Ricky Nelson was a teen idol who

literally grew up on camera alongside

his parents Azie and Harriet in the

classic 1950s sitcom The Adventures of

Azie and Harriet. In 1963, 23-year-old

Ricky married 18-year-old Kristen Harmon

in what the press dubbed the wedding of

the year, attended by Hollywood royalty

and 400 guests. The couple went on to

have four children together, daughter

Tracy, twin sons Matthew and Gunner, and

youngest son Sam. But while America

watched the Nelson’s wholesome TV

antics, real life at home was

unraveling. By the late 1970s, Ricky and

Kristen’s marriage was crumbling amid

accusations of infidelity and substance

abuse.

My mom started drinking really heavily,

Gunner later recalled of those

tumultuous days, adding that there were

drunken battles that none of us will

ever forget. The couple divorced in

1982, ending the facade of domestic

bliss. The children who had grown up in

the glow of their famous grandparents

and parents suddenly found themselves

caught in a storm of family conflict.

Then came another devastating blow. On

New Year’s Eve 1985, 45-year-old Ricky

Nelson was killed in a plane crash along

with his fiance and several band

members. Overnight, the Nelson kids lost

their dad and the already fragile family

was thrust into further turmoil. Young

Sam, only 11 at the time, became the

center of a very public custody battle

between his mother, Kristen, and his

uncle, actor Mark Harmon, of NCIS fame.

The private pain of the Nelson children

was making headlines. Yet, through all

this chaos, each of Ricky’s five

children would struggle to find their

own path. Some followed in their

father’s musical footsteps, others

stepped away from the spotlight. Here’s

what happened to each of them. Number

four, Tracy Nelson, born in 1963, is

Ricky’s oldest child and only daughter.

She was Hollywood royalty from birth.

Her mom, Kristen, was an actress and

painter, and her dad, Ricky, a pop star.

So, it’s no surprise that Tracy caught

the acting bug early. In fact, at just 4

years old, she made her film debut

playing one of the children in the

Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda, comedy,

Yours, Mine, and Ours. By her teens,

Tracy was landing roles on TV. In 1982,

she scored a breakout part opposite a

young Sarah Jessica Parker on the sitcom

Square Pegs, portraying a snobby valley

girl character that viewers loved. But

even as Tracy’s career was taking off,

her family life was in crisis. She was

19 when her parents divorced and 22 when

her father died in that horrific plane

crash. The stress took a toll on her. In

1987, just one month after marrying

actor William Billy Moses, 23-year-old

Tracy got alarming news. She had a

grapefruitized tumor in her chest. It

was Hodgkins lymphoma, a form of cancer,

and it had progressed to stage two

before it was caught. Tracy later

revealed a eerie detail. Shortly before

her diagnosis, she had a dream in which

her late father called her on the phone

and said, “I know you miss me, but it’s

not time for you to die. you have to go

see a doctor. That haunting dream

prompted her to seek medical help,

possibly saving her life. Tracy endured

a grueling fight against cancer. She

underwent a 7-hour surgery to remove

parts of her liver and lymph nodes,

followed by months of intense

chemotherapy that caused her weight to

drop to just 87 lb. She later admitted

she partly blamed the illness on the

stress of losing her dad and the ugly

battle between her mom and uncle over

Sam’s custody. Miraculously, within six

months, the cancer went into remission.

Even while battling the disease, Tracy

refused to give up acting. She famously

dawned a nun’s habit to star as Sister

Stephanie Steve Octowski in the

crime-solving series Father Dowling

Mysteries, filming episodes in between

her treatments. After beating Hodkdins

lymphoma in the late 80s, Tracy’s

challenges weren’t over. She went on to

survive two more bouts of cancer in

later years. thyroid cancer in 2005 and

breast cancer in 2010 which she overcame

after a bilateral mystctomy. Through it

all, Tracy emerged as a true survivor.

She became an advocate for cancer

research, even receiving awards for her

work raising awareness and she found

happiness in motherhood. Tracy and Billy

Moses had a daughter, Remington, in

1992. Though the couple divorced in

1997, Tracy continued her family life,

later welcoming a son named Elijah in

2001 with her partner at the time,

director Chris Clark. Today, Tracy

Nelson is around 60 years old and

remains a positive, resilient figure.

