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Roy
Orbison
"I'm
sure we had to study composition or something like that at school,
and they'd say 'This is the way you do it,' and that's the way I
would have done it, so being blessed again with not knowing what was
wrong or what was right, I went on my own way....So the structure
sometimes has the chorus at the end of the song, and sometimes there
is no chorus, it just goes...But that's always after the fact--as I'm
writing, it all sounds natural and in sequence to me."
Birth
Name: Roy Kelton Orbison
Induction
Year: 1987
Date
of Birth: 4/23/1936
Place
of Birth: Vernon, TX
Date
of Death: 12/06/1988
Place
of Death: Hendersonville, TN |
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Former Occupations:
gas
company employee |
Education:
Grade
School--Schools in Vernon, Fort Worth, and Wink, TX
High
School--Wink High School (from 1950-1954)
College--North
Texas State University (1954)
College--Odessa
Junior College (Texas) (from 1955-1956) |
Career Milestones:
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1946--received
first payment for singing when he tied for first place in a talent
contest with a traveling talent show |
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1948--sang
on West Texas radio stations |
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1948--performed
on a weekly radio show on KERB in Kermit |
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1949--organized
his first band, "The Wink Westerners" |
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1956--first
recorded single "Ooby Dooby" ("Tryin' To Get To
You" B-side) on Je-Wel records |
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1956--auditioned
with band The Teen Kings for Sam Phillips of Sun Records |
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1956--signed
contract with Sun Records |
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1956--performed
at Memphis' Overton Park Shell on June 1 along with Carl Perkins,
Johnny Cash, Warren Smith and Eddie Bond; Elvis Presley was in the audience |
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1956--"Ooby
Dooby" (re-recorded at Sun) made the national pop charts at #59 |
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1957--Everly
Brothers recorded Orbison's "Claudette" (released in 1958) |
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1957--signed
staff writer contract with Acuff-Rose in Nashville |
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1958--signed
recording contract with RCA Records in Nashville |
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1959--moved
to Nashville |
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1959--signed
recording contract with Monument Records in Nashville |
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1960--first
major cut "Only the Lonely"; was a #1 hit in Britain and a
#2 hit in America; sold 2 million copies |
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1960--first
appearance on Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" |
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1961--first
#1 hit "Running Scared" |
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1962--first
album to make the charts, "Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits" |
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1964--"Oh,
Pretty Woman" went to #1 |
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1965--signed
recording contract with MGM Records |
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1967--feature
film debut in "The Fastest Guitar Alive" released by MGM
(New York premiere January 15, 1967) |
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1974--signed
with Mercury Records |
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1977--Linda
Ronstadt recorded Roy Orbison/Joe Melson's "Blue Bayou"
which went to #3 for two weeks and remained on the chart for 24 weeks |
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1980--Don
McLean recorded "Crying" which went to #5 and stayed on
the charts for 15 weeks |
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1982--Van
Halen's "Oh, Pretty Woman" went to #12 and became the
group's first top 10 hit |
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1986--moved
to the West Coast |
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1987--signed
first recording contract in 8 years with Virgin Records |
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05/22/1987--appeared
on "Saturday Night Live" on May 22 |
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1987--taped
an all-star tribute for Cinemax which was released on video in May
1988 by Virgin Records as "Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and
White Night"; sold 50,000 copies |
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1988--"The
Traveling Wilburys Volume One" released (with Bob Dylan, Jeff
Lynne, Tom Petty, George Harrison and Roy Orbison) |
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1988--last
concert in Akron Ohio on December 4, two days before his death |
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1989--album
"Mystery Girl" released posthumously |
Awards:
1980--Grammy\Best
County Performance by a Duo or Group (with Emmylou Harris)\That
Lovin' You Feeling Again (in feature film "Roadie" soundtrack)
1987--Rock
'n' Roll Hall of Fame induction
1988--Grammy\Best
Country Vocal Collaboration (with k.d. lang)\Crying
1989--Grammy\Best
Rock Performance By a Duo or Group w/Vocal\Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1
1989--National
Academy of Popular Music\Songwriters' Hall of Fame induction
1990--Grammy\Best
Performance, Male\Oh, Pretty Woman
Catalog
Highlights
Claudette
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Artists:
Everly Brothers (1957), Chris Wells, Nighthawks, Ronnie & The
Rockets, Brian Cross, Kris Jensen
Only
the Lonely
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Co-writer:
Joe Melson
- Artists:
Roy Orbison (1960), Brian Cross, Johnny Tillotson, Danny Fabry,
Sonny James
Blue
Angel
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Co-writer:
Joe Melson
- Artists:
Roy Orbison (1960), Gerry Grant, Brian Cross
Running
Scared
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Co-writer:
Joe Melson
- Artists:
Roy Orbison (1961), Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Glen Campbell,
Freddy Starr, Gerry Grant, Jay & the Americans, Bob Luman, Jack
Scott, Del Shannon, The Fools, Denny Davids and the Nashville Brass
Crying
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Co-writer:
Joe Melson
- Artists:
Roy Orbison (1961), k.d. lang & Roy Orbison, Del Shannon, Lisa
Carter, Sheila G. White, Glen Campbell, Jay & The Americans, Don
McLean, Limelighters, Waylon Jennings, Lettermen, Starlight
Orchestra, Ronnie Milsap, Arlene Harden, Gene Pitney, Narvel Felts,
Susie Stevens, Gerald Joling, Dion
In
Dreams
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Artists:
Roy Orbison (1963), Brenda Cochrane, Gerry Grant, Brian Cross, Tom
Jones, Ray Lance, Frank McCaffrey
Blue
Bayou
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Co-writer:
Joe Melson
- Artists:
Roy Orbison (1963), Linda Ronstadt, Engelbert Humperdinck, The
Mantovani Orchestra, Gerry Grant, Roberto Jordan, New York Theatre
Orchestra, Brian Cross, Arlene Harden, Paula Die Basken, Sterben
Jung, Floyd Cramer, The Sunset Strings
Oh,
Pretty Woman
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Co-writer:
Dees
- Artists:
Roy Orbison (1964), Ricky Van Shelton, Red Hurley, Randy Jones,
Count Basie and His Orchestra, Johnny Rivers, Andrew Hart, Louis
Clark and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, John Cougar Mellencamp,
Alvin and the Chipmunks, Al Green, The Ventures, Andy Kim, Arlene
Harden, Del Shannon, Jan Hammer Group, Van Halen
Ride
Away
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Co-writer:
William Dees
- Artists:
Roy Orbison (1965)
That
Lovin You Feelin Again
You
Got It
Falling
I'm
Hurtin
It's
Over
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Artists:
Glen Campbell, Gerry Grant, Dinah Shore, Brian Cross, Gene Pitney
Lana
Leah
Uptown
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