RICKY NELSON
GUNNAR AND MATTHEW NELSON SING THE PRAISES OF THE MAN WHO STILL INSPIRES THEM
The actor’s sons sing their father’s praises as a family man and a music icon.
After a 1985 gig, twins Gunnar and Matthew Nelson, then 18, had a meaningful talk with their father, Ricky Nelson. “He’d come to see our show,” Gunnar tells Closer of the 2 a.m. chat with the former Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet teen idol (“Travelin’ Man,” “Hello Mary Lou”). “Out of the blue, he said, ‘I not only love you as my sons, but I admire you as my peers.’ Coming from our dad and our musical hero, that was a defining moment.”
Just a month later, Ricky, then 45, died in a New Year’s Eve plane crash on his way to a Dallas concert. “I don’t know if he had a premonition or what,” Gunnar says of that fateful heart-toheart, but he and Matthew, 50, still use their father’s words as motivation to pursue their dreams — and his. Along with touring in support of their own music, the twins do special Ricky Nelson Remembered concert dates, performing his hits and honoring his legacy. “It’s an ongoing labor of love, an open letter to our dad, who was our
best friend,” Matthew tells Closer.
AMERICAN IDOL
While the twins hit it big on their own — their 1990 debut single, “(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection,” went to No. 1 — matching Ricky’s career success is still a tall order. “You’re talking about a guy who sold 300 million singles and had 40 Top 40 hits. If we played all his hits [during our tribute shows], we’d be there six hours!” Gunnar quips of the man he says smuggled rock ’n’ roll into mainstream American living rooms in the ’50s, then helped create the country-rock genre in the late ’60s with his Stone Canyon Band.
It was much more than Rick’s music that the boys — who grew up with sister Tracy, 54, and brother Sam, 43 — admired. “He was a great provider. He loved his family,” Gunnar insists, though Rick’s music kept him on the road and away from home more than they would’ve liked. (Their mom, Kristin, divorced Rick in 1982.)
The twins’ memories still make them smile, though. “There was a tradition he started that at some point on your birthday, you’d be hit with a whipped cream pie in your face,” Gunnar reveals. After being on high alert the day they turned 13, the boys rushed over to Rick when he faked a shaving accident shortly before midnight. “He leaned down,” Gunnar continues, “and he had a pie hidden in the sink. I got nailed — and it was great!”
Matthew, who named his son Ozzie, agrees. “Gosh, he was funny. And he was a sweet man. A nice man. I never saw him have a single celebrity moment,” he says, recalling how Rick always took his time with fans, telling his boys, “It’s people like that who make sure we have a home. My job is to make them happy.”
Gunnar, who has three daughters, says he’s grateful for lessons like those. “Dad was the best. I wouldn’t be half the father I am without him.”
— Ron Kelly, with reporting by
Ilyssa Panitz
“It’s normal to want to be like your pop.
Ours just happened to be
a rock star!”
— Gunnar Nelson