Gunnar and Matt Nelson Share Their Early Memories of Their Father, Ricky Nelson (Exclusive)
- - Gunnar and Matt Nelson Share Their Early Memories of Their Father, Ricky Nelson (Exclusive)
Virginia ChamleeDecember 26, 2025 at 10:05 AM
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Courtesy of Gunnar and Matt Nelson
Gunnar, Matt, and Ricky Nelson -
Gunnar and Matt Nelson are recalling when they knew their dad Ricky was a true musical icon
The 58-year-old identical twins spoke to PEOPLE for an exclusive interview ahead of the release of their new book, What Happened To Your Hair?, out December 16, 2025
Ricky's life was tragically cut short when died in a tragic plane crash at age 45, when Gunnar and Matt were just 18 years old
Gunnar and Matthew Nelson are opening up about the moment they knew their father Ricky Nelson was an icon.
The 58-year-old identical twins spoke to PEOPLE for an exclusive interview ahead of the release of their new book, What Happened To Your Hair?, now on stands.
As their book details, their father's life was tragically cut short when died in a tragic plane crash at age 45, when Gunnar and Matt were just 18 years old.
And though the two grew up around music and knowing their father's impact, they remember clearly the moment they realized exactly how impactful he — and their grandparents, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, the stars of the eponymous television show — were.
"We make jokes about it, but we didn't know that it was not a common thing for people to come up to you when you were a kid and ask your grandparents for autographs," laughs Gunnar. "That was just kind of our normal."
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Courtesy of Gunnar and Matt Nelson
Harriet Hilliard (aka Harriet Nelson), Ozzie Nelson, David Nelson, Ricky Nelson,
He continues: "But things started to get weird like when there was a parent-teachers conference at our school when we were really, really young and for the first time our teachers started putting on their makeup when they heard our father was gonna come down. So we thought, 'OK, there's something to this.'"
Echoes Matt: "I think my first memory [of knowing Ricky was so famous] was sitting on a little apple crate on the side of the stage at Knott's Berry Farm in, in Southern California, at the first show I ever saw our father play. He went out on stage, and at that point he was just pop, you know, and he went out on stage and the audience went nuts."
Courtesy of Gunnar and Matt Nelson
Gunnar and Matt Nelson
"He had a big smile on his face, and he was making everybody happy, and I just thought in that moment, 'That's what I wanna do. I wanna do that, and that is extraordinary.' It wasn't about being famous. It was about making people happy, and there's a big difference, you know?"
Gunnar and Matt shot to fame in their own right after launching hard rock duo Nelson in the early 1980s.
Today, the duo also performs under the name of Ricky Nelson Remembered, as a tribute to their father.
Performing helps further cement his legacy, they say, and remind them of how impactful his music was.
"We recently performed in Florida and this woman, her name was Margot, I'll never forget and she came up [to us after the show], it took her a solid five minutes to compose herself," Matt says. "She was absolutely overwhelmed by the show that we just did because it goes through all the generations. And when she could finally talk, she — through her tears — said, 'I really miss my family, and this show connected me with all of those memories, and I feel like I have my family back.'"
He continues: "So many people grew up with our family, whether they grew up with Ozzie and Harriet or our dad."
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
