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May 26, 2024 · Willie Nelson, American songwriter and guitarist who was one of the most popular country music singers of the late 20th century. He was known for his relaxed behind-the-beat singing style and his gut-string guitar. Nelson was a founder of the outlaw movement in country music. Learn more about his life and career.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Willie Nelson. Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country singer, guitarist and songwriter. He was one of the main figures of 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 ...
Feb 22, 2015 · Snopes.com debunks the false reports of Willie Nelson's death that circulated on social media in 2015. The country music legend is alive and well, and released a song called \"Still Not Dead\" to mock the rumors.
- Who Is Willie Nelson?
- Early Life
- Air Force
- Early Songs: "Night Life," "Crazy," "Hello Walls"
- Return to Texas
- 'Shotgun Willie' and 'Phases and Stages'
- Rise of The 'Red-Headed Stranger'
- Grammys For 'mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up' and 'Georgia on My Mind'
- Films and "On The Road Again"
- "Always on My Mind" and "To All The Girls I've Loved Before"
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Country singer and songwriter Willie Nelson rose to prominence at the end of the 1960s and contributed to the "outlaw country" subgenre, which challenged the music industry conservatism of Nashville at the time. During his lengthy, award-winning career, he has written some of the most popular and memorable country songs of all time, many of which h...
Nelson was born on April 29, 1933, in Abbott, Texas. The son of Myrle and Ira D. Nelson, Willie and his older sister, Bobbie, were raised by their paternal grandparents during the Great Depression. With their grandparents, Willie and Bobbie attended their town’s small Methodist church, where they received their earliest exposure to music. Their lov...
After graduating from Abbott High School in 1950, Nelson enlisted in the United States Air Force and first stationed at Lackland in San Antonio. The Korean Warwas raging but his military career was short-lived when persistent back problems from previous injuries led to a medical discharge nine months later. Unsure of where to turn next, Nelson brie...
Nelson moved around over the next few years, regularly playing gigs at local clubs and honing his songwriting craft. It was during this period that Nelson penned some of his finest early work, including "Night Life," "Crazy" and "Funny How Time Slips Away." In 1960, Nelson settled in the country music capital of Nashville, Tennessee, where he found...
By 1970 Nelson had set up home in Ridgetop, Tennessee, and that year his house burned down. During the blaze Nelson describes running inside and grabbing two guitar cases. “One contained [his guitar] Trigger and the other two pounds of primo Columbian pot,” he writes in It’s a Long Story. Nelson took the fire as a sign that things needed to change....
Back on his home turf, Nelson also resumed his recording efforts, but in his own style and on his own terms. Soon, that unique approach won the long-haired, bandanna-wearing performer a devoted following. Released in 1973, Shotgun Willie is considered by many to be one of his best albums, showcasing his abilities as a singer, storyteller and perfor...
However, with 1975’s Red-Headed Stranger, Nelson had his real first taste of success. Not only did the album reach No. 1 on the country charts, but it also crossed over to the pop Top 40. Among the highlights from the recording is the Fred Rose–penned number “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” which gave Nelson his first No. 1 country hit and earned hi...
Nelson would team up with Jennings again soon after to record the popular single "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys," which won the 1978 Grammy Award for best country vocal performance by a duo or group. Always interested in different music styles, Nelson recorded his own takes on American standards on Stardust(1978), and his cover ...
Riding high on his newfound musical successes, Nelson also brought his distinctive presence to the big screen. He first appeared in The Electric Horseman (1979) alongside Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, and the following year he starred in Honeysuckle Rose(1980), in which he played a veteran country musician performer torn between his wife (played b...
The 1980s brought continued musical success. Nelson’s ballad "Always on My Mind" won the Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance in 1982, and the album of the same name topped both the country and pop charts. Though Tougher Than Leather (1983), Without a Song (1984) and City of New Orleans (1984), did not prove to be crossover hits, all thr...
Willie Nelson is a country singer-songwriter who rose to fame in the 1960s and 1970s with hits like \"Crazy\" and \"On the Road Again.\" He is still alive and active in his 80s, despite his health issues and legal troubles.
- editor@biography.com
- Staff Editorial Team And Contributors
3 days ago · His best friend and drummer Paul English died in 2020, and his sister Bobbie Nelson passed two years later, followed this February by the death of singing buddy Toby Keith. Willie returns to the ...
Didn't mean to scare y'all with that one. This morning, the LIVING legend Willie Nelson announced his 75th solo studio album, The Border.Many news outlets, like ourselves, were eagerly typing the ...
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Aug 17, 2022 · Willie Nelson has a long history of tempting, and cheating, death. In 1969, when his home in Ridgetop, Tenn., caught fire, he raced into the burning house to save two prized possessions, his ...
