Recounting the craziest days of the legendary Willie Nelson.

Singer and songwriter, actor, activist - Willie Nelson a truly talented and versatile person! Born in Abbott, Texas, 29 April 1933.Nelson wrote his first song at the tender age of seven, and by the time he was 10 he was playing in a band! His love of music led him to Nashville, where he became a sought-after songwriter. But Willie's soulful voice and his virtuoso guitar playing combined with powerful original songs soon made him a superstar in his own right. As of 2018, he has recorded 72 studio albumsHe has starred in dozens of films and authored or co-authored nine books! But not only his creative merits are worthy of attention: there is no end to the crazy but true stories from the life of this cult genius! And today we decided to recall the most curious of them.

He has nine lives

Fate clearly loves Nelson - You can easily lose count of all the accidents and disasters the artist has been involved in during his life! Fans have long been of the opinion that Nelson has a real nine lives. Even a friend of his once noticed:

"It's just amazing how he keeps coming out of all these crashes!"

One of the most serious incidents in Nelson's life - plane crash: The plane on which the artiste was travelling crashed while landing in a rural field in Texas. Fearing the worst, rescue teams and media representatives arrived at the crash site. And what did they see? Willie and his pilot limping down the road! When the media asked him about the crash, the musician said:

"Why was that a perfect fit? I walked away from it, didn't I!"

An ex-girlfriend is suing him for $50 million.

One ex-girlfriend of the musician has sued Nelson, suing the ex-lover for a $50 million! The woman claimed that the artiste promised to marry her and then broke his promise. Luckily for Nelson, the case was dismissed in his favour. Seems not keeping his promise isn't worth a $50 million payout.

He had the largest unpaid tax bill in the history of mankind

In 1990. IRS (IRS) discovered that Nelson had neglected to pay taxes - and this was not a "slight accounting error" but a serious disregard for the country's tax laws. As a result, the government concluded that the artiste had failed to pay as much as $16.7 million taxes, which was one of the largest individual tax bills ever accumulated at that time!

His lawyer eventually lowered that figure significantly, but Nelson was still heavily indebted. The IRS seized his assets, and he released an album called "The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories?" (The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories?)to offset the remaining costs.

He was smoking in the White House

Sources confirm that when he was a guest Jimmy Carter in the White HouseNelson smoked on the roof! And this isn't about cigars or anything like that. We're not talking about tobacco at all. In fact, his smoking companion was none other than the president's middle son. In his typical style, Nelson commented indifferently:

"Well, yeah, we've been there and smoked, and why not, you know? And they've got a lovely view from the roof..."

He shot his daughter's abusive husband

Like any father, Nelson was furious when he found out that his daughter. Lana was beaten by her husband. So, he took matters into his own hands. Willie later recounted the events:

"I ran to my truck and drove to where Steve and Lana lived and hit Steve. He really pissed me off. I told him that if he ever touched Lana again, I would come back and drown him. No sooner did I get home than Steve showed up in his car and started shooting at my house with a .22 calibre shotgun. I was standing in the barn doorway and a bullet tore through a tree two feet from my head. I grabbed my M-1 rifle and fired at Steve's car. He fled..."

From that day on, Nelson became known as Willie's Shotgun.

He ended up in an epic shootout

At the end of the 1970-х Nelson's road crew was loading a tour bus after a concert in Birmingham, Alabama, when they were caught in a car park shootout. Nelson, who was on the bus, dove right into the chaos and quickly ended it. One of the crew members recalled:

"And then Willie appears with two huge .45 calibre revolvers. Two long, shiny guns in full view of a bunch of cops - the latter are getting a little nervous. Willie just walks up and asks: "What's the matter?" Well, he's got some kind of aura that just chills everything out... The cops raise their guns, people get off the concrete, and pretty soon Willie's signing autographs!"

He has a black belt

On the eve of his 81st anniversary Nelson added another accomplishment to his already huge list. He received a fifth-degree black belt in Gongkwon Yusul - a Korean martial art that Nelson has diligently studied and practised since the 1990s.

"It's just good for you physically. For your lungs. The more you breathe, exercise, the better you will feel," the artiste said.

He wrote Patsy Cline's most famous song.

Willie Nelson is known today primarily as a singer, but let's not forget that he is an extremely accomplished songwriter with several huge hits under his belt! And some of the songs he wrote weren't even his own recordings - that is, they were songs recorded by other artists.

One of his biggest successes was a song "Crazy."forever linked to Patsy Cline.