Willie Nelson

Has studied martial arts for over 20 years, first in Tae Kwon Do under Sam Um, then studying Gongkwon Yusul under Um. Nelson holds a 5th-degree black belt in the art, having received it in 2014.

Inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame in Austin, Texas in March 2002.

There is a guest character named after him in an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force (2000) (titled "The Shaving").

His character Billy "Catch" Pooler in the comedy movie Gone Fishin' (1997) was inspired by a real person, Loren "Totch" Brown of Chokoloskee, Florida. "Totch" had a small role in the movie Wind Across the Everglades (1958), portraying "One-Note" and acting under the name Totch Brown.

Performed at the 1994 wedding reception of Microsoft's Bill Gates and Melinda Gates in Lanai, Hawaii.

Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993 and the American Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001.

" He happily married fourth wife Ann-Marie in 1991 and has survived more hard times in recent years, including a $16. 7-million debt to the IRS and the suicide of one of his sons, Billy.

Was considered for the role of Red Webster in Road House (1989), which went to Red West.

In the movie Red Headed Stranger (1986), which was adapted from his hit 1975 album, he played a preacher, and he teamed up with pal Kris Kristofferson as a pair of country singers in Songwriter (1984). He and pal Kristofferson went on to form The Highwaymen with the late Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings and he successfully recorded and toured with the group for a number of years.

In 1985, Willie had done a duet with Ray Charles called "Seven Spanish Angels". It was on the Billboard Country Hit Chart for twelve weeks, with one week as No. 1.

He played opposite James Caan and Tuesday Weld in Thief (1981) and a legendary outlaw in the western Barbarosa (1982).

His took to leading roles as a country music star in Honeysuckle Rose (1980), which would include a number of his songs on the soundtrack.

He had roles in several movies, his first opposite Robert Redford and Jane Fonda in The Electric Horseman (1979).

Around 1978 Willie showed himself to be a loose and natural presence in front of the camera, thus launching a film career.

In 1975 it all came together with the album "Red-Headed Stranger", which would become the top-selling country music album in history and propel him into the country music stratosphere. His offbeat phrasing, distinctive nasal tones and leathery, bewhiskered hippie-styled looks set a new standard for "outlaw" country music.

In the early 1970s, after extensive touring with his band (which included sister Bobbie on the piano) and experiencing a number of career downswings, he started performing and recording his own songs instead of selling them to others. Two of his albums, "Shotgun Willie" and "Phases and Stages", helped him gain some stature.

Willie's favorite guitar player is Django Reinhardt and he chose his 1969 Martin N-20 acoustic based on its tonal similarities to Reinhardt's guitar. Willie purchased his instrument unseen for $750 and due to its ascendancy into legendary status over the years, the Martin company issued a special limited edition line of Willie Nelson signature models in 1999.

In 1962 he recorded a successful duet with singer Shirley Collie, whom he would later take as his second wife, but his career didn't progress despite joining the Grand 'Ol Opry.

Children: Lana Nelson (born November 11, 1953), Susie (born May 23, 1956) and Billy (born September 16, 1958 who died in 1991), with Martha Matthews; Paula Nelson (Paula Carlene) (born October 27, 1969) and Amy Nelson (Amy Lee) (born July 6, 1973), with Connie Koepke; Lukas Nelson (Lukas Autry) (born December 25, 1988) and Micah Nelson (Jacob Micah) (born May 24, 1990), with Annie D'Angelo.

Married in 1952 to a full-blooded Cherokee, he and first wife Martha had two children. He initially came to be known in Nashville for selling his songs to well-established country artists such as Patsy Cline ("Crazy"), Faron Young ("Hello Walls") and Ray Price ("Night Life").

He was a member of Ray Price's Cherokee Cowboys during the 1950s.

They also teamed up to remake the classic western Stagecoach (1939) as a TV movie (Stagecoach (1986)). As a unique song stylist, the bearded, braided-haired, bandanna-wearing non-conformist took a number of non-country standards and made them his own, including Elvis Presley's "You Were Always on My Mind" and Ray Charles' "Georgia on My Mind.

This versatile, eclectic, rather wanderlust country crossover star known for his classic ballads ("Always On My Mind"), autobiographical road songs ("On the Road Again") and catchy rhythms ("Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys") started out life as Willie Hugh Nelson on April 30, 1933, in Depression-era Abbot, Texas. He is the son of Myrle Marie (Greenhaw) and Ira Doyle Nelson, a mechanic. After his mother abandoned the family and his father died, he and sister Bobbie Lee were raised by their gospel-singing grandparents. Working in the cotton fields, Willie was handed his first guitar at age six and within a short time was writing woeful country songs and playing in polka bands. During his teenage years he played at high school dances and honky-tonks. He also worked for a local radio station and by graduation time he had become a DJ with his own radio show. Briefly serving a stint with the Air Force (discharged because of a bad back, which would plague him throughout his life), he sold his first song called "No Place For Me" while getting by with menial jobs as a janitor and door-to-door Bible salesman.