Friday, April 23, 2010

Happy Birthday Roy Orbison



Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Roy Orbison was born on this day, April 23, 1936 in Vernon, Texas. Orbison is well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. His musical start was in a high school rockabilly/country western band until he got signed to Sun Records in Memphis. After signing to Sun Records and singing with the Teen Kings, the group only scored one hit ("Ooby Dooby") that reached #59 on the Billboard charts and sold 200,000 copies.

After the Teen Kings fell apart and Orbison having financial problems, he made a living writing for Acuff-Rose, a songwriting firm that concentrated more on country music. While at Acuff-Rose, Roy would record several demo tapes and send to RCA-Victor. Orbison would be refused by RCA-Victor because he sounded too soft and timid to producers. Roy Orbison eventually signed to Monument Records in Nashville and achieved his greatest success in the early to mid 1960's when 22 of his songs placed on the U.S. Billboard Top Forty, including "Only the Lonely", "Crying", "In Dreams", and "Oh, Pretty Woman".



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