Nelson twins recount rise to fame and financial collapse tied to a hidden $1 million line of credit

The Nelson twins detail how their ascent to fame on Geffen Records — catalyzed by the 1990 hit single, (Can't Live Without Your) Love & Affection — was shadowed by a financial trap that nearly destroyed them: a $1 million equity line opened in their names without consent. In their memoir, What Happened to Your Hair?, the brothers say they learned the truth only after touring costs had piled up and the money began to run dry, leaving them not just behind on payments but effectively broke. Gunnar and Matthew Nelson say the revelation came with the realization that the business world of rock was more about figures and balance sheets than guitar riffs and loud venues. "There were so many things we had to go through," Matthew said in an interview, noting the sacrifices they underwent and the sense that the hard truth would chill their enthusiasm for the industry they helped build. "There’s got to be something profoundly wrong" with a system that rewarded everybody around a touring act while the artists bore the bill.

The Nelsons’ story is inseparable from their Hollywood lineage. Grow­ing up in a family intertwined with TV royalty — grandparents Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, father Ricky Nelson, sister Tracy Nelson, and uncle Mark Harmon — the brothers bristled at being labeled as mere “nepo babies.” Gunnar Nelson pushes back on the tag, saying the duo made and wrote millions in music and stayed focused on their craft even as the family legacy loomed large. "We sold millions of records of songs that we wrote and produced ourselves to people who had no idea who Ricky Nelson or Ozzie and Harriet were," he said. "Our fans had no clue. The only people who were impressed were the older interviewers at the time who were interviewing us." The twins’ early career found them playing clubs in Los Angeles long before the hair-metal craze on the Sunset Strip would define the era. They wore long, distinctive hair and pursued what they called a heavier, more folk-leaning sound than the prevailing metal trends.

Their breakout came with a major label push. Geffen Records, described by Gunnar as the "800-pound gorilla in the industry at the time," helped propel Nelson into arenas and on MTV, where their 1990 debut album, After the Rain, and the single (Cant Live Without Your) Love & Affection powered them to widespread recognition. Yet the business dynamic underpinned a troubling paradox: the band’s success generated millions for the label and those around them, while the artists themselves struggled to keep up with the costs of touring and production.

"We made the record company millions and millions of dollars," Gunnar recalled, explaining that the duo, even with chart-topping hits, found themselves in debt as tour costs and production expenditures piled up. "Actually, we made everybody around us millions of dollars — and we wound up in the hole... Everybody’s there getting their commission off the top, but they’re not around when that fiddler has to get paid. You have to recoup as an artist at the reduced royalty rate." The brothers say they financed much of the touring themselves, including the costs of a 40-person entourage that comprised buses, trucks and a live team. "We were the ones fronting the costs," Matthew added, noting that the operational realities of their ascent meant paying for everything upfront while the back end of the business—royalties, taxes and management fees—took the bulk of the earnings.

The money story grew more alarming when the duo received a $1 million advance that, they say, largely disappeared into production, management fees and touring needs. "You get an advance of a million dollars — bang, that’s 20% going to management off the top. So that’s $800,000. Now you’ve got to pay taxes. What’s left over? You’ve got to design the look of the band. You’ve got to fund your own videos — those monster-hit videos that we paid for. There’s the tour that we paid for. We were told, ‘It’s like any starting business, guys. You have to invest at the beginning, and over time, it’s going to pay off.’" The revelation that a hidden $1 million equity line had been opened without their knowledge came when a business manager called to discuss their finances, and the couple learned that the line had been secured against everything they owned. Gunnar wrote that their manager had conspired with their business manager to hide the shortfall in touring by taking out the equity line in their names months earlier.

"It was all a lie. All of it," Gunnar said. "Everything we’d been told to placate us every time we’d demanded to see the books when we were out on the road... The truth was, we weren’t just broke... We were f------ broke... Buying a home was off the table now. The bank wanted its money, and it wanted it now... and if we didn’t pay it, we would lose absolutely everything down to the last guitar pick." The debt picture grew more daunting because the company initially agreed to offer a loan rather than an advance against future earnings, a structure the twins describe as an albatross that followed them for decades. "Geffen agreed to ‘give us another half a million just to pay our bills... but as a loan, not an advance against future earnings. That loan followed us around like an albatross for decades and grew into a fearsome amount,'" Gunnar wrote.

The timing could not have been worse. The mid-1990s saw a seismic shift in the music industry as grunge and bands like Nirvana displaced much of the glossy, hair-metal sound that had propelled Nelson to fame. The changing landscape contributed to Geffen's decision to part ways with Nelson in 1993, a disruption that further complicated the brothers’ ability to recoup their earlier gains. The split forced them to reimagine their careers with greater autonomy and to eventually form Stone Canyon Records to reclaim control of their music and finances.

Today, Gunnar and Matthew Nelson continue to perform, showcasing a career that spans decades and a family legacy that remains a point of both pride and humility. Their experiences, they say, highlight the price of fame in an industry that rewards turnover and spectacle while often obscuring the true cost to artists. The twins’ memoir, What Happened to Your Hair?, revisits not just the rise and fall of their career but the personal stakes of a life lived in the glare of the spotlight. They recall the moment they began to realize their dynasty’s influence went beyond the stage and into the ledger books that could determine whether they could keep a roof over their heads.

"We owe a huge debt of gratitude to David Geffen for taking a chance on us, and [executive] John Kalodner as well," Gunnar said. "Neither one of those gentlemen is easy to work with. They’re very opinionated, and they’ve had incredible careers because of that. And we were kids, man. But that friction made great art."

As they move forward, the Nelsons emphasize that their story is ultimately about resilience and independence. They have navigated the complexities of legacy, wealth, and power in a business that prized image as much as sound. The memoir offers a candid account of how quickly success can tilt into debt and how important it is for artists to seek control of their own work. In their words, the first chapters of the Nelson saga were written not just with guitars on stage, but with a willingness to confront the less glamorous realities of stardom and to keep making music on their own terms, even after the lights dimmed on their chart-topping era.