Look up Lea or לֵאָה in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Leah (Hebrew: לֵאָה, Modern Le'a Tiberian Lēʼā ISO 259-3 Leˀa; from Akkadian cow), as described in the Hebrew Bible, is the first of the two concurrent wives of the Hebrew patriarch Jacob and mother of six of sons whose descendants became the Twelve Tribes of Israel, along with at least one daughter, Dinah. She is the daughter of Laban and the older sister of Rachel, whom Jacob originally wanted to marry. Leah is Jacob's first cousin, and she was the eldest niece of Rebecca.

Personal history[link]

Appearance[link]

The Torah introduces Leah by describing her with the phrase, "Leah had tender eyes" (Hebrew: ועיני לאה רכות‎) (Genesis 29:17). It is debated as to whether the adjective "tender" (רכות) should be taken to mean "delicate and soft" or "weary." Some translations say that it may have meant blue or light colored eyes.^[1] The commentary of Rashi cites a Rabbinic interpretation of how Leah's eyes became weak. According to this story, Leah was destined to marry Jacob's older twin brother, Esau. In the Rabbinic mind, the two brothers are polar opposites; Jacob being a God-fearing scholar and Esau being a hunter who also indulges in murder, idolatry, and adultery. But people were saying, "Laban has two daughters and his sister, Rebecca, has two sons. The older daughter (Leah) will marry the older son (Esau), and the younger daughter (Rachel) will marry the younger son (Jacob)."^[2] Hearing this, Leah spent most of her time weeping and praying to God to change her destined mate. Thus the Torah describes her eyes as "soft" from weeping. God hearkens to Leah's tears and prayers and allows her to marry Jacob even before Rachel does.

Marriage to Jacob[link]

Leah becomes Jacob's wife through a deception on the part of her father, Laban. In the Biblical account, Jacob is dispatched to the hometown of Laban—the brother of his mother Rebekah—to avoid being killed by his brother Esau, and possibly to find a wife. Out by the well, he encounters Laban's younger daughter Rachel tending her father's sheep, and decides to marry her. Laban is willing to give Rachel's hand to Jacob as long as he works seven years for her.

On the wedding night, however, Laban switches Leah for Rachel. Later Laban claims that it is uncustomary to give the younger daughter away in marriage before the older one (Genesis 29:16-30). Laban offers to give Rachel to Jacob in marriage in return for another seven years of work (Genesis 29:27). Jacob accepts the offer and marries Rachel after the week-long celebration of his marriage to Leah.

Michelangelo's Leah at the tomb of Pope Julius II at San Pietro in Vincoli.

Motherhood[link]

Leah is the mother of six of Jacob's sons, including his first four (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah), and later two more (Issachar and Zebulun), and a daughter (Dinah). According to the scriptures, God saw that Leah was "unloved" and opened her womb as consolation.

Seeing that she is unable to conceive, Rachel offers her handmaid Bilhah to Jacob, and names and raises the two sons (Dan and Naphtali) that Bilhah bears. Leah responds by offering her handmaid Zilpah to Jacob, and names and raises the two sons (Gad and Asher) that Zilpah bears. According to some commentaries, Bilhah and Zilpah are actually half-sisters of Leah and Rachel.^[3]

One day, Leah's firstborn son Reuben returns from the field with mandrakes for his mother. Leah has not conceived for a while, and this plant, whose roots resemble the human body, is thought to be an aid to fertility.^[4] Frustrated that she is not able to conceive at all, Rachel offers to trade her night with their husband in return for the mandrakes. Leah agrees, and that night she sleeps with Jacob and conceives Issachar. Afterwards she gives birth to Zebulun and to a daughter, Dinah. After that, God remembers Rachel and gives her two sons, Joseph and Benjamin.

