American rock critic, magazine editor and A&R executive. Born January 21, 1936 in Warren, Minnesota. Found dead on July 5, 2006 in Manhattan, New York, New York.
In 1961, Nelson and his friend John Pankake started The Little Sandy Review, a magazine about folk music.
In 1963, Nelson moved to New York City and became the managing editor of the folk music revival's magazine, Sing Out! After quitting two years later, he worked at a pop magazine, Circus, and at Rolling Stone.
In 1970, he took a job at the publicity department of Mercury Records and became an A&R executive, where he signed the New York Dolls. He briefly served as David Bowie's publicist and championed such artists as Rod Stewart, Doug Sahm, Blue Ash and Reddy Teddy. He compiled The Velvet Underground's 1969: The Velvet Underground Live, and made unsuccessful bids on behalf of the label for Bruce Springsteen, The Modern Lovers and Richard and Linda Thompson. He was fired in 1975 when the New York Dolls failed to sell.
Nelson returned to Rolling Stone, where he wrote features and edited the record reviews section. During this time he collaborated with the rock critic Lester Bangs on a biography of Rod Stewart.
After leaving Rolling Stone in 1983, he sporadically wrote features for Musician magazine, and reviewed albums for People.
By the early 1990's, Nelson had lost interest in current music, immersing himself instead in bluegrass and jazz trumpeter and singer Chet Baker.