Roy Orbison Biography

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Roy Orbison
Classic Rock | 3 CD Set
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It's easy to overdo the title "legend" in pop music but few would deny that sunglass-wearing Roy Orbison could answer to that in the pantheon of music stars. Roy, born in 1936 in Texas, died in 1989 from a heart attack suffered in Nashville. His music covered rock, pop and country bases but for the most part was pure Orbison. He actually had 22 charted singles between 1960 and 1966, when his career pretty much went into a decline that didn't get charged again until near the end. He proved to be a Hall of Famer (elected so in 1987) when he was asked to be part of the superstar group called the Traveling Wilburys with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne. The album this group of biggies put out owed a lot of its impetus to Orbison's input but Orbison suffered his fatal heart attack shortly after its release. He got to the Wilbury scene after making a video that included appearances by Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits and Elvis Costello. Orbison began performing as a teenager and after high school enrolled at North Texas State. In the mid-'50s he was part of the Tune Wranglers, a group that caught the attention of Johnny Cash, who recommended that Orbison send a demo tape to Sun Records. He had a hit at Sun in 1956, "Ooby Dooby," and the next year he was working for Fred Rose in Nashville, penning a tune that the Everly Brothers cashed in on, "Claudette." Then it was Orbison's turn to mine some gold. In 1959, he began writing a series of songs that made the '60s charts, majors like "Only the Lonely," which went to No. 2 on the pop charts after it was turned down by Elvis Presley and the Everly Brothers; "Cryin'," another No. 2; "Dream Baby," No. 4; "Blue Bayou," No. 29 but an Orbison classic that was to be covered 15 years later by Linda Ronstadt; "In Dreams," No. 7; "Running' Scared," No. 1 in 1961; and his all time classic, 1964's "Oh Pretty Woman," which stayed at No. 1 for three weeks. He was a big hit in England in the '60s, getting the attention of rising stars like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. It was at an English concert venue that he forgot his regular glasses and was forced to go on stage with prescription sunglasses, which, along with his black clothing made him into another "man in black." He more or less retired in the '70s until the Ronstadt cover, which put him back in the studio for a pair of average pop albums that went nowhere. He underwent open heart surgery but made a comeback in 1980, winning the first of three Grammy awards between 1980 and 1986. He recorded an album of old favorites but did them in modern studio facilities, which took the edge off Orbison's music. It's possible that his last album, MYSTERY GIRL, was one of the best if not the best of his career but he didn't know about it, since it was released after his death.

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