Rivalry with Rachel[link]

On a homiletical level, the classic Chassidic texts explain the sisters' rivalry as more than marital jealousy. Each woman desired to grow spiritually in her avodat Hashem (service of God), and therefore sought closeness to the tzadik (Jacob) who is God's personal emissary in this world. By marrying Jacob and bearing his sons, who would be raised in the tzadik's home and continue his mission into the next generation (indeed, all 12 sons became tzadikim in their own right and formed the foundation of the Nation of Israel), they would develop an even closer relationship to God. Therefore Leah and Rachel each wanted to have as many of those sons as possible, going so far as to offer their handmaids as proxies to Jacob so they could have a share in the upbringing of their handmaids' sons, too.^[5]

Each woman also continually questioned whether she was doing enough in her personal efforts toward increased spirituality, and would use the other's example to spur herself on. Rachel envied Leah's tearful prayers, by which she merited to marry the tzadik and bear six of his twelve sons.^[3][5] The Talmud (Megillah 13b) says that Rachel revealed to Leah the secret signs which she and Jacob had devised to identify the veiled bride, because they both suspected Laban would pull such a trick.^[6]

Death and burial[link]

Leah died some time before Jacob (according to Genesis 49:31). She is thought to be buried in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron alongside Jacob. This cave also houses the graves of Abraham and Sarah, and Isaac and Rebekah.^[7]

Tomb of Leah, 1911.

Medieval Christian symbolism[link]

In medieval Christian symbolism, Rachel was taken as a symbol of the contemplative (monastic) Christian life, and Leah as a symbol of the active (non-monastic) life.^[8] Dante Alighieri's Purgatorio includes a dream of Rachel and Leah, which inspired illustrations by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and others:

"... in my dream, I seemed to see a woman
both young and fair; along a plain she gathered
flowers, and even as she sang, she said:
Whoever asks my name, know that I'm Leah,
and I apply my lovely hands to fashion
a garland of the flowers I have gathered."^[9]

References[link]

Donnie Iris (born Dominic Ierace on February 28, 1943) is an American rock musician known for his work with The Jaggerz and Wild Cherry during the 1970s, and for his solo albums during the 1980s. He wrote the #2 Billboard hit, "The Rapper", with the Jaggerz and was a member of Wild Cherry after the group had a #1 hit with "Play That Funky Music."

In addition to performing on the first three Jaggerz albums and the third and fourth Wild Cherry albums, Iris as a solo artist has released eleven studio albums, one EP, two live albums, and two compilation albums. He continues to release new material and tours throughout the Ohio River Valley.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Born Dominic Ierace in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, Iris began singing at weddings at age five, and by eight was performing on local television and entering talent contests. When his voice changed around age 12, he took up the drums but later got back into singing while in college. Donnie learned how to sing from his mother and then from Tony Bennett and Marvin Gaye, and was also a self-taught guitarist, starting at about age 15.^[1]

1960s[link]

While attending Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, Iris formed a band called The Trivells with two fellow musicians. With the addition of a fourth man, they renamed themselves Donnie and The Donnelles. This band in both incarnations played frat parties. Around 1965, Donnie and The Donnelles merged with members of another band called Gary and The Jewel Tones, forming The Jaggerz (originally The "Jaggers").^[2] Their first album, Introducing the Jaggerz, was released in 1969. It was the first album to feature Iris.

1970s[link]

Iris first came to national prominence as the lead singer of The Jaggerz, which became famous for its #2 hit "The Rapper", written by Iris and included on their second album (We Went to Different Schools Together, 1970). The group released one more album, Come Again, but it failed to produce any more hits. After The Jaggerz broke up in 1976, Iris toured with Wild Cherry, whose 1976 hit "Play That Funky Music" had made them a hot property into the end of the decade. He recorded two albums with Wild Cherry, I Love My Music in 1978 and Only the Wild Survive in 1979. It was during this period that he became acquainted with his future partner Mark Avsec, now playing keyboards for Wild Cherry. Unfortunately, Wild Cherry was unable to duplicate their previous success and disbanded by the end of the decade. Becoming good friends, Donnie and Mark decided to form a project together and the two began writing songs. Their first release saw the disco-influenced single "Bring on the Eighties" backed by the cover song "Because of You" in 1979, however it failed to garner attention. Iris and Avsec decided to go in a harder direction for their next release and returned to the studio with guitarist Marty Lee Hoenes, bassist Albritton McClain and drummer Kevin Valentine, who at the time was in the band Breathless with Avsec, to record his first full length album. This line-up would remain the same for the next five years.

