The Big 'O'

This is not to give a history of Roy’s career as there are many sites, videos & books already covering that but instead to give some interesting stories concerning him, behind his songs & also to settle, hopefully, the controversy surrounding why he ended up wearing sunglasses.

It all began at the age of 6 when Roy wanted a harmonica for his birthday but his father gave him a guitar instead. He quit trying to play the guitar as a soloist or being a master of the guitar at 15 years of age, he felt he’d played everything he knew & also he had no one to teach him anything more progressive so he decided to let the guitar be just an instrument for his singing, that is why Roy is always seen with a guitar!

Yes, Roy did have to wear prescription glasses due to eye problems, but no he was not albino, nor was he blind! The story behind the sunglasses & how it came to be, is as given here in an interview by the man himself

: Click to listen.

Stories Behind Some of the Songs

When Roy recorded 'Ooby Dooby' (1956) at Sun Records, it was the first time in history 2 track recording had been used. 1 of those tracks being used for echo. It was his first minor hit.

In 1957 after the first year with Sun Records, Roy retired, went into song writing & wrote a song called ‘Claudette’. Roy got called out of retirement to play a Show with the Everly Brothers, they asked him if he had any songs, he said no, he didn’t have songs, he only had one song. Roy played ‘Claudette’ to them, he then wrote the lyrics on the top of a shoe box, the Everly Brothers took it to Nashville with them, recorded it & eventually it was a No 1 Hit. The song was written for Roy’s wife Claudette, who was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1966.

1958, Roy went to RCA to get a contract, Chet Atkins couldn’t see any talent & ended up referring him to Fred Foster. In 1959, he went to Monument & was signed by Fred Foster. Roy’s first single there was 'Uptown', where he fought to have strings instead of fiddles, he felt the song was flat & needed lifting. Fred Foster still after complying with the strings, thought Roy was timid & he wasn’t projecting his voice very well, so he asked the engineer to put Roy in a corner, pull a coat rack over & around Roy to keep the band out of Roy’s microphone. They ended up having to pad the coat rack with many blankets to totally isolate Roy & in doing so, his voice did eventually project over the orchestra.

‘Only The Lonely’ (1964) - Roy wrote the song in a car outside his house, it had been originally written with a very short verse. At the same time, he’d also written another song, ‘Come Back To Me My Love’, which was about his teenage sweetheart dying on her 16th birthday & in that song it had a beautiful background figure singing, Fred Foster loved the background figure & one night he started humming it to himself only to find the lyrics of ‘Only The Lonely’ substituting. He woke Roy up & said, "we’ll take the vocal out of ‘Come Back To Me My Love’ & put it into ‘Only The Lonely’, drop the verse & we’ve got it". Roy didn’t believe it would work, he got 16 bars in & realised immediately it would. ‘Only The Lonely’ was his first big hit in England & it also had a huge impact on his career. It was a giant record not only from the aspect of singer/songwriter but also it became an international hit which Roy then felt in turn allowed him to tour the world. His decision in touring was also aided by remembering Buddy Holly who years before had shown Roy Music Charts where Buddy had several hits in England after he’d toured there, thinking on that event led Roy to believe that it would take his career beyond the domestic market of the USA especially since ‘Only The Lonely’ had been at No 1 for 16 weeks in England.

‘Running Scared’ - is renowned for being a unique song as in, it is all verse & has no chorus. When Roy presented this song to Fred Foster, Fred told him that nobody could do a falsetto at the end of a song like that especially over 8 voices, 4 horns, 8 strings & full rhythm section. Roy went into the Studio thinking he couldn’t either but Fred Foster encouraged him to give it a try & if he couldn’t do it they’d erase & redo it, but it never had to be repeated, Roy nailed it in one take.

‘Crying’ - This song is a true story written about Roy breaking up with a girlfriend. Later Roy saw her in the street, he waved to her but didn’t stop to talk & as he drove on down the street his eyes filled with tears of regret at not stopping to speak to her & that inspired the song. He said he wondered about the song because it wasn’t acceptable at the time of release for a man to cry, that thinking proved incorrect & it went onto become a hit for him. In 1987 Roy Orbison sang 'Crying' again as a duet with KD Lang for the movie ‘Hiding Out’ which in turn won them a Grammy Award for ‘Best Collaboration Of Vocals’. In 2002 it was honoured with a Grammy Hall Of Fame Award & in 2004 Rolling Stone Magazine named it as one of the greatest songs of all time at No. 69.

