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The Indispensable

Ricky Nelson

1957-1962

By Olivier Julien

With his angelic looks and clean-cut image, Ricky Nelson stood far from the usual rock ’n’ roll clichés. He was first known for playing himself in one of the most popular American family television series, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, alongside his brother David and his parents, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson. He thus grew up before the eyes of viewers, who witnessed his first steps in music all the way to his marriage; this exposure quickly allowed him to become one of the biggest singing stars of the late 1950s in the United States. A natural-born actor, Ricky Nelson would neglect this innate gift in favor of music, although he remains in many minds as the spirited Colorado in Howard Hawks’s legendary Rio Bravo, alongside John Wayne and Dean Martin.

Ricky Nelson was a child of show business. His father, Ozzie Nelson, was a dance bandleader, and his mother, Harriet Hilliard, had been an actress, singer, and dancer since childhood. Married in 1935, they created their own radio show in 1944, depicting their daily lives as young parents, with an audience that peaked at nearly twenty million listeners. They had two sons: Eric, known as Ricky, born May 8, 1940, in Teaneck, New Jersey, and David, four years his senior. The boys only joined their parents’ show in the late 1940s; until then, their roles had been played by professional actors. In 1952, audiences discovered the real faces of the family members on the big screen alongside Rock Hudson in Here Come the Nelsons, directed by Frederick de Cordova. The film served as a kind of pilot for what would become the television show The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, which entered American homes equipped with the first TV sets on October 3, 1952. The personalities of the two brothers were already well defined: Ricky was the rebellious, mischievous, and more humorous of the pair, while David was more conventional and controlled. At the time, the overlap between fiction and reality was such that the show’s house was modeled on the Nelsons’ real home in Hollywood. Even the marriages of Dave and Ricky became part of the storyline.

Annoyed that his girlfriend only had eyes for Elvis Presley, Ricky—who dreamed of surpassing Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis—set himself the challenge of matching him by performing his own version of Fats Domino’s I’m Walkin’, which he sang live on April 10, 1957, in an episode titled Ricky the Drummer. He then entered the studio and recorded the track for the Verve label; released in April 1957, it reached number 17 on the U.S. charts, while its B-side, A Teenager’s Romance, climbed to number 2, selling one million copies. A third single, You’re My One and Only Love, also charted, reaching number 18. Ricky then took advantage of the show’s summer hiatus to gain stage experience, performing at fairs in Ohio and Wisconsin. Following disputes over royalties, his records were subsequently released on the Imperial label until 1963, when he moved to Decca.

His first Imperial single appeared in August 1957, featuring Be-Bop Baby / Have I Told You Lately That I Love You, both later re-recorded for his debut album, simply titled Ricky, released in November 1957 and comprising twelve tracks. It reached the top of the charts.

In the summer of 1957, he decided to form his own band with musicians his own age: James Burton on electric guitar, bassist James Kirkland, drummer Richie Frost, and pianist Gene Garf. Their first recording was Believe What You Say; prior to this, Joe Maphis had played guitar on his early hits. Stood Up, released in December, reached number 2 on the charts, while its B-side, Waitin’ in School, climbed to number 18.

Following these successes, Ricky’s role in the television series grew, and he began performing a song every three or four episodes. It was not until 1959 that he achieved his first number one hit with Poor Little Fool, from his second album Ricky Nelson. At the height of his popularity that same year, he played the naïve Colorado in Howard Hawks’s western Rio Bravo, alongside John Wayne, Angie Dickinson, and Dean Martin, earning a Golden Globe nomination for Most Promising New Male Newcomer. The following year, he starred with Jack Lemmon in The Wackiest Ship in the Army, which met with more modest success.

Ozzie then had the idea of promoting his son’s songs by combining footage from the show with archival images, effectively creating a precursor to the modern music video; the most notable example is the video for Travelin’ Man, easily found online. The program allowed Ricky to promote each new record release. Over the years, the popularity of the series and the singer’s success fed into one another, to the point that his decline can be dated to the end of Ozzie and Harriet in 1966.

