Roy Orbison

Claudette died in a tragic motorcycle accident in 1966 and two years later Orbison lost two of his eldest sons to house fire, Roy Dewayne and Anthony King.

He married for the second time to Barbara Orbison in the year of 1969 and remained married to her until his death. The couple had two children together: Roy Kelton Orbison Jr. and Alex Orbison.

Roy Orbison was born on April 23, 1936 in Texas to Orbie Lee Orbison and Nadine Shultz. His father was a car mechanic and an oil well driller and his mother was a nurse. His parents lost their jobs during the Great Depression.

Orbison family moved to Forth Worth during the Depression, which is where he spent his childhood. Orbison went to the Denver Avenue Elementary School only until the family moved and settled in Wink.

Orbison was a shy kid, full of self-doubt and under-confidence but singing was something that he was quite confident about and he always became the centre of attention whenever he was asked to sing at a gathering.

At the Wink High School, he formed an informal band with friends called ‘The Wink Westerners’ and managed to get a radio spot for themselves. Later, he attended the North Texas State College and planned to study geology.

Here, he formed another band called, ‘The Teen Kings’ and started singing professionally during the nights. A result of which his grades dropped and he had to enroll himself in Odessa Junior College.

‘The Teen Kings’ was offered a contract at the Sun Records and they travelled to Memphis for recording and their famous composition ‘Ooby Dooby’ peaked at No. 59 on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold 200,000 copies.

The band broke apart during the late ‘50s because of disputes over writing credits, but Orbison decided to stay and work on his technical skills. He gradually stopped recording, toured music circuits to make a living but quit completely in 1958.

He came back on track again with ‘Nashville Sound’ and signed a deal with the record company in 1960—aspiring to polish his talent all the more this time. His ‘Uptown’ earned a spot on the Billboard Top 100.

‘Only the Lonely’, written and recorded in 1960, became Orbison’s ladder to success. It reached at No.2 on the Billboard Top 100 and made him a hot shot in the musical world.

He was much in demand now and toured all over America for three months and it was followed by another hit track, ‘Blue Angel’, which ranked at No.9 and then ‘Claudette’ and ‘I’m Hurtin’—but these did not do as well.

Orbison will always be remembered for his unconventional style of singing and all his songs are his legacy but ‘Oh, Pretty Woman’ is the song that stands apart. The song was honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award, posthumously.