Randee St. Nicholas (1933----) Birthplace: Abbott (near Hillsboro) Genre: Progressive Country, Pop Influenced: As a songwriter, created hits for many of Nashville's greats and paved the way for many other serious songwriters in country music. Other Sites: Willie Nelson's Page

More than perhaps any other country and western artist, Willie Nelson can honestly claim "I did it my way." From the early sixties Nelson impressed Nashville by writing a string of hits -- most performed by more conventional artists -- then left for Austin in the seventies, where he put together a progressive country cohort of "outlaw" exiles to remake country music in a more personal, less clich»-ridden way. Incidentally, Austin became a mecca for live music, and the recording industry found a new source for talent in Texas. In Austin, Nelson was able to pursue an interest in acting, make some memorable albums, and launch a series of annual family-style "picnics," to which he invites the public. Nelson has become a colorful celebrity citizen of the capital city.

Raised in Abbott (Hill County) by their grandparents after disruption of the family by parental desertion and death, Willie and his sister Bobbie both developed an early interest in music. They sang gospel songs at the local Baptist Church, but true to the rural Texas spirit, Willie also played guitar and wrote cheating songs by the age of seven. At ten, Willie was playing with a local bohemian polka band. Pianist Bobbie's marriage to fiddle player Bud Fletcher led to Willie joining his brother-in-law's band at the age of 13. About the same time, he also revealed a lifelong fondness for singing duets, when an engagement with the king of western swing, Bob Wills, presented a first opportunity.

Willie Nelson spent his late teens and early twenties playing the honkie-tonks and dancehalls of central Texas, and in 1952 got married to a woman of Cherokee descent. Always on the move, the Nelsons spent time in San Antonio, Fort Worth, even Washington state, before returning to Texas to live in Houston. But as Nelson struggled to make a living as a beer-joint musician and sometime songwriter, his marriage began to founder and was eventually dissolved.

By the late fifties Nelson was ready for Nashville, but without the means to make the move. To finance the trip he sold rights to two songs to the owner of a Houston music school where he taught guitar: "Family Bible," which soon became a hit for Claude Gray, and "Night Life," which was later a huge hit for Ray Price. Once in Nashville, toward the end of 1960, things began to improve for Nelson. On the verge of starvation, Nelson was hired as a staff songwriter by the influential Pamper publishing house, which was co-owned by Ray Price.

By 1961 three of his songs -- "Crazy," sung definitively by Patsy Cline, "Hello Walls," sung stalely by Faron Young, and "Funny How Time Slips Away" sung adequately by Billy Walker -- were such big hits that they crossed over to the pop charts, an almost unheard-of phenomenon at the time. On the strength of these successes and a few demos, Liberty Records signed Nelson as a soloist, despite his unorthodox, bluesy style of singing. Willie's first hit was a duet with his future wife Shirley Collie, which was quickly followed by his Top Ten solo "Touch Me." He also joined Ray Price's Cherokee Cowboys, taking up the bass for a time.

The year 1963 was a red-letter one for Willie, he married Shirley Collie, and was taken onto the cast of the Grand Ole Opry. He also began appearing regularly on Ernest Tubb's syndicated television program. However, despite a contract with RCA overseen by Chet Atkins, who produced several of his albums (the best being Yesterday's Wine), Nelson could only manage two more hits over the rest of the decade. By the end of 1970, RCA had dropped his contract, Shirley Collie had left him, and his Nashville home had burned. Nelson decided to return to Texas.

Back home, Nelson saw the possibility of developing a new audience, especially after appearing at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin. Growing his hair long and dressing in a casual style that was worlds away from the rhinestone glitter of Nashville, Willie was able to relax and express himself. Atlantic Records' Jerry Wexler, a longtime fan, took notice of the new Willie and signed him up for his company's new country music division. Willie Nelson's first of several concept albums, Shotgun Willie, was an artistic success that sold well when it was released in 1973, despite its lack of obvious hits. Phases and Stages in 1974 was also a critical success but didn't further his career.

That long-awaited recognition came after Nelson's switch to Columbia in 1975, when he produced Red Headed Stranger, which became his first number one hit, eventually selling a million copies. Meanwhile, RCA had compiled the famous Wanted! The Outlaws album, which featured Willie, Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser as rebels in the interest of "progressive country," a concept that the public embraced by the millions. Combined, the two albums served to launch Willie Nelson. The Troublemaker, a gospel album that Willie had recorded at the same time as Shotgun Willie, was also released in 1976 and added to his mystique, as did 1978's Waylon and Willie.

But in 1978 the release of Stardust, a collection of classic American pop songs, made it clear that Willie Nelson's appeal was more than that of a country singer with rock inclinations. The sales soared to four million copies over the next two years, and Nelson became a bonified pop music icon.

As the seventies progressed, Nelson also got into the production of mass gatherings at the enormous Fourth of July extravaganzas, followed in the eighties by the Farm Aid concerts to help embattled farmers. Movies seemed the logical next development to his fame, with 1979's The Electric Horseman (featuring "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys"), being perhaps not only the first but the best of the lot.

Superstardom has also allowed the indulgence of Nelson's love for singing duets. Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Leon Russell, Julio Iglesias, Ray Price, Hank Pierce, Faron Young, and many others have all taken their turns alongside Willie. A contretemps with the IRS -- to the tune of $16 million in back taxes -- threatened to put Willie in the poorhouse in 1991, but he persevered by offering a mail-order collection that was lapped up by fans. The matter was settled in 1993.

Willie's romance with the public continues: he played the role as the songwriter alongside Dustin Hoffman and Robert DeNiro, in 1997's movie Wag the Dog, has become a fixture at the Ozark Theater in Branson, Missouri, and has released further albums of pop standards. It seems like the older he gets, the more Willie Nelson takes on.