The complete biography of rock 'n' roll icon Roy Orbison ...

Roy Orbison - American musician and iconic pioneer of rock 'n' roll, whose immense popularity is due to his unique style of performance and profound musical works, in particular his emotionally intense ballads.

Let's find out a little more about this phenomenal man in today's article.....

Childhood, family...

History Roy started in 1936 in Vernon, Texas. This is where he spent most of his childhood. It is also where he was introduced to music and genres such as rockabilly and country and western as a high school student....

Roy's mother, Nadineshe was a nurse. Orby Leehis father, a labourer. Roy was their second child.

On her sixth birthday. Roy asked his parents for a harmonica. Luckily, they gave him a guitar! So, together with his neighbour and his father's partner, the boy quickly mastered the instrument! The first songthat he learned was a classic "You Are My Sunshine"…

The beginning of the journey

The Orbison family moved to Fort Worth in. 1942.but because of the polio epidemic a few years later. Roy and his older brother Grady sent back home to my maternal grandmother. In her hometown Roy wrote his first composition called "A Vow of Love"…

In 1946. the lad entered a local talent contest, performing for an audience of musicians. "Mountain Dew." и "Jole Blon.". Bottom line Roy shared the $15 prize money with his 15-year-old rival.

My first band The Wink Westerners Roy formed at the age of 13.

Career

A resounding success Roy Orbison Several things contributed: the depth of the lyrics, the competent staging and the unique manner of performance... These were the key factors in his formation.

Roy's Songs were completely original in structure, sound and style. Completely innovative compositions that had never been done before or since... This became his signature style. Orbison What distinguished him was that he was really aiming for quality, not quantity. He was willing to spend all his energies without any guarantee of payback. He was also willing to take risks and do things that did not conform to accepted market norms....

Several major record companies have shown interest in our hero's persona after his time at the in the Monument group.

Debut single "Ride Away." had modest success... However, it was the one that became the most popular for the musician in the territory of the U.S.A. in the last twenty years.

Already by the middle of 1960-х in the piggy bank Roy had at least two dozen hit tracks, including the iconic "Oh, Pretty Woman"!

But what seemed like a mere change of record companies was a huge turnaround in his career Roy... MGM soon offered the singer $1,000,000.! She was very successful at the time, but as it turned out - this success did not last long. And if Monument was a label Royhe was just another performer at MGM. The emphasis was on quantity, not quality: Roy was obliged to release a certain number of records per year, which eventually affected him...

Already at the beginning of the 1970-х his career began to fade....

The musician's major breakthroughs ...

When Fred Foster signed a contract with by Roy Orbison in 1959.his label. "Monument Records." has already released Billy Grammer's popular hit. "Gotta Travel On". Initially, it looked as if he wasn't sure what to do with Orbison and let him experiment to his heart's content. As a result of his musical explorations and creative endeavours, the composition "With the Bug.". Performed in the spirit of the new rock'n'roll trends, it allowed Orbison to stand out brightly against the background of his contemporaries, but never brought great fame.

Own material Orbison wrote when he was still in Nashvillewhere I found ideological associates and partners, in particular Joe Melson - a friend from Texas. "Uptown." was their debut collaboration, with the other joint track being the one that really launched the musician's career. "Only the Lonely".

Bye. Melson Acted as conductor, taking charge of the vocal group. Anita Kerrsinging a tune "dum dum dum dum dooby-doo-wah"Orbison explored the possibilities of his own voice.

At that time he was not yet so strong and powerful, slightly lost against the background of choral performers. At that time Fred Foster and the sound engineer Bill Porter went for a little trick - they blocked the artist with a huge rack with coats and fur coats, which created the necessary effect of isolation of vocals from outside sounds.

The lifelike, tragedy-filled poems have enamoured teenagers, providing a "Only the Lonely" second place on the pop chart.

Legend has it that Fred Fosterwhen he saw the cover of the front seat of the car. OrbisonI was really shocked at how close the singer's eyes were. "Give him some dark glasses!" - the producer rebelled. And so the recognisable image of the pop singer was born. Although Orbison subsequently and claimed it was due to a mistake in the choice of glasses for one of the performances.

It was a time of extreme teen pop music, filled with songs about death and alienation. И Roy Orbison was able to feel the "spirit of a generation", reflecting it in his song "Running Scared.".

"Running Scared." became one of the most played pop songs on the radio. It was noticeably different in its structure from what the musician had written before. It was based on the recognisable rhythms of classical music. "Bolero." However, unlike the original work, Orbison did not use an orchestra and chose the more comfortable 4/4 size, giving the song a "Latin feel". This was his first serious musical experiment and, wanting to try something else in this direction, he released "Crying.".

