Ricky Nelson’s sons recall final call with father on 40th anniversary…
Gunnar Nelson and Matthew Nelson still surprise if their father, former teen idol Ricky Nelson, had a premonition before his tragic demise.
On New Year’s Eve 1985, the entertainer died in a airplane crash in DeKalb, Texas. He was 45. Six others on board also perished.
Forty years later, his kids are trying again at the circumstances surrounding his loss of life and their very own rise to fame in a new memoir, “What Happened to Your Hair?”
“Matthew learned about our father’s death on the radio, and I saw it on TV,” Gunnar told Fox News Digital. “Normally, they would notify the family first. That was jarring.”
The twins had been 18 years previous once they misplaced the “Ozzie and Harriet” star. They had been residing with him at the former residence of Errol Flynn, sometimes known as Mulholland Farm in Los Angeles. They had just celebrated Christmas together with the Nelson household while taking a much-needed break from showbiz. It was a treasured custom. But that 12 months was different.
“I guess it kind of sprung on him at the last minute that he was going to have to be away for New Year’s Eve to pay lawyer bills or whatever,” Gunnar recalled.
“He wasn’t really looking forward to that. He said he wanted to hang out with us. He was having a good time. And, historically, the Nelson family never worked from Christmas through New Year’s. That was basically the way it was with our dad. So, he wasn’t all that happy he had to go and do a couple of shows to pay the bills.”
According to the e-book, Ricky’s marriage to actress Kristin Nelson, the boys’ mom and sister to actor Mark Harmon, had deteriorated badly. Their divorce was described as tumultuous and costly, leading to ongoing legal professional charges.
But decided to spend time with his sons, Ricky advised the twins meet him in Alabama and then fly with him on his DC-3, a airplane beforehand owned by Jerry Lee Lewis. The twins had been excited about flying of their father’s airplane for the first time. Together, they’d head to Dallas, the place Ricky was scheduled to carry out for a New Year’s Eve present.
On New Year’s Eve 1985, the entertainer died in a airplane crash in DeKalb, Texas. WireImage
According to the e-book, Ricky’s marriage to actress Kristin Nelson, the boys’ mom and sister to actor Mark Harmon, had deteriorated badly. simonandschuster
“It was a classic World War II-era plane,” said Gunnar. “He bought it because he was afraid to fly, and it flew so slowly that, basically, both engines could go out, and you could glide in for a landing pretty much anywhere. So he spent a lot of time flying in that.”
The brothers rapidly packed their baggage, wanting to ring in the new 12 months with their dad on stage. But the evening before they had been to take a business flight to Alabama, they acquired a call from the patriarch.
“He didn’t sound like himself,” said Gunnar. “He sounded different for some reason. And he was resolute. He said, ‘I’ve decided I don’t want you to fly on the plane. I’d love to spend time with you guys on New Year’s, but if that’s the case, I want you to fly commercial to Dallas. We’ll just meet there.’”
“He didn’t go into detail, but we were a little salty,” said Gunnar. “We said, ‘The whole point, Pop, was to come down and fly with you on the plane. We hadn’t been on the plane, and we thought that would be fun.’ He said, ‘Listen, I’ve made up my mind. That’s final. Guys, either fly commercial to Dallas or don’t come.’”
The brothers never noticed their father again.
Pop singer Rick Nelson poses for a portrait with his spouse Kristin Nelson in circa 1967. Getty Images
“That call did save our lives,” Gunnar mirrored. “All these years later, I don’t know. Maybe the airplane was giving them issues. It was recognized to be a upkeep issue on occasion.
“Maybe one thing had occurred mechanically to the airplane that he didn’t need to share with anyone ahead of time. Or possibly he just had a premonition. He had a [feeling] in his intestine, his discernment was firing that it wasn’t a good suggestion to come back. Maybe Pop just had a sense. He was very intuitive.
“I know it sounds hard to believe,” he continued. “And he didn’t go into great detail as to why he didn’t want us to go down there and be on that flight. But he was absolute. There was no budging. Maybe one day we’ll get a chance to ask him.”
The e-book famous that the official report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) got here out a number of months after Ricky’s loss of life.
“It cited the official cause of the fire onboard that caused the crash as a leak in the fuel line in the belly of the plane,” the e-book states. “It created a short-circuit spark upon final approach for a landing.”
The e-book famous that the official report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) got here out a number of months after Ricky’s loss of life.
To this day, the Nelson twins are approached by followers asking if their father freebased cocaine on the airplane, inflicting a hearth that introduced it down. They repeatedly burdened in the e-book that the rumor was merciless and utterly contradicted the NTSB findings.
“With the lawsuit going on, we were told by our attorney not to talk about it because there’s an active lawsuit going on,” Matthew explained to Fox News Digital.
“The plane had a mechanical failure, a catastrophic failure, mid-flight fire. And then the media was slandering our dad’s name and reputation after a lifetime of being a fairly wholesome guy. That was the hardest thing that I ever had to deal with, having to turn on the television and seeing the lead story on the main networks having to do with freebasing and drug abuse on the plane, knowing that wasn’t the case.”
Clearing their father’s identify after his sudden loss of life wasn’t the only impediment the brothers confronted while grieving. They also confronted a painful monetary actuality that their father had left behind.
To this day, the Nelson twins are approached by followers asking if their father freebased cocaine on the airplane, inflicting a hearth that introduced it down. Getty Images
“Our father had never declared bankruptcy himself before he died, though he probably should have,” Gunnar wrote in the e-book. “Call it pride or call it honor, the end result was still the same. He never threw in the towel in a bankruptcy, but he died $4 million in debt (in 1985 dollars!), leaving me and Matt to pay it off for him over the 10 years following his death.”
Matthew said it grew to become their responsibility to settle their late father’s money owed. They relied on buddies and short-term preparations to get by.
They would do it again, he said.
“It was our honor to be able to fight for him and his legacy, which we still do to this day,” he explained. “There had been some exhausting money owed there that we actually needed to work exhausting to ensure they went away. It took a very long time. We grew to become no strangers to that, though, even with our personal profession, because we later had money owed of our personal that took us many years to get out from under, that we write about in the e-book.
“Our father’s truest happiness was to make other people happy,” he mirrored. “All these years later, his songs, his films, they still make people happy. That’s bigger than money. That’s bigger than debts. We continue to fight for his legacy. In the end, it’s about what you’re here for and what you leave behind.”
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