Willie Hugh Nelson was born April 30, 1933 in the small farming town of Abbott, Texas. His parents, Ira and Mrytle Nelson seperated when Willie and Bobbie, Willie's sister, were small. They were raised by their grandparents, "Mama" and "Papa" Nelson. Mr. Nelson bought Willie a guitar when he was six years old and taught him to play it with courses ordered from a mail-order catalogue. He had written his first song by the age of 7. Bobbie learned to play the piano. Willie joined the "John Raycjeck's Bohemian Polka Band" when he was ten and played at local dances. By the time Willie was a teenager, Bobbie had met fiddler Bud Fletcher and he invited them to play in his band. They began playing in honkey tonks as well as dances. Bobbie later married Bud. After graduating from high school, Willie joined the United States Air Force but was discharged within less than a year because of a back injury. Upon returning to Abbott, he enrolled part time at Baylor University in a farming program.
Willie met a local carhop, Martha Matthews a full blooded Cherokee Indian, whom he later married. Willie and Martha had three children, Lana, Susie and Billy. Willie was playing in bars at night, continuing to write songs and working as a door-to-door saleman during the day. In 1954, he got a job as a DJ at KCNC in Fort Worth opening with "This is your ol' cotton pickin', snuff dippin', tobacco chewin', coffee pot dodgin', dumplin' eatin', frog giggin' hillbilly from Hill Country".
By 1956, Willie and Martha had moved to Vancouver, Washington where Willie's mother was living. While there he worked as a DJ and he recorded a single, financing it himself, and plugged it on the air selling about 3000 copies. Unable to get a raise as a DJ, he returned to Texas, settling in Houston, and worked as a DJ and singing in a nightclub. While there, he wrote "Family Bible" which he sold Paul Buskirk for $50 becoming a hit in 1960 for Claude Gray.
Willie decided to move to Nashville in 1960 and try to make a go as a recording artist. In Nashville, he hung out at Tootie's Orchid Lounge meeting Hank Cockran. Although his style of singing wasn't excepted at this time, Hank did help him get a songwriting contract with Pamper Music.
Ray Price, co-owner of Pamper Music recorded Willie's "Night Life" and invited him to tour with him as his bass player. By now, Willie and Martha were having problems because of his drinking and being gone all the time. He came in one night and passed out. Martha sewed him up in a sheet and beat him with a broom, taking all of his clothes and leaving with the children. After their divorce, Willie married Shirley Collie. He and Shirley recorded a duet "Willingly" that made the top ten in 1962. Later that year, Willie recorded "Touch Me". His marriage to Shirley was short lived. He married a third time to Connie, a girl he met while on tour. They had two daughters, Paula and Amy.
Willie joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1965. He continued to write songs and tour but his own recordings were only making the lower regions of the 40's. He made an attempt at raising pigs which turned out to be a disaster. On December 23, 1970, his house in Nashville burned so he loaded his family up and moved back to Texas. He began playing the local bars and at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, changing his image and the sound of his own music. He let his hair grow out long, wearing a bandana and jeans and tee shirt. He and Connie build a house just outside of Austin, living there until their divorce. With his new style, Willie recorded "Shotgun Willie" and "Phases and Stages". His success came in 1975 when he recorded "Redheaded Stranger" featuring only his guitar and Bobbie on piano with contained "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain", an old Roy Acuff song.
Willie has recorded several more albums since then and appeared in several movies, having the lead part in "Honeysuckle Rose". He and Connie have divorced and he is now married to Ann Marie D'Angelo and they have two sons, Lukas and Jacob.
Willie organized an Independence Day picnic in Dripping Springs, Texas which has been an annual event and an annual Farm Aid fesitval to raise money for farmers beginning September 22, 1985 in Champaign, Illinois. It has been held in a different city each year.
Willie continues to live n Austin, Texas today with his present wife, Ann Marie, and their children.
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