[1][2] After high school, Nelson studied music, first at Phoenix College, then at Arizona State University in Tempe in the late 1940s.
He remained in Providence until his death, collaborating with various people and groups including singing as a bass in the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra (who have performed several of his works).
Nelson composed a half-hour-long work, Vox Aeterna Amoris, for mezzo-soprano solo and orchestra, which was premiered at Carnegie Hall, February 19, 1991, by Katherine Ciesinski and the National Orchestral Association.
Music critic Channing Gray described his 1990 "Cantata Psalmorum" in the Providence Journal-Bulletin the previous year as a "moving, eloquent score."
The Midtown Messenger in May 2004 again noted Nelson's life and work and his connection to his hometown, following his visit there to attend a performance of his composition "An Arizona Overture" in April 2004.