Did Willie Nelson Make The Beatles Famous? Here's What the Country Legend Thought He Did

Willie Nelson
Rich Fury/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Willie Nelson has been in the music industry for decades now and when he started his career, the internet, social media, and technology were not as advanced compared to today. This is the main reason why he thought he was the one who made the Beatles famous, or did he really discover them?

According to Grunge, the musician started out as an employee at a radio station. One of his main tasks at KBOP was to sign on in the morning when the radio show opened.

Fortunately, he was able to kick-start his career at his first job as he was given a chance to do his live show for 30 minutes every single day.

It was around that time when he met Johnny Bush and they later formed a musical duo which eventually led them to perform at local shows.

Did Willie Nelson Discover the Beatles?

Since they were just starting out at the time and they didn't have much material to perform in front of people who didn't know them back in the day, they would often cover songs from other artists.

In his memoir titled "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die," published in 2012, he recalled performing the track "Yesterday," which he was surprised that the crowd loved and adored.

At the time, he didn't know that the Beatles was already massive when he covered the song and he thought the track was something that concertgoers wouldn't recognize.

"I thought that I had discovered an obscure song that no one had heard of before, not realizing The Beatles had just sold ninety zillion records," he wrote.

Willie Nelson's Connection With The Beatles

According to Showbiz Cheatsheet, it's unclear if Willie Nelson crossed paths with all of the members of the Beatles (John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr) as the hit band started their career earlier than the country star and it ended at the time when Nelson's big break took off.

However, one thing's for sure, he had a heartwarming friendship with Harrison when the band was no longer playing together.

The musician previously noted that he loved Nelson's country roots and they even collaborated on the song "Heartbreak Hotel" in 1985.

In addition, it seems like Nelson also connected with McCartney as they had a photo together that made rounds in 2018.

Tags
Willie Nelson, The Beatles, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, John Lennon, Country, Band, News, Music
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