Nelson Carrera (* 3 May 1961 in Angola) is a rock 'n' roll/rockabilly musician from Portugal.
After growing up in the then Portuguese colony of Angola, he moved with his family to France following the Carnation Revolution in 1974 and the subsequent independence of the colonies, settling in Nogent-sur-Marne. As a teenager, he had already developed an interest in rock 'n' roll at the age of 10, after his older brother introduced him to the music of Gene Vincent and Joe Clay. Carrera subsequently began collecting records by Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, and many lesser-known musicians. Upon arriving in France, he intensified his interest in rock 'n' roll.
From 1978 onwards, he performed publicly in France (including at the Golf Drouot Club in Paris in 1979). From the early 1980s, Carrera began writing his own songs, exclusively in English. He lived in France for 25 years and was part of the local rock 'n' roll/rockabilly scene, leading various bands such as the Winkle Pickers (1978–1980) and the Hooligans (January 1981 – March 1982). In 1983, he recorded his first record, an EP with four tracks, including his own composition "Rock 'n' Roll School." The EP was released on the Savas Iguane label, which had also released the Gene Vincent Live in Switzerland EP. With the support of former Vince Taylor manager Jean 'Charles' Smaine, his international appearances increased thereafter, including in Germany and Switzerland, the Benelux countries, Scandinavia, and the United Kingdom.
In 1987, he performed with a new band (The Hornets), and another EP, Modern Robin Hood, was released on the Carioca label. Two tracks from it appeared, under the name Alley Cats, on a Rock Frenzy compilation album in 1989. Between 1989 and 1990, he performed at the Bataclan in Paris, at the Crazy Beat Club with King Pleasure and Biscuit Boys in Bad Säckingen, and at La Ferté-Macé with Malcolm Yelvington. After a final performance with his Alley Cats in Spain, Carrera married and moved in the summer of 1992 to the Portuguese seaside resort of Figueira da Foz, where he became a father and took a job as an event technician at the Casino Figueira.
In 1996, an article about Carrera appeared in Carlos Diaz's Rock Therapy Magazine (El Toro Records), as well as in other music magazines, including the French Thundersound, the Norwegian Rock, the Dutch Boppin' Around, the Italian Jamboree, and the German Rockin' 50s. Unable to form a stable band with good musicians, Carrera recorded an album in Paris in 2001, *Everybody's Rockin' with Nelson Carrera*, which he released on Smaine's Tiger Records label. In 2004, he made his first appearance back on the rockabilly scene, headlining a concert in Colmar, France, with his new backing band, The Hot Rocks. The concert was released on DVD and CD, but was not commercially distributed. A solo album with The Hot Rocks, *Something to Remember*, was released on the Chupeta label in 2005.
