Rick Is 21 Ricky Nelson

• 1 My One Desire 02:15
• 2 That Warm Summer Night 02:10
• 3 Break My Chain 01:53
• 4 Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans 02:32
• 5 I'll Make Believe 02:19
• 6 Travelin' Man 02:21
• 7 Oh Yeah, I'm In Love 02:09
• 8 Everybody But Me 02:12
• 9 Lucky Star 02:17
• 10 Sure Fire Bet 02:07
• 11 Stars Fell On Alabama 02:34
• 12 Hello Mary Lou, Goodbye Heart 02:18
• Total Runtime 27:07

Info for Rick Is 21

"When his record sales began to sag in 1959, Ricky Nelson turned away from the rockabilly sound of his early recordings to a more middle-of-the-road style on his fifth album, 1960s More Songs by Ricky. But that didn't help, and in early 1961, the artist returned to a modified rock sound, bringing in new writers like Jerry Fuller and Gene Pitney, and coming up with a streamlined pop/rock approach. The result was a comeback when the single "Travelin' Man"/"Hello Mary Lou" took off, the A-side hitting number one and the B-side the Top Ten, for the singer's eighth gold record. He had already recorded all of Rick Is 21 before that happened, though, and the album fulfills the promise of the single. There are a couple of the compromised covers of oldies that filled More Songs by Ricky -- "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans" and "Stars Fell on Alabama" -- no doubt suggested by his father Ozzie, but the rest of the album is guitar rock arrangements of songs written by old hand Dorsey Burnette ("My One Desire") and new recruits Fuller, Pitney, Johnny Rivers, and Dave Burgess. Fuller is the real hero, contributing the excellent rocker "Break My Chain" (complete with a terrific James Burton guitar solo) in addition to "Travelin' Man," but the overall quality of the material is high, and Nelson's band plays it well. The singer himself sounds far more comfortable than he did on his last album, finally having acquired his own sound after years spent copying either Elvis Presley or his father's big band. As its title suggests, Rick Is 21 is Rick -- not Ricky -- Nelson's first mature statement as a recording artist. And 21 is a good age for a teen idol to be making his first comeback." (William Ruhlmann, AMG)

Ricky Nelson
Oswald George Nelson was already a successful bandleader when, in 1932, he signed an up and coming singer to join his act. Her name was Harriet Hilliard, and though they wouldn’t have believed it at the time, they were to become the patriarchs of one of America’s most beloved families. Having married on October 8th 1935, they were soon welcoming the arrival of their first born, David, a year later on October 24th 1936. Then on May 8th 1940, Eric Hilliard Nelson was born at the Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, New Jersey.

The Nelsons place in history was confirmed when on October 8th 1944 they began work on a radio show which was to become the longest running sit-com in U.S. history: The Adventures Of Ozzie & Harriet. After a few episodes it was decided that the show would benefit from the introduction of the couples children, David and Ricky. But instead of the actual David and Ricky, actors were hired to portray them. However it didn’t take long for the boys to persuade their dad that they were more than capable of playing themselves on the show. And so, on February 20th 1949, a unique event occurred on air. A family, portraying themselves, with many referances to events in their own lives. It was in many ways, the worlds first reality show, and listeners were hooked.

By 1951, Ozzie had in mind a move to televison and began scripting a big screen adaptation which would be a perfect chance to discover how people took to seeing the family for the first time. Here Come The Nelsons was a hit and convinced Ozzie that television was a viable option. Ever the businessman, Ozzie took on the role of producer, director, head writer and story editor of the show which began filming at General Services Studio in Hollywood for ABC. The first episode entitled, The Rivals, debuted on October 3rd 1953. It was to continue for a further 11 seasons and created the stereotypical image of the family of the ‘50’s that survives to this day.

Ricky was 13 by now and had established himself as the “irrepressible Ricky” a wise-cracking kid, who likes nothing more than getting one over on his older, more sensible brother. Off-screen Ricky was developing a keen interest in sports, even joining David in perfecting a dazzling trapeze act, but his pasion lay in tennis, for which he reached the semi-finals of the National Indoor Junior Championships at the age of 16. A near fatal car accident that same year landed him in hospital with a crackled vertebrae, but it was to be something totally different that would lure Ricky away from taking up tennis professionally. Ricky Nelsons entry into the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall Of Fame, began as a boast to get the attentions of a girl he had taken on a date. Whilst driving her home, she began telling Ricky how wonderful she thought the guy on the radio was, a new singer called Elvis Presley. ….

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