By 1962, at the age of twenty-two, Ricky Nelson was a record industry magnate, with thirty-five million copies sold and seventeen songs placed in the Top 10. At the time, he earned $400,000 a year, and Life magazine featured him on its cover, coining for him the term teen idol, which inspired the song Teen Age Idol. His shyness and boyish looks proved a disadvantage compared to the provocative sensuality of Elvis Presley, who dominated the charts, even though between 1958 and 1959 Ricky placed twelve hits while Elvis had eleven. On April 20, 1963, he married Kristin Harmon, sister of actor Mark Harmon.

In 1965, he starred in Love and Kisses, a teenage love story set in a high school. A few supporting film roles and television appearances followed, but he chose to focus on his music career. He then shifted toward country rock and toured extensively across the United States. After recording mainly with studio musicians, Ricky formed the Stone Canyon Band in 1969 and enjoyed a comeback with the album In Concert at the Troubadour. He returned to the charts in 1972 with Garden Party, which reached number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. However, this comeback was short-lived; the buyout and restructuring of his record label led to poor promotion of his next four albums.

In the 1980s, he performed nearly two hundred concerts a year, but his final two albums failed to achieve success, and he was eventually dropped. After fourteen years of marriage, the couple separated, and he was financially devastated by the divorce. He died accidentally on New Year’s Eve 1985 in a plane crash in a field near DeKalb, Illinois.

Ricky Nelson favored rockabilly, and many rock tracks became chart hits: Believe What You Say (Hot 100 #4), I Got a Feeling (#10), My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It (#12), Hello Mary Lou (#9), It’s Late (#9), Stood Up (#2), Waitin’ in School (#18), Be-Bop Baby (#3), and Just a Little Too Much (#9). However, it was with ballads that he achieved his greatest successes: Travelin’ Man (#1), A Teenager’s Romance (#2), Poor Little Fool (#1), Young World (#5), Lonesome Town (#7), Never Be Anyone Else but You (#6), Sweeter Than You (#9), It’s Up to You (#6), and Teen Age Idol (#5).

Despite fifty-four songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and his chart achievements, Ricky Nelson never fully gained the recognition his popularity might have promised. When he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, he was the fourth best-selling singles artist of all time and had received twenty-four gold records in the United States, for a total of sixty million records sold.

Olivier Julien

© Frémeaux & Associés 2026

The Indispensable Ricky Nelson - Anthologie 1957-1962

Discography

CD1

1 - I’m Walkin’ (Dave Bartholomew)

2 - A teenager’s Romance
(David Stewart Gillam)

45 tours SP 17 cm Verve 10047 - 1957

3 - You’re my One and Only Love (Barney Kessel / Jack Marshall)

45 tours SP 17 cm Verve 10070 - 1957

4 - Honeycomb (Bob Merrill)

45 tours SP 17 cm Imperial IMP-153 - 1957

5 - Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On (Sunny David / Dave Williams)

45 tours EP 17 cm Imperial IMP-154 - 1957

6 - Am I Blue (Harry Akst/ Grant Clarke)

7 - Your True Love (Carl Perkins)

45 tours SP 17 cm Imperial IMP-155 - 1957

8 - Have I Told you Lately That I Love You (single version) (Scott Wiseman)

9 - Be-bop Baby (single version)
(Pearl Lendhurst)

45 tours SP 17 cm Imperial 5463 - 1957

10 - Stood Up (Dub Dickerson / Erma Herrold)

11 - Waitin’ in School (Dorsey Burnette /
Johnny Burnette)

45 tours SP 17 cm Imperial 5483 - 1957

12 - My Bucket’s got a Hole in it
(Clarence Williams)

13 - Believe What You Say (Dorsey Burnette / Johnny Burnette)

45 tours SP 17 cm Imperial 5503 - 1958

14 - True Love (Cole Porter)

45 tours SP 17 cm Imperial IMP-155 - 1957

15 - Unchained Melody (Alex North / Hy Zaret)

16 - I’ll Walk Alone (Sammy Cahn / Jule Styne)

17 - There Goes my Baby (James Burton,
James Kirkland)

45 tours EP 17 cm Imperial IMP-158 - 1957

18 - Poor Little Fool (Sharon Sheeley)

19 - Don’t Leave Me this Way (Rick Nelson)

45 tours SP 17 cm Imperial 5528 - 1958

20 - Someday (You’ll Want Me to Want You) (Jimmie Hodges)

