Roy Orbison

Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Bill Price, and in this edition of Rock and Roll Flashback we will look back at one of Rock and Roll’s top recording artists, Roy Orbison. His career as a musician ran from 1953 to 1988. Roy was unique, not only for his voice and song writing, but also for his later collaborations with other famous rock artists from the 1960's and 1980's.

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Transcript

In this edition of Rock and Roll Flashback, we will look back at one of Rock and Roll’s top recording artists, Roy Orbison. His career as a musician ran from 1953 to 1988. Roy was unique, not only for his voice and song writing, but also for his later collaborations with other famous Rock artists from the 1960s and 1980s.

Roy Kelton Orbison was born on April 23rd, 1936 in Vernon, Texas. As a teenager Roy started singing in rockabilly and also in country and western bands. In 1942 the family relocated to Fort Worth, but due to the polio panic they returned to Vernon. When Roy was six years old, his father gave him a guitar as a birthday gift. Eventually the focus of his life became music. He was primarily influenced by country music. Country star Ernest Tubb was among the first artists that Roy heard in person in Fort Worth. Then by the age of eight he started performing on a local radio program, eventually becoming the show’s host in the late 1940s.

In 1949, Roy and some of his friends formed a band called the Wink Westerners, playing country and Glenn Miller songs. They played in local honky-tonk venues and also performed on a weekly radio program on KERB located in Kermit, Texas. When they were offered 400 dollars to perform at a dance, Roy then realized he could make a living by playing music. However, he enrolled at the North Texas State College in Denton, Texas to study geology so he could secure employment in the oil fields. The plan was to have a backup in case the music career failed to materialize.

When he learned that his schoolmate Pat Boone had acquired a record deal, it only
reinforced Roy’s interest in becoming a professional musician and performer. While attending college, he heard a song called “Ooby Dooby”. He continued performing with the Wink Westerners, when two members of the band left, two replacements were added. The new group won a talent contest and obtained their own television program on KMIDTV in Midland, Texas. It was during a New Year Eve dance in 1954 that in addition to playing country and western swing music, the Wink Westerners concluded their performance by playing “Shake Rattle and Roll”, eventually switching to Rock an Roll.

By the end of 1955, the Wink Westerners disbanded. Roy then formed a new band called The Teen Kings. At a dance event performance, Orbison met his future wife Claudette Frady. In March 1956, The Teen Kings recorded the song “Ooby Dooby” at Norman Petty’s studio located in Clovis, New Mexico. The single was released on a start up label called Je-Wel. Soon after the single’s release, Roy was able to terminate the contract with Je-Wel, believing that a larger label could sell more copies of the single. The Teen Kings then went to Sun Studios in Memphis Tennessee to re record “Ooby Dooby”. After auditioning the song, Sam Philips signed the group to a 1 to 2 year contract. Since Roy was interested in recording ballads instead of Rockabilly, their career did not take off. Sam had hoped that Roy would be a successor to Elvis. However, he concentrated on working with Carl Perkins instead of Roy and The Teen Kings.

In May1956 “ Ooby Dooby” was released on the Sun label, however it did not chart until June, peaking at number 59 on the Billboard chart. The single sold 200,000 copies. None of the subsequent releases managed to achieve chart success. That same year The Teen Kings performed along with Carl Perkins, Warren Smith, and Johnny Cash at the Overton Park Shell. But by this time tension had developed between Roy and the other band members. By December, The Teen Kings disbanded.

Now without a band, Roy toured with Johnny Cash, Sonny Burgess, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent. Roy returned to Sun Studio in August 1957 to record a few songs using only his acoustic guitar and no backing band. However, none were successful and Roy considered giving up on becoming a recording artist. Then in the fall of 1957, Roy returned to Odessa, Texas. While in Memphis, Roy met singer Joe Melson, who would later play a role in Roy’s biggest hits of the early 1960s.
The Orbison penned ballad “The Clown” did not generate any interest especially with the Sun Records producer, who told Roy that he had no future as a ballad performer.

