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Roy Orbison
American singer-songwriter (1936–1988)
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist known for his distinctive and powerful voice, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Orbison's most successful periods were in the early 1960s and the late 1980s.
Many of Orbison's songs conveyed vulnerability at a time when most male performers projected strength. He performed with minimal motion and in black clothes, matching his dyed black hair and dark sunglasses.
labels: Sun Records, Asylum Records, MGM Records, London Records, Mercury Records, PolyGram, Virgin Records, Monument Records
genres: rock music, country music, rockabilly
awards: Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
plays: guitar, voice
member of: Traveling Wilburys
Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.
rockabillypoppop rockrock & rollrock and rollrock
The Elsewhere GazetteExtra
Early life
Roy Kelton Orbison was born on April 23, 1936, in Vernon, Texas. He was the second of three sons born to Orbie Lee Orbison (1913–1984) and Nadine Vesta Shults (1914–1992). His father was an oil-field driller who struggled to find work after the Great Depression, and his mother enjoyed painting and writing poetry. His direct paternal ancestry was traced to Thomas Orbison (born 1715) from Lurgan, Ireland who settled in the Province of Pennsylvania in the mid-18th century. According to The Authorized Roy Orbison, a biography written by Orbison's son Alex, the family moved to Fort Worth in 1942 to find work in the aircraft factories. Because of eyesight problems, Orbison wore thick glasses from the age of four.
In his first session for Monument in Nashville, Orbison recorded a song that RCA Victor had refused, "Paper Boy". It was accompanied by the B-side sing "With the Bug", but neither song charted.
By late 1964, Orbison had "occasionally treated himself to a groupie" and his wife Claudette had had an affair with the builder Braxton Dixon, who had built Orbison's house. After Roy became aware of the affair, he fired Dixon and finished building the house himself (with the help of a hired carpenter). In early 1965, Roy confirmed that Claudette and he were divorced. Later in 1965, Claudette gave birth to Roy's third child, and Roy and Claudette reunited several months later.
Orbison's posthumous album Mystery Girl was released by Virgin Records on January 31, 1989 and became the highest-selling album of his career. The biggest hit from Mystery Girl was "You Got It", written with Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty. "You Got It" rose to No. 9 in the US and No. 3 in the UK. The song earned Orbison a posthumous Grammy Award nomination. According to Rolling Stone, "Mystery Girl cloaks the epic sweep and grandeur of his classic sound in meticulous, modern production—the album encapsulates everything that made Orbison great, and for that reason it makes a fitting valedictory."
American singer-songwriter, and guitarist (born April 23, 1936, Vernon, Texas, USA; died December 7, 1988, Hendersonville, Tennessee, USA). One of the few American artists to score significant British success during the "beat boom" of 1963-5, he made a comeback with the Traveling Wilburys shortly before his death at the age of 52.
Inducted into Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 (Performer).
Inducted into Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1989.
Children: , ,
Grandchildren: , ,
Also known as: Boy Orbison, Obison, Orbinson, Orbinson Roy, Orbision
From Discogs (free to use). Their entry
Liner notes
Roy Orbison, the records, oldest first
At the Rock House
1961 album
Lonely and Blue
1961 album
Crying
1962 album
In Dreams
1963 album
There Is Only One Roy Orbison
1965 album
The Classic Roy Orbison
1966 album
The Orbison Way
1966 album
Live in Melbourne 1967 (Live: Melbourne Festival Hall, Australia January 1967)
1967 album
Cry Softly Lonely One
1967 album
Sings Don Gibson
1967 album
Roy Orbison’s Many Moods
1969 album
Hank Williams the Roy Orbison Way
1970 album
Big O
1970 album
Roy Orbison Sings
1972 album
Memphis
1972 album
Milestones
1973 album
I’m Still In Love With You
1975 album
Regeneration
1976 album
Laminar Flow
1979 album
Class of ’55: Memphis Rock & Roll Homecoming
1986 album
In Dreams: The Greatest Hits
1987 album
Mystery Girl
1988 album
The Legend
1989 album
Blue Blue Day
1989 album
Records from MusicBrainz; covers from the Cover Art Archive.
"Oh, Pretty Woman" is a song recorded by Roy Orbison and written by Orbison and Bill Dees. It was released as a single in August 1964 on Monument Records and spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 from September 26, 1964, making it the second and final single by Orbison to reach number one in the United States.
It was also Orbison's third single to top the UK Singles Chart, where it spent three weeks at number one.
Music video
In the music video, filmed at Indian Dunes near Valencia, California, the band members appear dressed as a samurai (bassist Michael Anthony), Tarzan (drummer Alex Van Halen), a cowboy (guitarist Eddie Van Halen), and Napoleon (Roth). Per a hunch-backed onlooker's request, they rescue a captive girl. It was one of the first videos banned by MTV, due to its opening sequence featuring the captive girl (played by International Chrysis) being tied up and fondled against her will by a pair of dwarves. At the end of the video, she is revealed to be a man cross-dressing. The ban was eventually lifted, as MTV Classic would later air the video.
Other notable covers
During the UK leg of the American Heart World Tour in 2025, supporting act Elliot James Reay sang what was reported to be "a brilliant cover" of Pretty Woman, even though he and his band had only two days to rehearse the song before the first show in Belfast. Reay has repeatedly cited Orbison as a massive influence on his own work in interviews.