33 tours 30 cm Imperial LP 9050 - 1958

21 - Down The Line (Roy Orbison)

45 tours SP 17 cm Imperial IMP-157 - 1958

22 - Lonesome Town (Thomas Baker Knight)

23 - I got a Feelin (Thomas Baker Knight)

45 tours SP 17 cm Imperial 5545 - 1958

24 - It’s All In the Game (Carl Sigman /
Charles Dawes)

25 - Restless Kid (Johnny Cash)

45 tours SP 30 cm Imperial LP 9061 - 1959

26 - It’s Late (Dorsey Burnette)

27 - Never Be Anyone Else but You
(Thomas Baker Knight)

45 tours SP 17 cm Imperial 5565 - 1959

28- I’ll Walk Alone (Jule Styne / Sammy Cahn)

33 tours 30 cm Imperial LP 9050 - 1958

29 - One of These Mornings (Dorsey Burnette)

33 tours 30 cm Imperial LP-9061 - 1959

30 - Be True to Me (Nat Stuckey /
Mike James Kirkland)

33 tours 30 cm ImperialLP-9048 - 1957

31 - One Minute to One (Baker Knight)

32 - Blood From a Stone (Johnny Bachelor / Rupert Stephens)

33 - Half Breed (John D. Loudermilk)

45 tours EP 17 cm Imperial IMP-163 - 1959

CD2

1 - I Can’t Help It (Hank Williams)

2 - You Tear Me Up (Baker Knight)

33 tours 30 cm Imperial LP 9061 - 1959

3 - A Long Vacation (Dorsey Burnette)

4 - That’s All (Alan Brandt / Bob Haymes)

33 tours 30 cm Imperial LP-9082 - 1959

5 - So Long (Don Nelson)

6 - You’ll Never Know What You’re Missin’ (Baker Knight)

7 - You’re So Fine (Johnny Burnette)

45 tours EP 17 cm Imperial IMP-162 - 1959

8 - Just a Little Too Much (Johnny Burnette)

9 - Sweeter than you (Baker Knight)

45 tours SP 17 cm Imperial 5595 - 1959

10 - I Wanna Be Loved (Baker Knight)

11 - Mighty good (Baker Knight)

45 tours SP 17 cm Imperial 5614 - 1959

12 - Young Emotions (Jay Livingston /
Mark David)

13 - Right by My Side (Baker Knight)

45 tours SP 17 cm Imperial 5663 - 1960

14 - I’m not Afraid (Felice Bryant)

15 - Yes Sir, That’s my Baby (Gus Kahn /
Walter Donaldson)

45 tours SP 17 cm Imperial 5685 - 1960

16 - You Are the Only One (Baker Knight)

17 - Milk Cow Blues (Kokomo Arnold)

45 tours SP 17 cm Imperial 5707 - 1960

18 - Travelin’ man (Jerry Fuller)

19 - Hello Mary Lou (Gene Pitney /
Cayet Mangiaracina)

45 tours SP 17 cm Imperial 5741 - 1961

20 - A Wonder Like You (Jerry Fuller)

21 - Everlovin’ (Dave Burgess)

45 tours SP 17 cm Imperial 5770 - 1962

22 - Young World (Jerry Fuller)

23 - Summertime (George Gershwin /
Ira Gershwin / DuBose Heyward)

45 tours SP 17 cm Imperial 5805 - 1962

24 - Today’s Teardrops (Gene Pitney,
Aaron Schroeder)

25 - Mad, mad world (Dorsey Burnette)

45 tours SP 17 cm Imperial IH 568 (EU) - 1962

26 - Teen Age Idol (Jack Lewis)

27 - I’ve Got my Eyes on You
(And I like what I see) (Dave Burgess)

45 tours SP 17 cm Imperial 5864 - 1962

28 - It’s Up to You (Jerry Fuller)

29 - I Need You (Baker Knight)

45 tours SP 17 cm Imperial 5901 - 1962

Bonus :

Ricky Sings Spirituals

30 - Glory Train (Baker Knight)

31 - I Bowed My Head in Shame (Baker Knight)

32 - If You Believe it (Ozzie Nelson)

33 - March With the Band of the Lord
(Ray Johnson)

45 tours EP 17 cm Imperial – IMP-165 - 1960