Roy Orbison
One of the original Sun Records rockabilly artists recording
alongside Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy
Orbison went on to become one of the most distinctive singers in
popular music. Wearing trademark sunglasses, black leather
jacket, and slicked back black pompadour, and with a twangy
guitar and quavering belcanto tenor, Orbison scored a number of
hits.
"I think the greatest voice in the world
is Roy Orbison"
Elvis Presley
Orbie and Nadine Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was born in Vernon, Texas, on April 23, 1936. His parents Orbie Lee and Nadine gave him a guitar for his sixth birthday. He learned to play guitar at age six from his father and an uncle. Orbie was an auto mechanic in Vernon, but moved the family to Fort Worth so he could find work in the defense plants. Orbie ended up on the assembly line for the B-24 bomber, the Liberator.
1948 With friend Orbie Lee Harris
Biographer Ellis Amburn portrayed him as a social outcast from an early age. Orbison dyed his hair black and wore sun glasses to alter his homely looks. Orbison affected an egotistical attitude to mask his feelings of inadequacy.
An outbreak of polio in Fort Worth during the war caused his parents to send him back to Vernon. After V-J Day they moved back to Vernon as well, soon moving to the West Texas town of Wink, an oil boom town close to the Mexican border. Orbie worked for Olson Drilling, across the state line in Jal, New Mexico.
Like many other early rockers, Orbison came from country music to rock. His father played Jimmy Rogers songs on the guitar and his uncle played the blues. His talent was never in doubt: He had his own radio shows from the age of eight and when he was ten he had played his first paying job - a medicine show, where he sang the Cajun novelty "Jole Blon." His first appearance before an audience didn't come until he was eleven, and then it was as a student at Wink Public School. When Orbison turned thirteen he formed his first band, the Wink Westerners in 1952. After the Wink Westerners won a talent contest organized by Pioneer Furniture company in Midland, Pioneer sponsored a weekly television show for them on KMID-TV.
The Westerners consisted of Charles Evans on stand up Bass, Billy Par Ellis on drums, Richard West on piano and James Morrow on electric mandolin. In 1951, at the age of fifteen, Orbison and the band began appearing on radio broadcasts from nearby Kermit. Mr. Limpscombe, superintendent at Wink High School was running for a position with the district Lions Club and offered the Westerners $200 to be the opening act when he was asked to speak. This led to Orbison's trip to Chicago at the age of sixteen to appear at the National Lions Club Convention.
The character of the Westerners can be judged by their name and the Roy Rogers bandanas they were around their necks. They played Lefty Frizell, Slim Whitman, Webb Pierce. They also played a lot of Glenn Miller-style songs like "Stardust" and "Moonlight Serenade," which they adapted for their string instruments.
In 1954 high school yearbook Orbison spelled out his ambitions:
To lead a western band
Is his after school wish
And of course to marry
A beautiful
dish.
By the time he graduated from high school, he was appearing daily on KOSA.
After graduation, Orbison wanted to study geology in college, but his family didn't have the tuition money. So he worked in the oil fields near Wink for the El Paso Gas Company while playing music at night. Later he went to college at North Texas State in Denton near Fort Worth, transferring to Odessa Junior College for his second year. Orbison studied geology, preparing to follow his father in the oil fields if all else failed
While at North Texas State, Orbison visited the Big D Jamboree in Dallas and it was there on Apr 16, 1955 that he saw Elvis Presley for the first time. It was also at this time where his college buddy at North Texas State, the newly famous Pat Boone, urged him to experiment with more pop-oriented songwriting.
In Odessa Orbison roomed with James Morrow, Jack Kennelly, and Billy Pat Ellis, who re-cast themselves as the Teen Kings. The Teen Kings were joined by Johnny "Peanuts" Wilson on the rhythm guitar, and with this lineup they got another television show on KOSA, sponsored by the local Pontiac dealer. In 1955 Johnny Cash appeared on the show and implanted the idea of recording for Sun.
Orbison acquired the song "Ooby Dooby," from Wade Moore and Dick Penner, who had written it in fifteen minutes on the flat roof of a fraternity house at North Texas State. In the last half of 1955, Orbison decided to go to Clovis, New Mexico to record it as a single on Norman Petty's Je-Wel label. However, Sid King recalls being given a copy credited to the Wink Westerners by Orbison in January, 1955. Orbison's group had been playing Ooby Dooby in a modified Texas swing style for nearly a year and it appears the first version was probably recorded near Wink while he was at home during the Christmas holidays.