She’s acted consistently over the

decades with guest roles on everything

from Melrose Place to Seinfeld and even

took to the Broadway stage as Rizzo in

Greece. More importantly, she’s embraced

her role as a survivor and the keeper of

her family’s legacy. Number three,

Matthew and Gunnar Nelson. Next up are

Matthew and Gunnar Nelson, Ricky’s

identical twin sons, born in 1967. If

you were around in the early 1990s, you

probably remember these blondhaired twin

heartthrobs taking the music world by

storm. But their journey to rock stardom

and life afterwards wasn’t as easy as it

looked. As kids, Matthew and Gunnar were

surrounded by music. They grew up

literally in the Nelson family nursery

while their dad jammed with friends.

They joked that a homeless guy hanging

around turned out to be Bob Dylan. Music

became the twins refuge when their

parents’ marriage was imploding. By age

11, they were writing songs and

recording demos, using music to escape

the stress of their mom and dad’s bitter

divorce. In 1985, when the boys were 18,

things at home with their mother,

Kristen, had gotten so tense that they

decided to move in with their dad,

Ricky, for a fresh start. Tragically,

that fresh start was cut short. Just a

few months later, Ricky Nelson died in

the New Year’s Eve plane crash. Matthew

and Gunner were devastated. They had

only just reconciled with their father,

only to lose him in an instant. The

twins channeled their grief into their

music. A few years later, they formed a

rock band simply named Nelson. Their

debut album, After the Rain, was

pointedly titled A Nod to Weathering the

Storms of their family history. And then

in 1990, Matthew and Gunner made music

history. Their single, Can’t Live

Without Your Love and Affection, shot to

number one on the Billboard charts,

making them the first twin brothers ever

to land a number one hit song. Suddenly,

the Nelson boys were everywhere. On MTV,

on magazine covers, with crowds of

screaming fans greeting them at

airports, just like they had their

famous dad. With their flowing golden

hair and modelworthy looks, they became

pop metal pin-ups. We were two

long-haired white guys who looked like

hot Swedish chicks. Matthew later joked

about their glam appearance on MTV. The

After the Rain album went double

platinum, and for a moment, Matthew and

Gunner were on top of the world. But the

whirlwind of fame didn’t last as long as

they hoped. In the early 90s, musical

tastes shifted practically overnight.

MTV suddenly ditched hair bands in favor

of the gritty grunge rock of Nirvana and

Pearl Jam. One day, the Nelson twins

were being compared to Taylor Swift

level fame. And the next, as Matthew put

it, overnight we became paras. Audiences

moved on, and the twins mainstream

popularity waned by the mid90s. To make

matters worse, people assumed they had

it easy because of their family name.

Rumors swirled that they were

millionaire rockstar kids who didn’t

have to work for success. The reality

was the opposite. As Gunner and Matthew

tell it, by the time their first record

finally got released, they had just $16

to their name, were living out of their

car, and scraping by however they could.

They had no safety net from their dad’s

fortune. Ricky’s estate was tangled up

and modest by then, so the twins truly

earned their success from the ground up.

Though their days of topping charts were

brief, Matthew and Gunner never stopped

making music. They continued recording

albums through the 1990s and 2000s and

touring wherever people wanted to hear

them, from clubs to cruise ships.

Through all the ups and downs, the

brothers remained extremely close.

They’ve said that having each other is

what kept them going when times got

tough. Both eventually found personal

happiness as well. Matthew married and

started a family, even naming his son

Azie after Grandpa Azie Nelson. And

Gunner settled down too in recent years.

Their grandma Harriet Nelson lived to

see their early success before her

passing in 1994, proudly calling the

twins her pride and joy. Today, in their

mid-50s, Matthew and Gunnar Nelson are

still rocking. But now, they’re also

preserving their father’s legacy. The

twins developed a popular touring show

called Ricky Nelson Remembered, a

multimedia concert where they perform

Ricky’s hit songs, share stories, and

play home movies of their dad. It’s a

way for them to connect with fans of

their father and introduce his music to

new generations. Number two, Sam Nelson.