1980s[link]

Iris' first album, Back on the Streets, was released in July 1980 on the small Cleveland, Ohio-based Midwest Records.^[3] With the track "Ah! Leah!" receiving airplay in Boston, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, MCA Records took notice and quickly signed Iris to a five album deal and re-released the album nationally in October. The first single "Ah! Leah!" peaked at #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1981 and became one of the most frequently played AOR tracks of the year, and the album reached #57 on the Billboard 200. In addition, the band launched a national tour to promote the album and its follow-up during the summer of 1981.^[4]

The follow-up album, King Cool, credited to Donnie Iris and the Cruisers, was released in August 1981 and garnered the band more AOR success, with "Love Is Like a Rock" reaching #9 on Billboard's Top Tracks chart. In addition, he gained the nickname King Cool from this album in the later part of his career. However, the album itself charted less successfully, at #84. After the long tour promoting their two previous albums, the band continued songwriting and in the fall of 1982 released The High and the Mighty. The album contained the single "Tough World", but only charted at #180, marking a decline in his success, but the band still was determined to release new material.

Their next album one year later, Fortune 410, contained the hit single "Do You Compute?", which was used by their label MCA and the computer company Atari to form a cross-marketing promotion. Because the promotional partnership was secured prior to release of the album, it was possible to use the Atari 1200 XL Home Computer in poster photography, as well as in the video clip for "Do You Compute?", which aired on MTV. The title of the album is a reference to the trademark glasses Iris wears, Fortune 410s.^[5] The combination of marketing and the promotion for its hit single allowed the album to chart higher than its predecessor. The next album, No Muss...No Fuss, continued the trend two years later in 1985, by charting at #115 with the single "Injured in the Game of Love". Both of these albums were more critically acclaimed than The High and the Mighty.^[4]

In 1985, just prior to the release of No Muss...No Fuss, the band began to split into different directions. Drummer Kevin Valentine and bassist Albritton McClain left to join a new group, The Innocent, whose members included future Nine Inch Nails main man Trent Reznor. That same year, keyboardist Mark Avsec, also a longtime friend of Iris, released a solo project under the moniker Cellarful of Noise. Even after releasing the eponymous debut album that same year, however, the two maintained that Donnie Iris and the Cruisers was still their main focus, and that they wanted to continue to release new albums with the band and its new line-up.^[6] The band returned to the studio in 1986 and recorded a new album titled Cruise Control, however, a lawsuit with the band's former label MCA resulted in the shelving of that album pending the resolution of that lawsuit. It still not been released as of 2007 although some material is thought to have been released on subsequent releases. Since the band seemed to have hit a road block, Iris partnered with Avsec on the second Cellarful of Noise album, Magnificent Obsession, which was released in 1988.

1990s[link]

Donnie Iris and the Cruisers returned to the studio in 1992 to release their first album containing new material since 1985. Titled Out of the Blue, the album was a compilation album containing older hits and new material. It failed to have any impact on the charts, however. Still, the band toured throughout the rest of the year around Pennsylvania and Ohio, and attracted newer and younger fans from the area.^[7] The band released another album the following year, Footsoldier in the Moonlight. At this point, the band underwent yet another line-up change as bassist Scott Alan and drummer Tommy Rich departed the group, and were replaced by Scott Williamson and Steve McConnell respectively.

In the summer of 1994, original members Albritton McClain and Kevin Valentine temporarily reunited with Iris, Avsec and Hoenes to record the first album of all new material by the original line-up in nearly 10 years. During recording, the band performed one reunion show together at Conneaut Lake. The album Poletown was released in 1997 and was notable for its shift in style to a mature blues influenced sound.^[who?]

In 1998, the band released their first live album. A collection of tracks played at Nick's Fat City, a popular Pittsburgh nightclub, Live! At Nick's Fat City was the first to feature bass guitarist Paul Goll who had been touring with the band since 1995 along with drummer Tommy Rich. 1999 saw the release of an Iris collaborative project entitled Together Alone. After Alone, which featured a softer side of Iris's vocals, the band took a break from releasing new material but continued to perform regularly through the decade.

