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson, all of whom would form a band with Nelson called The Highwaymen). He has continued acting since his early successes, but usually in smaller roles and cameos, such as Half Baked as the "Historian Smoker" who would recall about how things used to be as a child while smoking marijuana. He has made guest appearances on Miami Vice, Delta, Nash Bridges, The Simpsons, Monk and King of the Hill. He played Uncle Jesse in The Dukes of Hazzard, the 2005 cinematic remake of the television series, and will reprise the role in the upcoming sequel Return of the General Lee (2007).

Hits, excesses, and Farm Aid

The eighties saw a series of hit singles: "Always on my Mind" (originally made popular by Elvis Presley), "On the Road Again" from the movie Honeysuckle Rose, and "To All the Girls I've Loved Before" (a duet with Julio Iglesias). There were also more popular albums, including Pancho and Lefty (1982, with Merle Haggard), WWII (1982, with Waylon Jennings) and Take it to the Limit (1983, with Waylon Jennings).

In the mid 1980s, Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash formed a group called The Highwaymen. In spite of their unexpectedly massive successes, including platinum record sales and worldwide touring, Nelson's popularity declined dramatically. He became more and more involved in charity work, such as establishing the Farm Aid concerts in 1985. He also became known for his financial excesses, including a private jet, his own small town, a palatial estate, and a private golf course.

In 1990, the IRS gave Nelson a bill for $16.7 million in back taxes and took away most of his assets to help pay the charges. He released The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories? as a double album, with all profits going straight to the IRS. Many of his assets were auctioned and purchased by friends, who gave his possessions back to him or rented them at a nominal fee. His debts were paid by 1993.

In 1996, Willie Nelson was featured on the Beach Boys' now out-of-print album "Stars and Stripes Vol. 1" singing a cover of their 1964 song "The Warmth of the Sun" with the Beach Boys themselves providing the harmonies and backing vocals.

Hard-drivin' American troubadour

He released Across the Borderline in 1993, with guests Bob Dylan, Sinéad O'Connor, David Crosby, Bonnie Raitt, Kris Kristofferson and Paul Simon.

During the 1990s and 2000s, Nelson has toured continuously and released albums that generally received mixed reviews, with the exception of 1998's critically acclaimed Teatro (which was produced by Daniel Lanois -- more commonly known for his work with U2 — and featured supporting vocals by Emmylou Harris). Later that year, he joined legendary rock band Phish onstage for several songs as part of the annual Farm Aid festival.

Nelson received Kennedy Center Honors in 1998. A star-studded television special celebrating his 70th birthday aired in 2003. In 2004, he released Outlaws & Angels, featuring guests Toby Keith, Joe Walsh, Merle Haggard, Kid Rock, Al Green, Shelby Lynne, Carole King, Toots Hibbert, Ben Harper, Lee Ann Womack, The Holmes Brothers, Los Lonely Boys, Lucinda Williams, Keith Richards, Jerry Lee Lewis and Rickie Lee Jones.

Environmental and Social endeavors

In 2005, Nelson, and two other business partners formed Willie Nelson's Biodiesel (also known as BioWillie), a company that is marketing Biodiesel biofuel to truck stops. The fuel is made from vegetable oils, mainly soybeans, and can be burned without modification in diesel engines *.

Willie also sits as co-chair on the NORML advisory board, which include such names as Bill Maher, Mark Stepnoski, Daniel Stern, Lester Grinspoon, M.D. from the Harvard Medical School, and Sheriff Bill Masters of Telluride, CO. He has been working with the organization for many years in an attempt to 'normalize' the use of cannabis. In 2005, Willie and his family hosted the first annual Willie Nelson & NORML Benefit Golf Tournament and will appear on the cover of High Times Magazine.

On January 9, 2005, Nelson headlined an all-star concert at Austin Music Hall, to benefit the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake. Tsunami Relief Austin to Asia raised an estimated $120,000 for UNICEF and two other organizations.

Nelson is an honorary trustee of the Dayton International Peace Museum *

Popular image

Willie Nelson is widely recognized as an American icon. His distinctive music sometimes takes a backseat to his public image, that of a marijuana smoking old hippie troubadour. His image is marked by his red hair, often braided into two ponytails and partially concealed under a bandana. He has been featured in recent advertisements for a variety of products and companies, including The Gap.

