Editing Harry Nilsson (section)

==Early life==
Nilsson was born on June 15, 1941 in the [[Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn|Bedford–Stuyvesant]] neighbourhood of [[Brooklyn]] in [[New York City]].<ref>Staff. [http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/harry-nilssons-childhood-home "Harry Nilsson's Childhood Home - The childhood home of one of America's greatest unsung troubadours still stands in a much changed Brooklyn neighborhood"], ''[[Atlas Obscura]]''. Retrieved June 17, 2017. "The crooner was born to a poor family in the Bed-Stuy section of Brooklyn on June 15th, 1941. He lived on the top floor of 762 Jefferson Avenue, a simple Romanesque Revival-style apartment building constructed in 1901, until the family fled to California a decade later."</ref>{{Sfn|Shipton|2013|p=1}} His paternal great-grandfather, a [[Swedes|Swede]] who later emigrated to and became naturalized in the United States, created an act known as an "aerial ballet" (which is the title of one of Nilsson's albums).<ref name="greatgrandfather">{{cite web |title=Nilsson's Aerial Ballet |url=https://nilssonschmilsson.com/nilssons-aerial-ballet.html |website=NilssonSchmilsson.com |access-date=August 2, 2021}}<br>{{cite web |title=Carl Emanuel Nilsson |url=https://nilssonschmilsson.com/carl-emanuel-nilsson-210716230753.html |website=NilssonSchmilsson.com |access-date=September 8, 2021}}</ref>

His mother, Elizabeth ({{nee}} Martin) Nilsson, was known as "Bette" to the family. She was born in 1920 in New York to Charles Augustus Martin and Florence Madeline ({{nee}} Stotz) Martin. Bette had a brother, John, and a sister, Mary. Her parents were the cornerstones of her son's young life. While his maternal grandmother played piano, his maternal grandfather, Charlie Martin, supported the family in a tiny [[railroad apartment]] on Jefferson Avenue in Brooklyn.<ref name="Shipton">Shipton, Alyn, ''Harry Nilsson: Life and Times of a Singer-Songwriter'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.</ref> His father, Harry Edward Nilsson Jr., abandoned the family when Nilsson was three years old. An autobiographical reference to this is found in the opening to Nilsson's song "1941":

{{poemquote|Well, in 1941, a happy father had a son.
And by 1944, the father had walked right out the door}}

Nilsson's "[[Daddy's Song]]" also refers to this period in Nilsson's childhood.<ref name="Who is">{{cite video |people=Harry Nilsson|year=2010|title=Who is Harry Nilsson? (And Why is Everyone Talkin' About Him?) |url=http://www.authorizedpix.com/wihn_home.html|format=DVD|publisher=Authorized Pictures/[[Lorber Films]]|location= New York |access-date=February 7, 2011}}</ref> He grew up with his mother and a younger half-sister. His younger brother, Drake Nilsson, was left with family or friends during their moves between Southern California and New York, sometimes living with a succession of relatives and his stepfather.<ref name="Shipton" /> His uncle, a mechanic in [[San Bernardino, California]], helped Nilsson improve his vocal and musical abilities.<ref name="Eden">{{cite web|url=https://nilssonschmilsson.com/one-last-touch-of-nilsson.html|title=One Last Touch of Nilsson|first=Dawn|last=Eden |date=April 29, 1994|work=Goldmine Magazine|access-date=August 2, 2021}}</ref> In addition to his half-brother and a half-sister through his mother, he also had three half-sisters and one half-brother through his father.<ref name="Who is"/>

Due to his family's poor financial situation, Nilsson worked from an early age, including a job at the [[Paramount Theatre (Los Angeles)|Paramount Theatre]] in Los Angeles. When the cinema closed in 1960, he applied for a job at a bank, falsely claiming he was a high school graduate on his application (he completed through ninth grade).<ref name="Eden"/> He had an aptitude for computers, which were starting to be used at banks at the time. He later performed so well in his role that the bank retained him even after they discovered he had lied about his education. He worked on bank computers at night and, in the daytime, pursued his songwriting and singing careers.<ref name="Eden"/>