‘In Dreams’ was originally written & recorded by Roy in 1963. The song came about when he was just about asleep, he had written the first line, he woke the next morning, put the finishing touches to it & had the song written in 20 minutes. It was used in David Lynch’s 1986 movie ‘Blue Velvet’, at first Roy didn’t like the movie but after seeing it twice he changed his mind when he finally understood the concepts.

‘Oh Pretty Woman’ was ‘born’ when Roy’s wife Claudette was going out, he asked her - "Do you need any money?" His songwriter partner, Bill Dees interrupted & said, "A pretty woman doesn’t need money". The two words ‘Pretty Woman’ inspired the duo to write a song & 20 minutes later it was finished. Fred Foster didn’t want Roy to release the song because he felt it was too rock n roll for Roy. The single sold more copies in its first ten days of release than any 45rpm up to that time. It became Roy's biggest hit, and in fact one of Rock's most well-known songs of all time. Released in August in the US and in September in the UK, it went to number one in every country of the World

‘She’s A Mystery To Me’ - was written specifically for Roy by Bono & The Edge of U2 fame. - Roy had only heard about U2 through his wife Barbara & children who were big fans, he hadn’t heard U2 sing, so when in England he ended up at one of their concerts. After the Show, Bono was sitting in his dressing room milling over ‘She’s A Mystery To Me’, trying to finish it A knock came at the dressing room door & it was Roy & Barbara Orbison. Roy told Bono he liked the Show & asked if he had a song for him or maybe they should do a song together. Bono played him ‘She’s A Mystery To Me ‘& as we all know Roy recorded it. When Roy turned up to the recording session Bono asked if he could get him anything but Roy said all he wanted was Coke!. The Album, ‘Mystery Girl’ was his last Album & he was putting the finishing touches on it prior his death.

Stories: - Tours

In 1963, when he went to England to tour with The Beatles Roy happen to say I don’t even know what a Beatle is & John Lennon standing beside him told him ‘I am’, he ended up being very good friends with John Lennon & George Harrison. Roy also on that tour was making twice as much as the Beatles & due to this they wanted to close the show. On the first night Roy did 14 encores before The Beatles could get on stage & to say the least, they weren’t very impressed with that as they had been given the main billing.

In 1965 he toured Australia with The Rolling Stones . Bill Wyman has been quoted as saying, ‘ for a side act, no one has done it better’. The Stones style of music was in total contrast of Roy’s ballads but it worked well on that tour.

In 1965 he also signed with MGM Records & made his one and only movie ‘The Fastest Guitar Alive’. His career in the USA took a down turn & it wasn’t until 1980 when he teamed with Emmylou Harris to sing ‘That Lovin' You Feelin' Again’ that he had his first Country Hit. that song also won a Grammy Award for ‘Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group’ and was also used in the 1980 Movie ‘Roadie’

Roy Orbison was known throughout the Industry as the gentle man who sang from his soul. 1987 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. 1989 he became the first singer since Elvis to have 2 Top 5 Albums in the Charts simultaneously.

December 6, 1988, he died from a heart attack at the age of 52. It was reported that he didn't want the fuss & ado that was associated with the death of Elvis Presley & accordingly to his wishes, he now lies in an unmarked grave in Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, Los Angeles as per picture below.

: Click to listen.

If I had to name my idol in the music world it would be Roy Orbison & if I could have had one wish granted in this lifetime of mine & out of all the people I’ve met in the Music Industry, it would’ve been to have met Roy, that, to say the least, would have been a dream come true. I had the pleasure of speaking briefly to Roy a few years ago when my partner ‘husband’ was going to interview him concerning the Travelling Wilburys. Unfortunately the line dropped out & he couldn’t get back to Roy, so the interview ended up a non event as did my would be/could be conversation. I have many videos, both music & interviews plus DVDs not to mention songs of Roy’s & still finding more along the way. Anything to do with Roy is a ‘must have’ in my house & the price is never too high. I, last year was given a DVD of Roy’s concert recorded at Festival Hall in Melbourne in 1972, black & white but totally brilliant. It was only ever shown on Australian TV & it is reported that they released it from that concert because Melbourne had the best acoustics for recording purposes of any place he played on that particular tour. I cried for a long time after Roy died & still do. Silly as it sounds & stupid as it maybe, but it was a death of ‘my’ legend that truly affected me & still does upon watching certain videos or hearing certain songs.

Angie

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