During the controversial 2003 Texas Congressional Redistricting, Nelson made the news by sending a case of whiskey to the Democrats of the Texas Legislature in self-imposed exile in Ardmore, Oklahoma. An attached note read "Stand your ground." In 2005 a Democratic representative in Texas' legislature attempted to name part of a highway after Nelson, but after opposition from Willie, who did not want his name associated with the controversial toll road, and from some Republican lawmakers (who claimed Nelson did not warrant mention since he had nothing to do with the creation of the highway), the representative dropped his plan.

Willie Nelson performed a duet on "Beer for my Horses" with Toby Keith on Keith's Unleashed album released in 2002. This song was released as a single in 2003 and Nelson shot a video with Keith in 2003. It won an award for "Best Video" at the Academy of Country Music Awards held on May 26, 2004.

In 2002, Nelson signed a deal to become the official spokesperson to the Texas Roadhouse, a fast-growing chain of steakhouses in the U.S. Since then, Nelson has heavily promoted the chain (including on a special on Food Network). Meanwhile the Texas Roadhouse itself installed "Willie's Corner" at several locations, which are a section dedicated to Nelson and decked out with memorabilia of Nelson.

No stranger to controversy, he released the Tex-Mex-style "Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other", a song about gay cowboys, as a digital single through the iTunes Music Store on Valentine's Day 2006, shortly after the relase of the film Brokeback Mountain. He deadpans his way through the song, with such phrases as "What did you think all them saddles and boots was about?" and "Inside every cowboy there's a lady who'd love to slip out." The song was written and first recorded more than twenty years previously by musicologist/songwriter Ned Sublette, and had also been covered, prior to Nelson's version, by queercore band Pansy Division.

In 2006, Julio Iglesias recorded Willie's hit "Always on my mind" for Iglesias' upcoming "Romantic Classics" album, due out September 19, 2006. This song was recorded 20 years after Julio and Willie teamed up for "To All The Girls I've Loved Before."

The Willie Nelson family

Nelson's touring and recording group is a collection of a number of long-standing members, including his sister Bobbie Nelson, longtime drummer Paul English, harmonicist Mickey Raphael, Bee Spears, and Jody Payne. They tour North America in their bus, the "Honeysuckle Rose II".

Nelson's principal guitar is a Martin N-20 nylon-string acoustic, which he has named "Trigger", after Roy Rogers' horse. Constant strumming over the decades has worn a large sweeping hole into the guitar's body near the sound hole. Its soundboard has been signed over the years by over a hundred of Nelson's friends and associates, from fellow musicians to lawyers and football coaches.

Selected works

Albums

Nelson has released dozens of albums under a number of different labels; these are some of his most notable accomplishments. Bolded albums reached #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.

† — In addition to topping the country chart, Always On My Mind also reached #2 on the Billboard's Top Pop Album chart, a rare accomplishment for a country album in the early 1980s.

with The Highwaymen (Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson)

with Waylon Jennings

  • Waylon and Willie (RCA, 1978)
  • WWII (RCA, 1982)
  • Take It To The Limit (1983)
  • Clean Shirt (1991)
  • Waylon And Willie Super Hits (RCA, 1999)

Songs

Gospel songs
  • "Amazing Grace"
  • "Tell It to Jesus"
  • "Family Bible" (1960)
  • "Uncloudy Day"

Movies

  • The Electric Horseman (1979)
  • Honeysuckle Rose (1980)
  • Thief (1981)
  • Barbarosa (1982)
  • Songwriter (1984)
  • Red-Headed Stranger (1986)
  • Stagecoach (1986)
  • Once Upon a Texas Train (1988)
  • Wag the Dog (1997)
  • Half Baked (1998)
  • Austin Powers : The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
  • The Dukes of Hazzard (2005)
  • Angles In Montgomery (2006)
  • Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning (2007, straight-to-video)
  • Willie also narrates the little known documentary the Austin Flood which is based on a flood in Potter County, Pennsylvania in which one of his ancestors was a local hero

Books

  • Willie: An Autobiography (1988), with Bud Shrake, ISBN 0-815-41080-8
  • The Facts of Life and Other Dirty Jokes (2002) ISBN 0-375-50731-0
  • The Tao of Willie (2006), with Turk Pipkin, ISBN 1-592-40197-X

See also

External links

1933 births | Living people | American country singers | American guitarists | American male singers | American songwriters | People from Austin, Texas | Texas musicians | Country musicians | Musical activists | People from Texas | Tau Kappa Epsilon brothers | Miami Vice actors | Fort Worthians | Nashvillians

Willie Nelson | Willie Nelson | Willie Nelson | Willie Nelson | Willie Nelson | Willie Nelson | Willie Nelson | Willie Nelson | Willie Nelson | Willie Nelson

 

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