With help from Orbison's broadcast exposure, sales were going well around North Texas State. So Petty approached Columbia in search of a recording contract. Mitch Miller, who thought rock and roll was just a passing fad, wasn't interested.
Columbia didn't care for Orbison, but gave it to one of their contract artist, Sid King who recorded "Ooby Dooby" on March 5, 1956. A day earlier, Orbison had re-recorded the song at Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, New Mexico. The session yielded essential rockabilly, such as "Domino." In the Petty sessions the Teen Kings sang backup vocals similar to those popularized by R&B groups.
Orbison's version of "Ooby Dooby" from the Petty sessions was quickly released on Jean Oliver and Weldon Roger's Je-Wel Records. The Teen Kings had met Jean, who played accordion and sang, and her boyfriend Weldon Rogers, at some of the Friday night jamborees that they played in West Texas.
With Sam Phillps
Orbison had approached Sam Phillips at Sun Records at Johnny Cash's suggestion, but Phillips had turned him down. However, Orbison had a stronger ally in Cecil "Pop" Holifield who had record shops in Midland and Odessa and had booked Elvis Presley into the area. Holifield played the Je-Wel record over the phone to Phillips, who heard something unique in Orbison's voice and asked him to send a copy.
Sensing that "Ooby Dooby" might break like "Blue Suede Shoes,' Phillips moved quickly and brought the Teen Kings to Sun in late March or early April 1956 to re-record the song.
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After the session the Teen Kings returned to West Texas and heard nothing until Phillips called in early May and told them the record was breaking in Memphis and other markets. With his career now launched, Orbison proposed marriage to Claudette Frady, a fourteen year old brunette from Odessa. They were married before the end of 1956.
"Ooby Dooby" led to appearances on the Big D Jamboree and the Ed Sullivan's television (June 1956). Starting in July and continuing until 1958 the Teen Kings were placed with and than began touring as part of a package headlined by Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins."Ooby Dooby" eventually reached number 59 on Billboard's Hot 100 and sold roughly 20,000 copies. It would be the biggest hit Orbison had for four years.
Orbison quickly developed a fascination for studio work. He worked sessions at Sun for other artists and performed on the commercials and radio spots. He also started to write prolifically.
Like Carl Perkin's, Orbison was slow to find a follow up to his first hit. He recorded "Rockhouse" that was released in 1956, but it was already behind the times.
Orbison's third single was "Sweet and Easy to Love" backed with "Devil Doll" in December. It was during rehearsals for "Devil Doll" and "Sweet and Easy" that Orbison split from the Teen Kings. Orbison completed the session with Sun house musicians.
Attempting to revived Orbison's sales, Sun's new musical director Bill Justis, gave him one of his first tries at writing rock and roll, "Chicken Hearted," a novelty song. Released in December 1957, it was Orbison's last on Sun as a contracted artist.
By this time Orbison, never really comfortable with rockabilly, was disillusioned with the way Phillips was handling his career. After "Chicken Hearted" flopped, Orbison returned to Texas with his new bride, Claudette Frady, from Odessa.
Orbison knew that his talents were being misdirected at Sun, and events to come would prove it. After his return to Texas he began to question if he wanted to continue to be a performer.
As a writer, Orbison had a fleeting hit for Warren Smith with "So Long I'm Gone." He did even better when Jerry Lee Lewis revamped "Go! Go! Go!" as "Down the Line" the b side of "Breathless," Johnny Cash recorded "You Tell Me."
But it was the success of "Claudette," named for his wife, which went to the top on the flip side of the Everly Brothers' "All I Have to Do Is Dream," that made Orbison seriously consider writing. Orbison brought out his Sun contract by signing over all his copyrights (except "Claudette") and affiliated himself with the Everly's music publisher, Acuff-Rose.
Fred Foster and Roy Orbison
Orbison during his last RCA session had a conversation with the session bassist Bob Moore, who was buying part of a small Washington, D.C. based Monument Records. Upon learning that RCA wasn't going to renew Orbison's contract, Moore went to Monument's owner Fred Foster who promptly sign him.
With songwriting partner Joe Melson
Orbison went back to Texas where he began writing with Joe Melson, who led a local group called the Cavaliers in Midland. After a few false starts, Orbison and Melson came up with a song called "Uptown," which sold better than any Orbison record since "Ooby Dooby," peaking halfway up Billboard's Hot 100.
