Ricky Nelson is a part of American culture. In the 50’s he started as a child actor and singer on his family’s radio and tv series “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.”
He began a long and successful career as a singer and an actor. He was one of the first “teen idols” of the fifties, which led him to co-star in the motion picture “Rio Bravo” with John Wayne and Dean Martin in 1959.
He recorded hits throughout the ’50s like “Poor Little Fool,” “I’m Walking,” and “Be-Bop Baby.” In the 60’s “Travelin Man,” “Hello Mary Lou,” and “Teenage Idol.”
Ricky drops the Y and becomes Rick
On his 21st birthday, he dropped the “y” and became Rick Nelson. In 1963 Nelson married Kris Harmon, sister to actor Mark Harmon.
The couple later divorced in 1977. They had four children Tracy who starred in the CBS TV series Square Pegs, twin sons Matthew and Gunnar, who was part of the musical duo Nelson in the ’90s, and a son Sam.
Ricky Nelson’s last big hit was in 1972 with “Garden Party.”
So what’s the story behind “Garden Party”?
Ricky Nelson’s career slowed down from 1964 to 1970 because of Beatlemania. He was still recording Throughout the ’60s, but no big hits. On Oct. 15, 1971, he performed at the “Rock And Roll Spectacular” concert at Madison Square Garden in New York with fellow 50’s stars Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, and Bobby Rydell
He walked out on stage with long hair and dressed like a 70’s hippie, a different image from the black and white 50’s Ricky Nelson.
He sang his classic hits they came to hear. But when he performed a newer song, “Honky Tonk Women,” which had been a hit a couple of years earlier by The Rolling Stones, the audience turned on him and booed.
He finished the show and was deeply hurt. In a 1983 interview with Tom Schneider, Nelson said the audience booed him. He said he heard different stories about the incident, including the police arresting a drunk man.
Matthew Nelson, Ricky’s son, has said the police’s story is a counter rumor from the people at the concert because of guilt. He says there could be some truth to both stories; for example, if the police were arresting someone for being drunk, 30 or 40 people may have booed, but everyone in the arena was booing.
An Oldies show they came to hear the 50’s black and white Ricky Nelson do all of his old hits. Instead, they got some Dylan and the Stones mixed with the oldies. The incident that night was the inspiration for “Garden Party.”
Who was Mr.Hughes in the song?
The song’s defining lyrics are “Mr. Hughes hid in Dylan’s shoes wearing his disguise.” This is about George Harrison. Harrison and Nelson were friends, and when Harrison traveled, “Mr. Hughes was an alias.”. Harrison and Nelson had talked about recording an album of Dylan covers. That never happened.
Other lines from the song :
I said hello to Mary Lou, she belongs to me
And when I sang a song about a Honky Tonk, it was time to leave
“Hello To Mary Lou” is one of Nelson’s biggest hits from 1961.” She Belongs To Me,” another Nelson song that was a modest hit from 1969, and the song that got him booed off the stage “Honky Tonk Women.”
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The lines from the song that describe how he felt at the time were
“But If memories were all I sing, I rather drive a truck.”
And ‘You can’t please everyone, so you gotta please yourself.”
Garden Party becomes a hit !
“Garden Party” climbed to number 6 on the Billboard Top Pop Singles charts in 1972. His backing band was The Stone Canyon band, with a future member of The Eagles, Randy Meisner.
Rick puts the “y” back in his name
Rick Nelson put the” y” back in his name and became “Ricky” again in 1985 when he began a comeback tour with Fats Domino singing the songs that made him famous.
On December 31, 1985, Nelson traveled from Guntersville, Alabama, to Dallas, Texas, for a concert when his plane crashed, killing him and six others, including his girlfriend, Helen Blair. The only survivors were the two pilots.
In 1987 Ricky Nelson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame