- 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.
