As he drove her home one evening, an Elvis Presley song came on the radio. She raved about Presley and his singing, and a defensive Ricky announced he would be making a record too. Arline just laughed, not believing him for a second. At that moment, Ricky became determined to make a record, even if it meant only pressing one disc and handing it to her personally.

Ricky got permission from his father to record a demo record using the orchestra from the TV show. He recorded “I’m Walking“, and the song was incorporated into the TV series on the April 10, 1957 episode. (An on-going story line had already established that Ricky was putting together his own band. So, singing just seemed to be a natural next step.) And singing turned out to be a natural career choice for Ricky Nelson.

On May 6, “I’m Walking” entered the Best Sellers chart, and peaked at #4. But the flip side, “A Teenager’s Romance” proved to be even bigger, reaching #2. More hits followed.

Then on August 4, 1958, Billboard introduced the Hot 100, the weekly singles chart that would become the industry standard to determine the best-selling, most-played records in America. The very first song to top the Hot 100 was “Poor Little Fool” by Ricky Nelson, his sixth hit single.

Ricky continued to record hits well into the sixties, with the labels now listing him as “Rick Nelson.” In the seventies he was billed as “Rick Nelson & The Stone Canyon Band.” His last hit was “Garden Party” (#6) in 1972.

Rick Nelson was killed in a plane crash on December 31, 1985, in DeKalb in Bowie County near Texarkana, Texas. He was en route to a New Year’s Eve concert in Dallas.