Nelson, Willie, 1933–, American country singer, guitarist, and songwriter, b. Abbott, Tex. Enormously popular, he created the blues-rock-country hybrid known as "outlaw music" and, in a career spanning five decades, has made more than 200 recordings. In the 1960s he moved to Nashville, where he became a successful songwriter, composing such tunes as "Funny How Time Slips Away" and the Patsy Cline Cline, Patsy, 1932–63, American country singer, b. Winchester, Va., as Virginia Patterson Hensley. She began singing locally while still in her teens and signed her first recording contract in 1953, but did not become well known until after the release of her
..... Click the link for more information. hit "Crazy." Nelson returned to Texas in the 1970s and during that decade came into his own as a performer. He achieved great success with the albums Shotgun Willie (1973) and Red Headed Stranger (1975) (containing the hit "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain") and also began performing widely in concert tours, singing for a unique country-crossover audience. Among his later albums are Wanted: The Outlaws (1976), Stardust (1978), City of New Orleans (1984), The Promised Land (1986), Across the Borderline (1993), and Teatro (1998). Nelson had federal tax problems in the 1980s, but they were resolved by the 1990s, in part with revenues from The IRS Tapes (1991). He has performed in a number of films, including The Electric Horseman (1979), Honeysuckle Rose (1980), and Wag the Dog (1998), and is well known for sponsoring Farm Aid concerts.

Nelson, Willie

(born April 30, 1933, Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.) U.S. country music singer and songwriter. His grandfather taught him to play guitar, and by age 10 he was performing at local dances. After working as a disc jockey, in 1961 he moved to Nashville, Tenn., where he wrote hit songs for dozens of country, rhythm-and-blues, and pop singers; these songs include “Hello Walls,” “Night Life,” and “Crazy.” Returning to Texas, he released the hit album Red Headed Stranger (1975); it was followed by Wanted: The Outlaws, which outsold every country album that had preceded it, and Stardust (1978), with songs by Hoagy Carmichael and Irving Berlin. He has recorded with at least 75 other singers, including Waylon Jennings (b. 1937). In the 1980s he organized annual Farm Aid festivals to raise money for farmers. His later albums include the critically acclaimed Teatro (1998).

Nelson, Willie (Hugh) (1933– ) country music singer, songwriter; born in Fort Worth, Texas. Before he was a teenager he sang gospel in a Baptist church and played guitar in polka bands, but he also absorbed both pop and jazz music. Writing songs in Nashville in the 1960s, he helped the country music revival, but he did not get much recognition for his own singing. He relocated to Austin, Texas, and also reconstructed his image, adopting his trademark beard, headband, earring, and blue jeans. At first he won over a largely youthful audience, especially with his annual "picnics," like mini-Woodstocks, but gradually he broadened his appeal to an adult public. A widely popular, eclectic performer, he recorded jazz standards, country-rock, and gospel in his distinctive singing style, with its bluesy, off-beat phrasing. In the late 1980s he was briefly in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service for falling behind in his taxes, but he resolved that problem and resumed his role as something of a national country-music icon, in part because of his generous appearances at benefit concerts.