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Willie Nelson Biography

full name: Willie Hugh Nelson

(1933–)

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Albums
1966 Country Music Concert
1968 Texas In My Soul

1970 Laying My Burdens Down
1971 Yesterday's Wine
1972 Shotgun Willie
1972 Phases And Stages
1973 The Words Don't Fit The Picture
1975 Redheaded Stranger
1976 The Troublemaker
1976 The Sound In Your Mind
1977 To Lefty From Willie
1978 Willie And Family Live
1978 Stardust
1978 Waylon and Willie
1979 One For The Road
1979 Electric Horseman (film soundtrack)
1980 Honeysuckle Rose (soundtrack)
1981 Thief
1981 Somewhere Over The Rainbow
1982 Always On My Mind
1982 Barbarosa
1983 Take It To the Limit
1983 Tougher Than Leather
1983 Without A Song
1983 Poncho & Lefty (with Merle Haggard)
1984 Angel Eyes (with Jackie King)
1984 City of New Orleans
1985 Me And Paul
1985 Song-Writer
1985 Half Nelson (duets)
1986 The Promiseland
1987 Island In The Sea
1987 Seashores Of Old Mexico (with Haggard)
2004 It Will Always Be
2005 Countryman
2006 Songbird
2007 Last of a Breed
2008 Moment of Forever
Compilations
1985 Touch Me
1986 Once More With Feeling
1986 Good Hearted Woman
1987 One Step Beyond
1987 Country Willie
1987 Master Of Suspense
1994 Super Hits
1995 Super Hits, Volume 2
1998 16 Biggest Hits
2003 The Essential Willie Nelson
2007 16 Biggest Hits, Volume II
2008 One Hell of a Ride
2008 Playlist: The Very Best of Willie Nelson
2009 Naked Willie

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Singer, songwriter, actor, and philanthropist. Born on April 30, 1933, in Abbott, Texas. During his extensive career, Willie Nelson has written more than 2,500 songs and has released close to 300 albums. He is recognized worldwide as an American troubadour and icon, transcended musical genres, and has remained relevant through five decades through his music, his acting, and as the face of such social causes as Farm Aid, development of bio-diesel, and the legalization of Hemp.

The son of Myrle and Ira D. Nelson, Willie Nelson and his older sister Bobbie were raised by their paternal grandparents during The Great Depression. With their grandmother, Willie and Bobbie attended their town's small Methodist church where they were first exposed to music. "The first music we learned was from the hymnbooks. Willie had such a beautiful voice," his sister Bobbie told Texas Monthly in 2008. Both grandparents loved music and encouraged Willie and his sister to play. Nelson's famous gospel song "Family Bible" refects the influence of his musical beginnings. He sold the song for $50 to his guitar teacher.

Nelson got his first guitar at the early age of six and soon started writing his own songs. A few years later, he played his first professional gig with a local polka band. Nelson later joined Bud Fletcher and the Texans and played the local club circuit. Also in the group was his sister Bobbie, who played piano. She later married Bud Fletcher. One of his early inspirations was Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys—a group known for their upbeat country dance music, which included some elements of swing.

After graduating high school in 1950, Nelson went into the U.S. Air Force. He did not last long, however. Stationed in Lackland in San Antonio, Texas, Nelson had to leave the service because of back problems. He tried college, attending Baylor University for a time. To make ends meet, Nelson took on odd jobs, including selling encyclopedias door to door.

Dropping out, Nelson worked as a radio disc jockey for several years and played gigs in his spare time. He continued writing songs, producing some of his most famous works—inclucing "Night Life," "Crazy," and "Funny How Time Slips Away"—in the late 1950s.

In 1960, Nelson moved to the country music capital: Nashville, Tennessee. He got a job as a songwriter for Pamper Music, earning about $50 a week. The next year, two of Nelson's songs become hits for other artists—Faron Young's version of "Hello Walls" and Patsy Cline's legendary rendition of "Crazy." His first album was released the next year without generating much notice.

Singer Ray Price, with whom Nelson had played with previously, made Nelson's song "Night Life" a big hit in 1963. It seemed that his songs were only successful when they were sung by other people. With his gritty, road house sound, Nelson did not fit into the traditional Nashville country music scene. Producers tried to make him fit the more classic country mould, but they just stripped away his unique style, such as his unusual manner of phrasing. And his resistance to these efforts made him a bit of an outlaw, as did his reputation as a hard-drinking, hard-living man.