Here are The Top Willie Nelson Facts
1- Willie Hugh Nelson was born April 29, 1933, in Abbott, Texas
2- He Was named Entertainer of the Year in 1979 by the Country Music Association.
3- In 1979, Nelson made his big-screen acting debut in The Electric Horseman, starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda.
4- While still at school, he sang and played guitar in The Texans, a band formed by his sister’s husband, Bud Fletcher
5- He Was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993.
6- The first song Nelson ever learned was “Amazing Grace.”
7- He Got his first paying job as a musician when he was in sixth grade and was invited to join the polka group John Raycheck Band, which performed at local bars and fairs.
8- In 2015 Nelson won the Gershwin Prize, the lifetime award of the Library of Congress
9- Nelson has acted in over 30 films, co-authored several books, and has been involved in activism for the use of biofuels and the legalization of marijuana.
10- He was a member of Ray Price’s Cherokee Cowboys during the 1950s.
11- Willie Nelson has been playing the same Martin Classical N-21 guitar since 1969
12- Willie Nelson wrote his first song at 7 years old.
13- Willie’s favorite guitar player is Django Reinhardt and he chose his 1969 Martin N-20 acoustic based on its tonal similarities to Reinhardt’s guitar
14- Willie Nelson Was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1973.
15- Willie Nelson He was the subject of the Toby Keith song “I’ll Never Smoke Weed with Willie Again”.
16- After leaving school in 1950, he joined the U.S. Air Force for eight to nine months
17- Nelson disliked picking cotton, so he earned money by singing in dance halls, taverns, and honky tonks from age 13, which he continued through high school.
18- Willie Nelson was raised by his grandparents, Alfred and Nancy Nelson, who both studied music courses through the mail from the Chicago Music Institute.
19- Willie Nelson’s son is Lukas Nelson of the band Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real
20- He was named Willie by his cousin Mildred, who also chose Hugh as his middle name, in honor of her recently deceased younger brother
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