There’s been confusion about Willie Nelson’s birthday since he was born during the Great Depression in 1933.
The Texas singer-songwriter’s daughter Lana peeled away some of the layers of mystification not long ago. Here’s her version of events: Willie celebrated his birthday on April 29 until he was 18, when he went into the Air Force. After the military produced a copy of his birth certificate, Willie determined he’d been celebrating on the wrong date all along.
He then began telling friends, family and everybody else that his birthday was actually April 30.
Until he found out that wasn’t true either.
Willie’s cousin Mildred — who was 13 when he was born — told Willie sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s, according to Texas Monthly, that he was actually born on April 29. It turns out that Willie was born quite late on April 29, 1933, but because he was born in Abbott, a very small town 70 miles from Dallas, the birth was not officially recorded until April 30. Hence the confusion.
Ever the master of turning lemons into lemonade, Willie has spent years showing the millions who love him that the best way to handle the confusion is to get two birthdays ever year.
So, for that reason, Willie will celebrate his landmark 90th birthday by headlining a massive concert in his honor on both April 29 and 30 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.