Un fazed by the criticism, Roy pitched another ballad tilted “Claudette” to vocalists he met while on tour. Interestingly, in April 1958, The Everly Brothers recorded the song and appeared on the B-side of the hit “ All I Have to Do is Dream”. “Claudette” managed to reach the number 30 position in March 1959. However, due to a dispute over royalties from the song “Claudette”, Roy left Sun Records. Between 1958 and 1959, worked at Acuff Rose Music, which was a songwriting company. Joe Melson a songwriter and an acquaintance of Roy, decided to write songs together. Over the course of three recording sessions, Roy recorded seven songs at Nashville’s RCA Victor studios. Only two singles were deemed worthy of being released. Eventually Wesley Rose introduced Roy to Fred Foster who was a producer at Monument Records. This resulted in Orbison getting signed
to the record label.

At the first recording session held in Nashville, Roy recorded a song titled “Paper Boy”, a composition that had been rejected by RCA. Since the single only sold 18,000 copies, it failed to generate any interest and did not enter the charts. However Foster’s production gave Orbison a polished professional sound that allowed Roy the ability to utilize string instrumentation as opposed to using fiddles. The result was three new songs, with “Uptown” being the most noteworthy. “Uptown co written with Joe Melson was released in the latter part of 1959 and became a modest hit, selling 75,000 copies, and managed to reach the Billboard Top 100. With the improvement in sales, Roy and Fred spent considerable time reviewing material for the next recording. At one point Roy showed Fred two new compositions, which Fred liked, but not well enough to record. Fred then
suggested that if the two songs were combined, Roy could achieve a hit. As a result of the challenge, Roy came up with “Only the Lonely”, which became a hit with over a million copies sold and earning a Gold Record. The single climbed to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. In the UK and Australia it made to number one. This eventually led to a string of subsequent releases.

In 1960 the next song titled “Blue Angel” was recorded and climbed to number nine in the US. The following release was “I’m Hurtin”, which also made into the charts at number 27, however it failed to chart in the UK. After the success of “Blue Angel”, Roy toured with country star Patsy Cline. Back inthe studio, Roy began work on his next composition titled “Running Scared”. The single went on to become Orbison’s first Billboard Hot 100 hit, peaking at number one and climbing to number nine in the UK. Interestingly the B-side to “Running Scared” was “Crying”, which also became a top five hit in August 1961. The next release titled “Candy Man” made it into the Billboard Top 30 where it remained on the chart for two months. 

By the end of 1961, Roy had recorded six compositions, all of which became hits. The next single titled “Dream Baby” rose to number four in the US and number two in the UK. In 1962 several releases followed that also made into the charts. These included “The Crowd”, “Leah” and “Working for the Man”. Interestingly Roy met Bob Dylan on Bob’s 21st birthday party in May 1962. During the period from 1959 to 1963, Roy would go on to become the top selling US artist and international performer. His signature image of performing wearing sunglasses was the result of leaving his eyeglasses on an airplane, and having to perform using his prescription sunglasses. This left the impression with some people that Roy was blind.

In 1963 more singles were released which included “In Dreams” reaching number seven in the US and number six in the UK, “Falling” reaching number 22 in the US, “Mean Woman Blues” climbing to number five in the US and number three in the UK, and “Blue Bayou” number 29 in the US. At the end of 1963 Roy recorded a Christmas composition written by Willie Nelson title “Pretty Paper”. In the US it rose to number 15 and in the UK number six in 1964. In 1963 Roy replaced Duane Eddy on a UK tour as the top act, appearing with The Beatles. However when Orbison arrived in the UK, he soon realized that he was not top act. Roy had not heard of The Beatles, and asked, “What is a Beatle anyway?” John Lennon tapped Roy’s shoulder and said, “I am”. During the opening night’s performance Roy decided to go on first. His performance and 14 encores dumbfounded The Beatles as they stood backstage. That same year he also toured in Ireland and Canada. The
following year he toured in Australia and New Zealand along with The Beach Boys. In 1965 he toured in Australia this time with The Rolling Stones.

Back in the US, Roy started collaborating with Bill Dees an acquaintance from Texas. One of the songs they co wrote was “It’s Over”, which rose to number one in the UK and number nine in the US. The title for Roy’s most successful single came about when Roy’s wife Claudette walked in to the room, where Roy and Bill writing songs, to say she traveling to Nashville. Roy asked her if she needed any money. Bill’s comment was “A pretty woman never needs any money”. In the span of forty minuets “Oh Pretty Woman” was written. In the latter part of 1964, it rose to the number one position, remaining on the charts for 14 weeks. In the UK it also was number one where it remained on the charts for 18 weeks. The single went on to sell over seven million copies.