"Crying." ended somewhere in the stratosphere, providing good practice for Orbison's falsetto. He began to use this technique extensively, particularly in the song "Leah."which was a real hit.

В 60s Orbison was rapidly gaining popularity, becoming world famous. He had many fans in the UKand as a result, in the spring. 1963 he was asked to replace a guitarist who had pulled out of a national tour. Dwayne Eddy.

Arriving in the UK, Orbison found out he's gonna be opening for a new youth group. "the Beatles". The artiste's response was simple, "Who are the Beatles?". The answer was immediate, and it was given by none other than John Lennonwho was standing next to the pop star at the time. "I'm one of them!" - the Brit announced. Shortly after the incident. Orbison I found out that the song "Please Please Me" was recorded as a tribute to his work.

And unlike what has happened to many pop singers, The Beatles didn't affect the popularity Orbisonwhich allowed him to continue to hold the top of the charts. At the height of Beatlemania and the British Invasion of the music industry, he had the opportunity to record his most legendary song - "Oh, Pretty Woman".

The phenomenon of the musician...

Roy was one of those rare hitmakers who managed to hold his ground and even increase his popularity after the so-called British Invasion. He achieved this by supporting unparalleled release quality with an original variety of content, structure, tempo and rhythm... He was also an extremely subtle songwriter: made knowledgeable changes during or between sessions, adding a final commercial sheen...

Due to the harmonious combination of pleasant vocals and complex arrangements, the work of our hero has not once been compared to opera... In his lifetime Roy called "Rock 'n' roll Caruso." (a reference to a famous Italian opera singer). He was lucky enough to find the golden mean between the rockabilly singers' smashing style, the grandeur of the Johnny Cash and boldness Elvis Presley... And the latter has repeatedly confessed that he admires the work of this genius!

While his colleagues on stage and in the genre struggled to recreate a brutal image with a patina of unwavering confidence, Roy On the contrary - he preferred to share calmness, sincerity and lightness with notes of romanticism... On stage he behaved as modestly and discreetly as possible, preferred to wear black clothes and sunglasses... All this gave his image of mystery and nobility....

Today, he is one of the best sellers American sound artists, and his name is one of the loudest names in the world.

A return to the big stage...

Roy Orbison didn't return to the stage until 1980s. Towards the end of the decade, he became a member of a supergroup The Travelling Wilburys! It produced a successful record and a beautiful music video for their first single ! "Handle with Care."…

During the same period, the publication of "In Dreams: The Greatest Hits." - the musician's most successful solo album of his career, going gold in America and platinum in the UK...

Many key factors have contributed to the career revival Roy in the United States. In particular, the use of the song "In Dreams." in the film "Blue Velvet.": being a cult film, "Blue Velvet." David Lynch helped Roy to be popular and in demand again, as he wanted to be.....

In January 1987. Roy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Bruce Springsteen, who stated:

"In 1975, during the recording of Born to Run, I wanted to do something like Bob Dylan... But most of all I dreamed of singing like Roy Orbison!"

Personal life

In life. Roy Orbison there's been a lot of sadness and loss... So, in the 1966 his wife Claudette, whom they had married at the end of their marriage 1950sA few years later, two of his three children died tragically when their house caught fire... This was followed by a prolonged creative crisis: for a time Roy gave up music, but tried to keep a positive attitude as much as possible.....

In 1968, Roy met a beautiful girl of German descent named Barbara! In 1969. The couple signed... Together they lived soul to soul until the musician's death.....

The last years of his life...

Latest solo album Roy was already completed and scheduled for release in January 1989. A few months before the release Roy came to Europe and performed at a festival Diamond Awards in Antwerp, Belgium. He was the main star of the evening... The musician performed the recently written "You Got It". It was obvious that he had changed his image slightly... The new look was outstanding and a bit shocking . He was legendary again Roy Orbisonwhose music everyone adored.

He came back to America and played out his last concert in Highland Heights... He already had big tours of the States and Europe planned for the following year! But... they weren't meant to go through.

All day Tuesday. 6 December 1988 Roy complained of chest pains. Shortly before midnight, he died at his mother's house. The cause of death was a heart attack... At the time of his death, he was just 52 years old and he was at the height of his success.

Posthumously released in 1989 "Mystery Girl" was a very successful album... Several songs from it became big hits.

Conclusion...

Even in death, the legacy Roy Orbison continued to grow, with his wife Barbara managing their estate until her death and releasing compilations of her husband's greatest hits on the label Orbison Records. In 1998, almost ten years after his death, Barbara accepted the Recording Academy Award for Meritorious Service Orbison and his unprecedented contribution to the recording industry.