- Ricky Trivia: Ricky Nelson's birth name was Eric Hilliard Nelson.
- Ricky Trivia: Nelson's father was a famous bandleader and his mother a singer and actress who had been famous since the early '30s.
- Ricky Trivia: In 1949, Rick and his older brother David began playing themselves on their parents' popular radio comedy series,...
- ... The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, which went to TV three years later.
- Ricky Trivia: Life magazine coined the phrase "teen idol" to describe the unprecedented hullabaloo surrounding Nelson’s popularity.
- Ricky Trivia: He was the ex-brother-in-law of Mark Harmon and Kelly Harmon.
- Ricky Trivia: Many consider the film made for Travelin’ Man, which features Nelson over a montage of the countries mentioned in his song, to be the first conceptual music video—decades before MTV...
- ... It aired during an episode of The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet.
- Ricky Trivia: The Nelson clan is in the Guinness World Records as the only family in show business with three successive generations of No. 1 hit makers. Ozzie went No. 1 in 1934 with the big band number ...
- ... "And Then Some." Ricky reached the top of the charts with "Poor Little Fool" and "Travelin’ Man.". ...
- ... Ricky’s twin sons Matthew and Gunnar, went to the top with "(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection.".
- Ricky Trivia: He provided a voiceover for the 1970 Academy Award-winning short film The Resurrection of Broncho Billy, which starred his wife, Kristin, and Johnny Crawford, who played son Mark on TV’s The Rifleman.
- Ricky Trivia: When a date went all ga-ga over the croonings of Elvis Presley, causing Nelson to claim that he, too, sang rock and roll. To prove it, he went to a recording studio ....
- ... and cut a cover of Fats Domino’s "I’m Walkin’". The song sold two million copies the week he performed it on The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet.
- Ricky Trivia: All wannabe rock and roll stars should definitely have long-time music celebrities and movie/TV stars for parents!
- Ricky Trivia: Despite his numerous chart successes, Nelson never appeared on American Bandstand.
- Ricky Trivia: The song "Garden Party" was based on the true story of Nelson’s playing at Madison Square Garden, where he was booed off stage at a ’50s revival because he showed up with long hair and wearing bell-bottom pants,...
- ... performing a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Woman" instead of his own hits. Just shows to go ya, KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE!
- Ricky Trivia: "Garden Party" reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the fall of 1972; it was Nelson's last top 40 hit on the pop charts.
- Ricky Trivia: He was the first artist to have a No. 1 song ("Poor Little Fool"), No. 1 TV show (The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet) and No. 1 movie (Rio Bravo) all in the same week.
- Ricky Trivia: He was also nominated for a Golden Globe for his appearance in Rio Bravo.
- Ricky Trivia: He was ranked #2 in TV Guide's list of "TV's 25 Greatest Teen Idols" (23 January 2005 issue).
- Ricky Trivia: He died on Dec. 31, 1985, along with his fiancé and five of his band members, en route to a New Year's Eve show in Dallas, Texas, in the crash of his private DC-3 propeller aircraft, which once belonged to Jerry Lee Lewis.
- Ricky Trivia: He was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall Fame in 1987.
- Ricky Trivia: Ever since his death in a private plane crash on New Year's Eve, 1985, it has been speculated that the fire that caused the crash was the result of drug use - supposedly freebasing cocaine - either by Nelson himself or by one of his crew...
- ... This theory has since been discredited by, among other sources, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board in their official report on the crash...
- ... Their evidence shows that the cause originally given for the crash (an on-board heater short-circuiting and catching fire) is the correct one.
