Willie Nelson

American singer and guitarist

Date of Birth	:	29 Apr, 1933
Place of Birth	:	Abbott, Texas, United States
Profession	:	American Singer And Guitarist
Nationality	:	American
Social Profiles	:	Facebook Twitter Instagram

Willie Hugh Nelson is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter. He was a key figure in 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 recognizable artists in country music. Nelson has acted in more than 30 films, co-authored several books, and is involved in activism for the use of biofuels and the legalization of marijuana.

Nelson wrote his first song at age seven and joined his first band at age ten. During high school, he toured locally with Bohemian Polka as their lead singer and guitarist. After graduating from high school in 1950, he joined the US Air Force but was later discharged due to back problems. After his return, Nelson attended Baylor University for two years but dropped out due to his success in music. He worked as a disc jockey at a radio station in his native Texas and at several radio stations in the Pacific Northwest, while also working as a singer and songwriter in the late 1950s. During that time, he wrote songs that would become country standards, including "Funny How Time Sleeps Away", "Hello Walls", "Pretty Paper", and "Crazy". In 1960 he moved to Nashville, Tennessee and later signed a publishing deal 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. Because of this success, Nelson signed with RCA Victor in 1964 and joined the Grand Ole Opry the following year. After middling chart hits in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Nelson grew tired of the corporate Nashville music scene and moved to Austin, Texas in 1972. Austin's thriving music scene inspired Nelson to return to performing, often appearing at Armadillo World Headquarters.

In 1973, after signing with Atlantic Records, Nelson became outlaw country with 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 illegal country album, Wanted! Outlaws with Waylon Jennings, Jesse Colter and Tompal Glaser. In the mid-1980s, while producing hit albums such as Honeysuckle Rose and recording hits such as "On the Road Again", "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", and "Pancho and Lefty", he was a country Join the super group. Highwayman, with co-stars Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson. In 1985, he helped organize the first Farm Aid Concert to benefit American farmers; Since then the concerts have been held annually and Nelson has been a fixture, appearing at every one.

In 1990, Nelson's assets were seized by the Internal Revenue Service, which claimed he owed $32 million. Poor investments he made in the 1980s compounded his difficulties in repaying his outstanding debts. In 1992, Nelson published The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories?; The double album's profits—dedicated to the IRS—and auction of Nelson's assets paid off his debt. In the 1990s and 2000s, Nelson continued to tour extensively and release albums every year. Reviews range from positive to mixed. He explored genres such as reggae, blues, jazz and folk.

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

Early life

Nelson was born on April 29, 1933 in Abbott, Texas, the son of Ira Doyle Nelson and Marley Marie (née Greenhaw). Dr. F. D. Sims incorrectly wrote his birthday as April 30. He was named Willie by his cousin Mildred, who chose Hugh as his middle name in honor of her recently deceased younger brother. Nelson traces his lineage to the American Revolutionary War, where his ancestor John Nelson served as a major. His parents moved from Arkansas to Texas in 1929 in search of work. His grandfather William worked as a blacksmith and his father worked as a mechanic. His mother left shortly after his birth, and his father remarried and moved away, leaving Nelson and his sister Bobbie to be raised by their grandparents, who taught music in Arkansas and introduced their grandchildren to music. Do it. do Nelson's grandfather bought him a guitar when he was six years old and taught him a few chords, and Nelson sang gospel with Bobby at a local church. He wrote his first song at the age of seven, and by the time he was nine, he was playing guitar in a local band, Bohemian Polka. During the summer, the family picked cotton with other Abbott residents. Nelson hated picking cotton, so from the age of 13 he earned money by singing in dance halls, taverns and honky tonks, which he continued through high school. His musical influences were Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, Bob Wills, Lefty Frizzell, Ray Price, Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow, Django Reinhardt, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong.

Nelson attended Abbott High School, where he was a halfback on the football team, guard on the basketball team and shortstop in baseball. He raised pigs with America's future farmers. While in school, she sang and played guitar in The Texans, a band formed by her sister's husband, Bud Fletcher. The band played in honky-tonks and had a Sunday morning spot on KHBR in Hillsboro, Texas. Meanwhile, Nelson Abbott worked briefly as a relief phone operator, then worked as a tree trimmer for a local electric company, as well as a pawn shop employee. After leaving school in 1950, he joined the US Air Force; Because he worked for nine months before being medically discharged due to back problems. Upon his return in 1952, he married Martha Matthews and studied agriculture at Baylor University from 1954 to 1956, where he joined the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity until he dropped out to pursue a career in music. He also worked as a nightclub bouncer, autohouse partsman, saddle maker and tree trimmer. He later joined Johnny Bush's band.

Music career

Beginnings (1956-1971)

Nelson was hired by KVAN in Vancouver, Washington and was a frequent guest on a television show. He made his first record in 1956, "No Place for Me", which included Leon Penn's "Lumberjack" on the B-side. Recording failed. Nelson continued to work as a radio announcer and sang in Vancouver clubs. He made several appearances in Colorado nightclubs, later moving to Springfield, Missouri. After failing to land a spot at the Ozark Jubilee, he started working as a dishwasher. Dissatisfied with his job, he returned to Texas. After a short time in Waco, he settled in Fort Worth and left the music business for a year. He sold Bibles and vacuum cleaners door to door.

After the birth of her son Billy in 1958, the family moved to Houston, Texas. Along the way, Nelson stopped at the Esquire Ballroom to sell his original song to house band singer Larry Butler. Butler refused to buy the song "Mr. Record Man" for $10, instead lending Nelson $50 to rent an apartment and work six nights singing in clubs. Nelson rented an apartment near Houston in Pasadena, Texas, where he worked at a radio station as a sign-on disc jockey. During this time, he recorded two singles for Pappy Daily on Dee Records "Man With the Blues"/"The Storm Has Just Begun" and "What a Way to Live"/"Misery Mansion". Nelson was then hired by guitar instructor Paul Buskirk as an instructor at his school. He sold "Family Bible" to Buskirk for $50 and "Night Life" for $150. "Family Bible" became a hit for Claude Gray in the 1960s.