FRONT & CENTER

Tune in to Roy Orbison

Dark glasses, a low-key stage manner and wistful lyrics made Roy Orbison an enigma among showier peers.

His well-crafted pop ballads and his soaring voice made him a unique, and key, influence on rock ’n’ roll. Orbison held his own against the British invasion, on the way to a stellar

1964. “Oh, Pretty Woman” was No. 1 in the U.S. and the U.K.; “It’s Over” was a Top 10 hit (No. 1 in the U.K.). Personal tragedies slowed his career, but the last years of his life were some of his most productive.

~ Roy Orbison ~ “My voice is a gift. My talent is a gift; the life process is a gift; the opportunity for the journey is a gift.”

A family pastime of music

Roy Kelton Orbison, born in Vernon, Texas, grew up listening to a mix of styles, from country to zydeco. His parents moved around, at one point working at a defense plant in Fort Worth. They let off steam with informal jam sessions, and the musicians’ “verve and gusto” stuck with Orbison, who got his first guitar at 6 from his dad. At 8, he was a local radio show regular.

Rock ’n’ roll influencer

“Only the Lonely,” Orbison’s big hit in 1960, was one of many songs about loss and heartache. The melancholy lyrics, unusual for male stars at the time, encouraged artists to try new styles. On tour with him in ’63, the Beatles cited him as a creative inspiration, and Bruce Springsteen inducted him into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

Dark days

In 1966, Orbison’s wife, Claudette, was killed in a motorcycle accident. Two years later, two of his three young sons died in a house explosion. He kept touring but recorded little in the following years.

About that voice

Orbison’s natural three-octave vocal range was called operatic. He got the audience’s attention with restrained volumes but had power to spare for high notes. His style kept its effortless quality all his life.

Back on track

In the late ’80s, Orbison recorded with rock supergroup the Traveling Wilburys. The well-reviewed project brought him back into the public eye, and he was hard at work on his own album when he died of a heart attack in December 1988.