You may not have heard of Lukas Nelson. So, let's get started. He's the 32-year old country musician son of singer Willie Nelson and his fourth wife Annie D'Angelo.
And he's formed a band called Promise of the Real "POTR). And like his father he is a bit of a rebel and a campaigner for good causes. The band's website makes that abundantly clear.
Now, Willie Nelson at 87-years-old. is a country music icon. And until lockdown, he was still going strong.
Lukas has followed in his dad's footsteps. Let's drop a few names he has been associated with: Neil Young, dad Willie himself, not to mention actress-singer Lady Gaga and heartthrob actor Bradley Cooper. And we should mention that he won a BAFTA (English Oscar) a couple of years back
If you've seen Bradley Cooper's A Star is Born, you might have missed it but Lukas was in that too with his band.
So just who is Lukas Nelson? Let's have a look and see.
The Early Days
According to marriedcelebrity.com Nelson was born in 1988 in Texas, the son of country singer Willie Nelson and his wife Annie D'Angelo.
As a kid, Lukas lucked out when Willie decided to buy a home in Hawaii and the family moved there.
Now you just have to know that Lukas started playing the guitar at an early age. Bet Willie had something to do with that! By the time he was 13-years-old, he had joined his dad's band, going on tour with them, playing rhythm guitar. He learned a lot about music, life, and pot, we bet.
After he moved to Los Angeles in 2007 he attended Loyola Marymount University. There he met Anthony LoGerfo, who was to become the drummer in Lukas' newly formed country-rock band, Promise of the Real ("POTR"), and Logan Metz who would join the band playing most keyboard, with a little harmonica thrown in.
Pretty soon, it was good-bye school, hello making music.
Promise Of The Real
POTR was Lukas' baby. Lukas does lead vocals and guitar, backed up by Anthony LoGerfo on drums, Corey McCormick who does guitar and vocals, Logan Metz a maestro on the keyboards and harmonica, and, last but not least Tato Melgar on percussion. They've been busy, pretty much for the day they were formed in 2008.
They got a leg up in the world in 2009 when they snagged a gig as opening band in a Willie Nelson tour. Shortly after that tour ended, the band was touring with none other than legendary singer/songwriter B.B. King and his famous guitar "Lucille".
Things just got better and better for POTR. In 2015 they became singer-songwriter Neil Young's regular backing band. And they have recorded a couple of albums with him.
'A Star Is Born'
In 2016, actor-director Bradley Cooper saw Lukas and POTR perform at the Desert Trip festival.
According to countrythangdaily.com, that performance inspired Cooper to make the 2018 version of A Star is Born with Lady Gaga. It's the story of a down and out country singer who bonds big time with an unknown female singer. And a "star" (her) is born.
Bradley decided he wanted to have his character be like Lukas. So they started spending a lot of time together. Then he also asked Lukas to be a music consultant on the film. Talk about good fortune smiling on the boy!
At the end of the day, Cooper also asked Lukas to write some songs for the movie. And then he had the bright idea that Lukas and his band would appear in the movie as his character Jack's backing band.
Lukas jokes that he started "writing songs for the movie, just for the heck of it, and sending them over to the producer, and they started liking them."
Could it get any better? Well, yes. Says Lukas: "Then Lady Gaga came by and I met her and we clicked. We became good friends, and we started writing together."
After the film came out in 2019, it was, to say the least, a huge success. And together with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, Lukas got a BAFTA, the English Oscar, for best original music in a movie. Life has been sweet for Lukas and POTR.
Life In Quarantine With Mom And Dad
According to Rolling Stone, Lukas says that quarantine with his mom and dad in Austin, Texas has been a kind of a blessing in disguise.
So what do they get up to? Of course, they have binge-watched Netflix, streamed music, even played music together.
That's all great, but why is it a blessing in disguise?. Lukas told Rolling Stone: "My dad would never have given himself the chance to rest, and we would have never had this time together if we had not been forced to. And he’s getting up there. . . Every day has been nice, just sitting playing chess with dad, being at home, and watching the horses."
So, that's the scoop on Lukas Nelson. He's quite a remarkable and talented young man.
