Willie Nelson: Movies & Box Office

Willie Hugh Nelson, born on April 29, 1933 in Abbott, Texas, is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor, and activist whose career spans more than six decades. He first penned a song at age seven and by ten was performing with the Bohemian Polka, setting the stage for a lifelong devotion to music. After a brief stint in the U.S. Air Force and two years at Baylor University, Nelson worked as a disc jockey in Texas and the Pacific Northwest while polishing his songwriting craft, creating future standards such as "Funny How Time Slips Away," "Hello Walls," "Pretty Paper," and the iconic "Crazy." Moving to Nashville in 1960, he signed with Pamper Music, joined Ray Price’s band as a bassist, and eventually earned a publishing contract that propelled his compositions into the country canon. Frustrated by the restrictive Nashville establishment, he relocated to Austin in 1972, where the vibrant hippie‑country scene revived his artistic spirit and led to the outlaw‑country breakthrough with Shotgun Willie (1973) and the masterpiece Red Headed Stranger (1975). Throughout the 1970s and 1980s he amassed a string of hits—"On the Road Again," "To All the Girls I've Loved Before," and "Pancho and Lefty"—while co‑founding the supergroup The Highwaymen and helping launch the annual Farm Aid concerts. Beyond music, Nelson has appeared in over thirty films, authored several books, and become a prominent champion for biodiesel, marijuana legalization, and farmers' rights, serving as co‑chair of NORML and honorary chairman of the Texas Music Project. His resilience was tested by a $32 million IRS debt in the early 1990s, which he resolved through the double album The IRS Tapes and the sale of assets, and by ongoing health challenges, yet he continues to record, tour, and influence new generations of artists.