Roy Orbison was born in Texas in 1936. At age 6, he received a guitar from his father as a birthday gift. His love for music would last for the rest of his life and spanned several genres, including country, rock, and pop. Orbison and a few of his friends formed a band in high school, calling themselves the Wink Westerners. The group soon changed their name to The Teen Kings and made their rounds in some local events and radio stations. The Teen Kings happened to meet Johnny Cash when he was playing at the same radio station that they were. Cash suggested that Orbison contact Sam Phillips at Sun Records. At first Phillips was not impressed, but later changed his mind after later hearing the band’s cover of “Oooby Dooby” and the band was signed to Sun Records in 1956.
Unfortunately, the group soon disbanded, but Orbison stayed at Sun Records for a short time. While there, he had some moderate success, and met some musical legends like Elvis Presley, but eventually left in 1958 after growing increasingly frustrated. He soon fell into financial despair. At the time, he had a very small apartment, with a wife and two young children. He often escaped to his car to write music. For a short time, he worked at a songwriting firm.
Country music producer Bob Neal offered Roy a gig with the Everly Brothers, where Orbison shared his new song “Claudette,” named after his wife. The Everly Brothers liked it, and added it to their album “All I Have To Do Is Dream.”
Wesley Rose later signed Orbison to Acuff Rose Music Publishing, and also gave him a contract with RCA Victor. When that contract ended, Rose introduced Orbison to Frank Foster of Monument Records, and his career began to take off.
Orbison had been writing several new songs with friend and fellow songwriter Joe Melson. “Uptown” was the break that Orbison needed, and was soon followed by “Only the Lonely,” which hit #2 on the Billboard Charts, and “Running Scared,” which hit #1.
Once Orbison became well-known, his unique voice and style became very apparent. He sang very softly, and had a delicate style in comparison to that of most popular male singers of the time. His songs didn’t portray him as a ladies-man, or some superstar, but instead as shy and vulnerable, which was not at all common for the time.
Orbison was asked to join the Beatles on tour in the UK in 1963. However, once he saw the amount of advertising devoted to the band, he realized he wasn’t the star of the show. He was annoyed, and had never heard of the band (the Beatles weren’t as popular in the US yet), so he asked “What’s a Beatle anyway?” John Lennon, who was standing behind him, tapped his shoulder and said “I am.”
On the opening night of the tour, Orbison went on stage first and played, while standing very still. This was his style, but was still very unusual for the time. The Beatles were shocked as Orbison played through 14 encores, and physically stopped him from getting back on when the crowd chanted “We want Roy!” after he exited the stage. He actually developed a good relationship with the band afterwards.
Orbison had worn very large, thick glasses due to poor eyesight since childhood. He forgot his glasses on an airplane in 1963 while touring with the Beatles. He was forced to wear his prescription sunglasses instead, and realized he actually liked them better. After that, he always opted for a large pair of sunglasses on stage, which helped him “hide” and feel more confident. The omnipresent sunglasses led many people to believe that he was actually blind. He had never been very confident about his appearance, and thus developed a mysterious quiet character on stage, although Orbison said that he was never actually a recluse. The image of an insecure man did not actually diminish his popularity with women at all. During a tour in the UK, Orbison’s performance had to be stopped by Irish police to hold back the teenage girls trying to get to him.
“Oh, pretty Woman” was Orbison’s biggest hit, topping the charts at #1 for 14 weeks in the US, and in the UK for 18 weeks. The song came into existence practically by accident. Orbison and his friend Bill Dees were working on some songs when Orbison’s wife Claudette walked into the room. She said she was headed to Nashville, and Orbison asked if she needed any money. Dees then said “A pretty woman never needs any money.” Orbison’s biggest hit was finished 40 minutes later.
Got A Million Rhymes 