However by 1965 subsequent releases were not successful. When his contract with Monument Records expired, Roy was signed to MGM Records. The first MGM release was an album titled “There Is Only One Roy Orbison” that only managed to sell less than 200,000 copies. Due to the British Invasion, artists of Roy’s generation found it difficult compete with the direction the music was taking. In March 1967 the single titled “Cry Softly Lonely One” was Roy’s last release to make it into the Top 100. He would not have any other hits until the 1980s.

Both Roy and Claudette liked riding motorcycles. On June 6th, 1966, a pickup truck struck Claudette, in Gallatin, Tennessee. She died as a result of her injury, she was just 25 years old. Two years later while on tour in the UK, tragedy stuck once again. Roy received the news that his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee had burned down and that his two eldest sons had also perished in the fire.

On May25th, 1969, Roy married Barbara Wellhonen. During the 1970s, Roy continued recording albums but without any success and by 1974 he then moved from MGM to Mercury Records. The single titled “ Penny Arcade” was a number one hit in Australia. Another single titled “Too Soon to Know” managed to reach the number 3 position in the UK.

In 1977, Roy returned to performing and was the opening act for The Eagles. That same year, Linda Ronstadt recorded a cover version of “Blue Bayou”. The single reached the number three position on the Billboard charts where it remained for 24 weeks. Later Orbison would credit Ronstadt’s cover for helping revive his career. In 1980 Don McLean had a number five US hit with a cover of “Crying”. The single remained on the charts for 15 weeks. Then in 1982 an unlikely band recorded a hard rock version of “Oh Pretty Woman” The band was none other than Van Halen. This cover version exposed younger audiences to Roy’s music.

In 1987, Orbison was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of Fame with Bruce Springsteen giving a speech at the ceremony. Later that year Orbison and Springsteen got together to film a concert at the Coconut Grove nightclub located in Los Angeles. They were joined by several well known musicians, which included Jackson Brown, T Bone Burnett, Elvis Costello, Tom Watts, Bonnie Raitt, Jennifer Warnes, James Burton, JD Souther and K D Lang. The concert was released on Cinemax, titled “Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night”. The titled was appropriate since the concert was film in back and white. It was later released on video, selling 50,000 copies.

The formation of the world’s most renowned group began in 1987, when Roy started collaborating with Jeff Lynn of the Electric Light Orchestra. Lynn had recently finished working on George Harrison’s album titled “Cloud Nine”. After Roy was invited to sing on George’s new single, they then contacted Bob Dylan who permitted then to record in Dylan’s home studio. On his way to the studio, Harrison went to Tom Petty’s home to pick up his guitar. By the end of the day they had written a song titled “Handle With Care”. This prompted then to record an album and name then selves The Traveling Wilburys. On October 25th, 1988 the album titled “Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 was released. In November, Roy finished a solo album titled “Mystery Girl”. 

After a performance in Highland Heights, Ohio on December 4th, 1988, Roy returned to Hendersonville to rest for several days. Two days later he died due to a heart attack. 

On January 1989, the “Mystery Girl” album was released. The biggest hit from the album was “You Got It”, which was written along with Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty. The song climbed to number nine in the US and number three in the UK. The composition earned Roy a posthumous Grammy Award. The Traveling Wilburys Vol 1 album remained on the US charts for 53 weeks and peaked at number three. In Australia it reached number one and in the UK number 16. At the Grammys it won an award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group.

In addition to his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Nashville
Songwriters Hall of Fame, Roy was also inducted into America’s Pop Music Hall of
Fame, Memphis Music Hall of Fame and the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame.
He also earned a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Rolling Stone ranked him at number 37 on the list of “Greatest Artists of All Time” and number 13 on the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time”. In 2002, Roy was listed at number 74 in the TOP 600 recording artists by Billboard magazine. Roy Orbison’s discography includes 23 studio albums, 4 live albums, 24 compilation albums, and 92 singles.

Here is Roy Orbison’s number two hit from 1960, “Only the Lonely”.

This hasbeen a look back at the remarkable songwriting and performing career of Roy Orbison, on Rock and Roll Flashback. Until next I’m your host, Bill Price.