Out of the tiny oil town
of Wink, in West Texas, he became a worldwide superstar, topping the
charts around the planet for four decades. He toured with The Beatles,
The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, The
Eagles and Patsy Cline, and made a tremendous impact on every single
soul that heard his sound. Elvis Presley called Roy “The Greatest
singer in the world.”

Roy Orbison was born in Vernon, Texas on April 23rd, 1936. He got
his first guitar for his 6th birthday, had his own radio show at the age
of 8. At the age of 13 he formed his first band, the Wink Westerners,
and they became local heroes. By 18 he had his own television show and
one of his guests was Johnny Cash, who pointed him to Sun Records, the
home to Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash.

From there he went to Monument Records in Nashville and a tremendous
string of hits followed. First came “Uptown,” followed by “Only The
Lonely,” “Blue Angel,” “Running Scared,” “Crying,” “Dream Baby,” “In
Dreams,” “It’s Over,” and one of the most popular songs of all time, “Oh,
Pretty Woman.”

In January of 1987, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame. Later that year, he recorded the archetypal Black & White Night, the
Coconut Grove performance featuring artists Bruce Springsteen, Elvis
Costello, James Burton, and Bonnie Raitt, to name a few. During that
year, Roy was recording two albums at the same time, one with the
Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1, and his solo effort, Mystery girl.
In December of 1988 Roy passed away and he had two # 1 songs on the
charts at that time, “Handle With Care” with the Wilburys and his own,
“You Got It.”

Roy Orbison received multiple Grammy awards and was inducted into
the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1989.

In one of his last interviews he was asked how he wanted to be
remembered, and he just replied: “I would just like to be remembered.”

Roy Orbison’s 69th birthday was celebrated on this Saturday just gone, April 23rd.

For more information on Roy go to http://www.royorbison.com

– Press Release