We The People: This Day in History, December 31
Ricky Nelson Dies in New Year’s Eve Plane Crash Near De Kalb, Texas
Updated: Dec. 31, 2025 at 8:10 AM CST
DE KALB, Texas (KWTX) - On December 31, 1985, teen idol Ricky Nelson died in a plane crash near De Kalb, Texas.
Nelson, who shot to fame singing on his family’s TV show, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, went on to rack up dozens of hits in the late 1950s and help shape the California country-rock sound.
Though his chart power faded after the British Invasion, he scored a late-career comeback with “Garden Party” in 1972 and kept touring for decades.
On that New Year’s Eve trip, he boarded a plane headed to a Dallas engagement.
The plane caught fire and all seven passengers on board, including Nelson, were killed.
Nelson was posthumously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
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