British tour with the Beatles and Gerry
and the Pacemakers
Orbison's first peak period was from 1961 to 1964. During this time he moved between snarling blues rock and his mainstay, the romantic ballad with crescendoing falsetto and strings. With his twangy guitar and belcanto tenor, Orbison had a number of hits that include among them: "Only the Lonely' (#2 1960), "Running Scared" (31, 1961), "Crying" (#2, 1961), "Dream Baby" (#4, 1962), "In Dreams" (#7, 1963) and "Oh, Pretty Woman" (#1, 1964). Orbison co-wrote almost all his hits and often produced them as well. Successful in the U.S, Orbison was also a smash in Britain where in 1963 he toured with the Beatles and Gerry and the Pacemakers.
Heartbreak, a common theme in Orbison's music, shadowed his life as well. His marriage to Claudette was sweet and sour. He was away from home for long stretches at a time, she was young reportedly having an affair. They were divorced in November, 1964 only to remarry the following August. While touring in England in March 1966 he was nearly killed in a motorcycle accident. He broke an ankle and performed the rest of the tour seated on a stool Three months later in 1966, he was riding motorcycles with his wife, Claudette, whose name was the title of a tune he wrote in 1955 and the Everly Brothers recorded in 1958,.when a truck driver pulled out in front of her. She died an hour later at the age of twenty-five.
Picture fom The
Fastest Guitar Alive
Following his wife's death in 1966, Orbison's career went on hold. However, he did appear in the 1967 film The Fastest Guitar Alive.
L to R: Roy DeWayne and Anthony King,
spring 1968
In 1968, Roy was on tour in England when he learned of a second tragedy. Two of their three sons, Roy Dewayne and Anthony King, had died in a fire at their Nashville home.
Roy and Barbara Orbison
In 1969, he re-married German born Barbara Wellnoener-Jacobs, a woman he met while on tour of Britain. A year later they moved to Dusseldorf and in October 1970, they had a son. Following his wife's death in 1966, Orbison's career went on hold. Orbison's popularity remained strong in Britain where he had appeared at London's Talk of the Town club even as his popularity in the U.S. was ebbing.
Refusing to join rock 'n' roll revival shows and Orbison seldom toured in the United States after the late '60s.
After steady work through the '70s, he recorded albums for Mercury, Monument, and Electra in 1975, 1977, and 1979 respectively, he returned to American touring and saw Linda Ronstadt score a Top 10 pop and country hit with "Blue Bayou."
He spent five years without a recording contract. In January 1978, years of cigarette smoking and Southern fried cooking caught up with him, and he underwent heart bypass surgery at St. Thomas Hospital near Nashville.
Class of 55
L to R: Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl
Perkins
Front: Jerry Lee Lewis
Orbison opened the new decade as the opening act on the Eagles' 1980 tour and a Grammy winning duet with Emmylou Harris "That Lovin' Feeling' Again on the Roadie soundtrack. A 1981 comeback show in New York City was both a commercial and critical success.That same year Don McClean had a Top 10 hit with "Crying." In 1982 "Oh, Pretty Woman" was a hit for Van Halen and would later be revived again as the title theme song of the 1990 hit film Pretty Woman. In 1986 Orbison rejoined Sun Records alumni Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis for Class of '55. However, Orbison's comeback really began when director David Lynch used "In Dreams" in a startling scene in his film Blue Velvet. In 1987 In Dreams: The Greatest Hits, which presented newly recorded versions of Orbison's was released, and the taping of an all star tribute show "A Black and White Night." Taped in Los Angeles' Coconut Grove the tribute starred Orbison, with backing by Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt, k.d. lang, Jackson Browne, Jennifer Warnes, Tom Waits, and J.D. Souther.
Over the years, Orbison came to realize that he had been a victim of questionable accounting practices by record companies and the publishers of his song. Being a nice guy, and as long as he was making money he decided to not rock the boat. In the lean times of 1982, after hearing Elvis Presley had been owed money, but was never paid, Orbison decided to do something about it. He sued Acuff-Rose publishers for $50 million in back royalties.
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In 1987 Orbison's duet remake of Crying" with k.d.lang hit #42 on the country charts. A chance meeting with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne led to the formation of the extremely successful Traveling Wilburys. At the same time Orbison was completing work on his next solo album Mystery Girl, which included the hit Orbison-Lynne-Petty composition "You Got It" (#9, 1989), which became Orbison's first Top Twenty hit in 25 years.
Orbison was on the brink of a major solo comeback when on December 6, 1988 he died suddenly of a heart attack in Madison, Tennessee, at the age of 52. The posthumously released Mystery Girl (#5, 1989) became the highest charting album of his career and eventually was certified platinum. Virgin records later assembled King of Hearts for 1992 release.
Roy Orbison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
