NELSON!

While identical twin sons of the late rock star Rick Nelson, Gunnar and Matthew Nelson were one of a string of successful second-generation rock acts to emerge in the late Eighties (e.g., Julian Lennon, Ziggy Marley, and Wilson Phillips), they are the only ones whose family's show-business legacy spans four generations. With their waist-length blond hair and videogenic good looks, Gunnar and Matthew were pop-star naturals, and Nelson's melodic, neo-Seventies AOR rock -- echoing Boston, Foreigner, and Heart -- found a wide audience. Gunnar and Matthew grew up in a typical latterday Hollywood home, a far cry from the Fifties idyll their paternal grandparents Ozzie and Harriet Nelson depicted on their long-running TV series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Father Rick was always off touring, while his wife, Kris Harmon (sister of actor Mark Harmon and actress Kelly Harmon), became an alcoholic and later a drug abuser. After their parents separated bitterly in 1977 amid mutual charges of infidelity and substance abuse, the twins stayed first with their mother, then -- on their 18th birthday in 1985 -- moved in with Rick, who'd whetted their musical appetites by taking them backstage, on tour, and to recording studios when he could. Three months later, on New Year's Eve, 1985, Rick was killed in a plane crash en route to a concert. Gunnar and Matthew had planned to accompany their father on that tour, but Rick inexplicably decided not to take them at the last minute.

Though devastated, the boys kept a previously booked engagement on TV's Saturday Night Live in early 1986. Stung by accusations that they were capitalizing on their father's death, the pair retreated and regrouped; Gunnar, who'd been playing drums, learned guitar so he could move out front with Matthew.

They eventually recorded demo tapes that landed a 1988 deal. Two years in the making, After the Rain (the title referred to their familial tribulations, which included older sister and actress Tracy Nelson's bout with Hodgkin's disease) hit #17, yielding a #1 hit single in “(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection,” plus “After the Rain” (#6, 1990), “More Than Ever” (#14, 1991), and “Only Time Will Tell” (#28, 1991).

They released a second album on Geffen, 1995's Because They Can, before forming their own independent label, Stone Canyon Records, named after their late father's band.

Their most recent effort, Like Father, Like Sons, released in 2000, was a tribute to the music of their father and included his hits “Garden Party” and “Hello, Mary Lou.”

Word has it that Nelson are recording an album now with Louis J. Pearlman of Trans Continental Records! They've also played at Pearlman's Fashion Rock (now called Talent Rock) events.