Died On This Date (December 31, 1985) Rick Nelson / Singer-Songwriter & Actor
themusicsover Rick Nelson
May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985
Rick Nelson’s career in entertainment began when he was just nine years old playing himself alongside his father, Ozzie Nelson; his mother, Harriet; and brother, David in the popular television show, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. In 1957, when Nelson was 17, he performed his first song on the show and instantly became a pop star and teen idol. Over the course of his career, he released over 50 charting singles, 19 of which landing in the top 10. His first single was a 1957 cover of Fats Domino’s “I’m Walking.” It became one of his signature songs. Most of his records from the early part of his career veered toward the rockabilly side of pop, but by the early ’70s, he and his Stone Canyon Band were making country rock. He was one of the first of a scene that included the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt and Jackson Browne. Unfortunately, many of his fans didn’t appreciate the change as evident at an infamous concert at Madison Square Garden where the audience booed him whenever he tried to perform his newer songs. That experience lead to him to write and record “Garden Party,” a song that reached #6 on the Billboard chart and would be his last hit record. On December 31, 1985, Rick Nelson along with his fiance and two members of his band were killed when the small plane in which they were traveling to a show crash landed due to a fire on board. Despite rumors that the fire was caused by the band freebasing cocaine, it was determined that a faulty heater most likely caused it. Nelson was later inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
What You Should Own
David Blue was a folk singer songwriter who came to prominence as part of the Greenwich Village scene that also produced Eric Andersen, Bob Dylan and 
Butch McDade is best remembered as the founding drummer and sometime vocalist for country-rock band, the Amazing Rhythm Aces. With a sound that has been compared to the Eagles, the Amazing Rhythm Aces found moderate popularity during the late ’70s after forming out of the ashes of a band lead by Jesse Winchester who moved to Canada to avoid the Vietnam draft. The band released several albums during the ’70s and ‘8os and won a Grammy for the song, “The End Is Not In Site.” Outside of the Amazing Rhythm Aces, McDade played in the touring bands of, among others, Roy Clark, 
Gram Parsons was a highly influential singer-songwriter who helped launch what would later be called country rock and then alt-country or Americana. Parsons began playing the guitar as a teenager to escape a less than ideal home life. The first group he played with, the Shilohs, were a folk band in the tradition of the Kingston Trio. When the band broke up, he and other Boston area folk musicians formed the International Submarine Band with whom he began to develop a sound the borrowed the best from country, folk and rock. They enjoyed moderate success, primarily getting airplay on the up-and-coming progressive radio stations. In 1968, Parsons was asked to join the Byrds as a replacement for David Crosby and Michael Clarke. He started on keyboards but soon switched to guitar, helping guide the group down a more country rock path. Parsons left the Byrds in the summer of 1968. He joined back up with the Byrds’ Chris Hillman soon after to form the Flying Burrito Brothers whose debut, The Gilded Palace of Sin would be a direct influence on the likes of the Eagles, Dwight Yoakam and later, Wilco and Ryan Adams. By the early ’70s, Parsons was working as a solo artist while recording and performing with good friend, Emmylou Harris. It was during this period that Parsons’ inner demons were taking control in the form of substance abuse. He was also spending more and more time in an area he had become fond of, Joshua Tree National Monument in the desert outside of Los Angeles. He liked to go there and take LSD while searching for UFOs. It was during one of these trips that Gram Parsons apparently overdosed on morphine and alcohol and died at the age of 26.
Warren Zevon was one of rock’s greatest songwriters. He could write a better song title than most can write full songs. He first gained prominence as part of the same ’70s Los Angeles rock community that spawned the Eagles, Jackson Browne, and Linda Ronstadt, Zevon crafted songs that were beautifully ironic and at times, darkly humorous. He was, as the saying goes, a songwriter’s songwriter. Over the years he gave us such classic tunes as “Send Lawyers, Guns and Money,” “Werewolves Of London,” “Poor Poor Pitiful Me,” “Hasten Down The Wind,” and “Carmelita.” Throughout most of the ’80s and ’90s, Zevon could be seen from time to time filling in for Paul Shaffer on Late Night With David Letterman. In 2002, Zevon was diagnosed with a cancer that has been linked to asbestos. Instead of seeking traditional treatment, Zevon set out to create his final masterpiece, The Wind. The album featured a list of friends paying him back for the impact he had had on them. That list included Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley, 