ORBISON, Roy Kelton

(b. 23 April 1936 in Vernon, Texas; d. 6 December 1988 in Hendersonville, Tennessee), popular singer and songwriter with a remarkable voice, who scored many Top Ten hits in the 1960s with songs blending the melancholy sound of country music and the rhythmic drive of rhythm and blues.

Orbison was the second of three sons of Orbie Lee Orbison, a car mechanic, and Nadine Schultz, a nurse. He played the guitar from age six and began his singing career in high school in Wink, Texas, formed his first band, the Wink Westerners, a quintet made up of members of the high school orchestra. After graduation in 1954 Orbison enrolled at North Texas State University in Denton, but dropped out of college after two years.

Orbison was deeply impressed by Elvis Presley, then at his peak as a performer, and began to perform rockabilly music, a hybrid of country and rhythm and blues. After adding some new personnel, Orbison changed the name of his band to The Teen Kings. In his sophomore year in college he met Claudette Hestand, whom he married in 1956. She inspired Orbison's hit song "Claudette," which was recorded by the Everly Brothers in late March 1958. By then Orbison already had a "hit" as a performer. "Ooby Dooby," released on the legendary Sun label in May 1956, reached number fifty-two on the Billboard Chart. Subsequent releases with Sun performed only marginally, and in 1958 Orbison shifted to RCA Victor. In September 1959 he signed with Monument Records, and his career took off.

His first significant hit for Monument was "Uptown," released in February 1960. A blues-based strut about the great ambitions of a bellhop, the song rose to number seventy-two on the charts, raising hopes that future songs would be hits. Orbison's dreams were realized in April 1960 with the release of "Only the Lonely," a song that takes full advantage of Orbison's bel canto eloquence and deeply emotional vocal cry. The song spoke to huge numbers of people, from street corner gangs singing a cappella, to solitary teenagers, to romantics everywhere. Orbison had found his voice and his niche. "Only the Lonely" went to number two on the charts, but although Sun Records tried to capitalize on his new fame by releasing a lesser song entitled "Devil Doll," Orbison's next hit with Monument in October 1960, called "Blue Angel," cemented his popularity. He now had a highly recognizable style, which helped differentiate him in an era of pop music when past giants were in decline or exile, and the charts were full of insipid teen ballads, cover songs by singers like Pat Boone, and movie themes.

Orbison's songs appealed to heartfelt melancholy, fears that love's dreams would not work out, and the belief that loneliness was a certain future. Such was the attraction of his May 1961 hit, "Running Scared," a bolero-influenced tune about the fear that the singer's new amour would be unable to resist the charms of a former lover. As the drum-beat paces faster and faster, Orbison's voice soars to an unintelligible denouement. Orbison's appearance only added to the song's mournful appeal. A naturally shy and polite man, he wore thick prescription sunglasses, had a pallid, puffy face, and always dressed entirely in black.

Another hit, "Crying," released in September 1961, heightened Orbison's reputation for performing songs with a lachrymose quality. In it the singer tells of his crushed feelings, despair over the future, and dread at seeing his love happy with someone else. Orbison's developing and highly popular work now provided a counterpoint to the happy endings of contemporary ballads. His next hit, the lovely "Dream Baby" (1962), added a psychological longing to his lyrics. Writing most of these songs alone, Orbison continued to mine the anxieties of his own youth, and in doing so captured the sexual uncertainties of his times. "The Crowd," issued on Monument in June 1962, expressed the loneliness of the brokenhearted, separated from the familiarity of friends. His next hit, "Workin' for the Man" (October 1962), returned to the class ambitions of "Uptown." After that brief moment of social investigation, Orbison returned to more psychological probing. "In Dreams," released in February 1963, began almost as a soothing child's song, then broke into an agitated moderato, with pleasant dreams broken by the dawn's realization that one's love has gone. Orbison's firm, five-octave pitch, delivered with impressive confidence and phrasing, gave the song a deeper and inescapable realism.

On the strength of this powerful single, Orbison toured England for a second time in 1963, with the Beatles second on the bill. New to the charts but packed with ambition, the Beatles asked Orbison if they could close the show, even though his name was the reason for the tour's success. Orbison generously agreed, but repaid the Beatles for their arrogance with intensely powerful performances that were hard to follow. Orbison befriended the Beatle George Harrison and returned to the United States with predictions about a British invasion of pop. The next year his releases with Monument fared well, with an outstanding highlight in September 1964, the release of "Oh, Pretty Woman," a strong rocker about a lonely man's desire for a prostitute.

After Orbison's contract with Monument expired, he signed a lucrative deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Beginning with the August 1965 release of "Ride Away," the combination of big studio music and Orbison never realized any worthwhile hits. The loss of his wife to a motorcycle accident in June 1966 left Orbison with three sons. In 1968 two of his sons died tragically in a house fire. He married Barbara Wellnoener-Jacobs in 1969; the couple had two sons.

Orbison's contract with MGM ended in 1974, followed by uneventful years with Mercury Records. Monument released Orbison's hit songs in the United Kingdom, where his popularity never sagged, a second time. He was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Orbison's career had a major revival in 1988 with his lead participation in an ensemble tour, album, and movie about a group called The Traveling Wilburys, which featured Bob Dylan, former Beatle George Harrison, Jeff Lynn of the Electrical Light Orchestra, and Tom Petty. The album expressed the adoration many younger pop stars felt toward Orbison. At the same time, Orbison released a virtuoso album of songs entitled Mystery Girl, including the hit "You Got It." In the midst of this revival, Orbison died of a heart attack while visiting his mother in Tennessee. He is buried at Westwood Memorial Park, in Los Angeles, California. In the media aftermath "You Got It" became his first Top Five song since the early 1960s.

Orbison remains popular at the start of the twenty-first century. His songs are featured on movie sound tracks and are favorites on nostalgia radio. Many singers from the generation immediately after his have listed Orbison as an inspiration, including Springsteen and Bono, lead singer of the Irish rock band U2.

There are two major biographies of Orbison: Alan Clayson, Only the Lonely: Roy Orbison's Life and Legacy (1989), and Ellis Amburn, Dark Star: The Roy Orbison Story (1991). An obituary is in the New York Times (8 Dec. 1988).

Graham Russell Hodges