Born in 1974, is the youngest of Ricky

and Kristen’s four children. Sam’s early

life was perhaps the most tumultuous of

all the Nelson kids. He was just a

kindergarter when his parents’ nasty

split erupted. As a child, Sam was

caught in the middle of their bitter

custody disputes. The courtroom

accusations flew. Claims of excessive

spending, bad parenting, drug problems,

and six-year-old Sam saw his family torn

apart. At one point, things got so bad

that Sam was sent to live with his

maternal grandparents, football legend

Tom Harmon and actress Elise Knox, for

his own protection. Imagine being 6

years old and effectively taken away

from both mom and dad. That was Sam’s

reality. After Ricky’s sudden death in

late 1985, young Sam became the focus of

a new tugofwar. This time between his

mother Chris, who was struggling with

addiction, and his uncle Mark Harmon,

who genuinely feared for Sam’s

well-being. In 1987, Mark Harmon and his

wife, actress Pam Dober, went to court

to win custody of Sam, alleging that

Chris was an unfit mother. The scandal

made headlines, pitting brother against

sister in the Harmon family. Chris

entered rehab for her substance abuse

issues and fought to keep her son.

Eventually, the court returned custody

to Chris, but only on the condition that

Mark and Pam receive visitation rights

and that all parties attend family

therapy. the ugly feud left deep scars.

Chris later said her family never

forgave her for not being perfect and

that the custody battle tore the Harmon

family apart. It’s not hard to see how

traumatic all this was for Sam.

Thankfully, Sam Nelson survived his

chaotic childhood and grew into a

creative, determined adult. Perhaps

inspired by his father and big brothers,

Sam pursued music, but on his own terms.

In the 2000s, he became the lead singer

of an alternative rock band with an

unusual name. H is orange. The name

actually holds personal meaning for Sam.

He has a form of sinthesia from early

childhood. His first memory is seeing

letters and words and colors, and for

him, the letter H is orange in his mind.

Sam chose H is orange as a symbol of

looking at things from a fresh

perspective. The Los Angeles-based band

made some waves on the indie scene.

Known for powerful live shows and a

modern rock sound, they released a

well-received album in 2004 titled Don’t

Trust the Easy that even snagged an

album of the year nomination from a

music magazine. A follow-up album,

Thrill of Escape, came in 2009, and one

of its singles was featured as a

downloadable track for Guitar Hero.

While H’s Orange didn’t achieve the

commercial mega success of Nelson, the

twins band, Sam once said he didn’t

mind. He was happy making music out of

the limelight. As the years went on, Sam

transitioned into more behind-the-scenes

roles in entertainment. By his late 30s,

he was reportedly working as a music

executive, helping other artists

navigate the industry. But perhaps Sam’s

most passionate project has been

preserving the Nelson family’s historic

legacy. In recent years, he spearheaded

an effort to digitally restore The

Adventures of Azie and Harriet, the very

TV show that launched his family to fame

back in the 50s. Sam led a campaign,

including a successful Kickstarter

fundraiser, to remaster and re-release

the entire Aussie and Harriet series in

high quality so that new generations

could enjoy America’s longestrunn

sitcom. In 2022, his work came to

fruition with the first seasons being

released on DVD, lovingly restored by

Azie and Harriet’s own grandson. It’s

clear that despite all the pain he

endured as a kid, Sam still cares deeply

about honoring the positive aspects of

his family story. Now in his 50s, Sam

Nelson tends to keep a low public

profile. Number one, Eric Jude Crew. The

story of Ricky Nelson’s children

wouldn’t be complete without Eric Jude

Crew, Ricky’s fifth child. Though fifth

might come as news to some because

Eric’s existence was kept very private.

Eric was born in February 1981 to a

woman named George Anne Crew whom Ricky

Nelson had a brief relationship with

during a period of separation from

Kristen. The circumstances were

controversial at the time. Ricky

initially did not publicly acknowledge

the child as his. It wasn’t until 1985

after a court-ordered blood test that

paternity was confirmed and Ricky agreed

to pay child support for little Eric. By

then, Ricky and Kristen had divorced and

Ricky’s new relationship was in the

headlines, so the revelation of an out

of wedlock son added to the family

drama. Young Eric Jude never had the

chance to know his father. He was only

four years old when Ricky died in the

plane crash. Unlike his half siblings,

Eric did not grow up in the spotlight or

within the Nelson family’s public life.

In fact, he was raised entirely by his

mother, far away from Hollywood. Over

the years, the Nelsons have kept details

about Eric very minimal, respecting his

privacy.