2000s[link]

The first true compilation album by the band was released in 2001, The Best of Donnie Iris. In 2004, the band celebrated its 25th anniversary with a new album, 25 Years, and performed live at the Chevrolet Amphitheatre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for 4,000 people. This concert was known for featuring a four drummer lineup of current and previous drummers for the band; Kevin Valentine, Tommy Rich, Brice Foster and Mark Avsec's daughter Danna Avsec, who was the guest drummer.^[8] Since then, the band has used a three drummer line-up for several concerts.

The band's 2006 album, Ellwood City, is a tribute to Iris' hometown, Ellwood City, Pennsylvania.^[9] June 17, 2006 was recognized throughout Lawrence County, Pennsylvania as Donnie Iris Day by Ellwood City Executive Council President Glenn Jones and Mayor Roy P. Meehan.

In recent years, Iris received special commendations and awards from United States Congresswoman Melissa Hart and Pennsylvania state representative Frank LaGrotta.

Now a grandfather, Iris is still making music, and has unreleased material he hopes to make available. He currently works for a mortgage company in Wexford, PA.^[10]

From 2008‒2009, King Cool Light was developed after Mark Avsec realized that "King Cool" sounded like the name of a refreshing beer. He later approached Iris and Marty Lee Hoenes who both immediately liked the idea, giving birth to King Cool Limited.^[11] King Cool Light was unveiled on November 20, 2009, at Club Diesel in Pittsburgh during the band's 30th anniversary concert. Every case was sold out, but 25 more cases were brought in, which were also sold out.^[12]

The band's first EP, You Can't Really Miss Me If I Never Go Away, was released in 2008. It was followed in 2009 with their second live album, Ah! Live!

2010s[link]

In an interview with Cleveland Scene, Mark Avsec announced that the band's next project would be a Christmas album.^[13] Ah! Leluiah! was released on November 18, 2010.^[14] King Cool Light (Donnie's beer) was released in Ohio in July. Donnie says "Youngstown is really good to me, they buy the beer, and come to the concerts. I'm glad I've had this experience."

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

With The Jaggerz[link]

• Introducing the Jaggerz (1969)
• We Went to Different Schools Together (1970)
• Come Again (1975)

With Wild Cherry[link]

• I Love My Music (1978)
• Only the Wild Survive (1979)

Solo work[link]

• Back on the Streets (1980) #57 US
• King Cool (1981) #84 US
• The High and the Mighty (1982) #180 US
• Fortune 410 (1983) #127 US
• No Muss...No Fuss (1985) #115 US
• Out of the Blue (1992)
• Footsoldier in the Moonlight (1993)
• Poletown (1997)
• Live! At Nick's Fat City (1998)
• Together Alone (1999)
• 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of Donnie Iris (2001)
• 25 Years (2004)
• Ellwood City (2006)
• You Can't Really Miss Me If I Never Go Away (2008, EP)
• Ah! Live! (2009)
• Ah! Leluiah! (2010)

Singles[link]

Song covers[link]

Since the 1990s, Iris has done cover versions of various songs by various artists. The songs below are organized by which Donnie Iris and The Cruisers album they first appeared on.

[edit] Footsoldier in the Moonlight, 1993

• "Mercy Mercy Me", originally by Marvin Gaye
• "Minnie the Moocher", Cab Calloway
• "Gloria", Them

[edit] Live! At Nick's Fat City, 1998

• "The Rapper", The Jaggerz

[edit] Together Alone, 1999

• "Amazing Grace", written by John Newton

[edit] Ellwood City, 2006

• "Soul Man", Sam & Dave

[edit] Ah! Live!, 2009

• "Your Touch", The Black Keys
• "Hush", Billy Joe Royal

Donnie Iris and the Cruisers members[link]

Main line-up[link]

• Mark Tirabassi is the occasional drummer when Kevin Valentine is unavailable.

References[link]

External links[link]

• DonnieIris.com - The Official Home of Donnie Iris
• King Cool Light - The Official Site
• Parallel Time - The Unofficial Donnie Iris Site
• VH1 Biography
• Official MySpace
• Official Facebook
• Official Twitter

Roy Orbison
Orbison in 1965
Background information
Birth name	Roy Kelton Orbison
Born	(1936-04-23)April 23, 1936 Vernon, Texas, U.S.
Died	December 6, 1988(1988-12-06) (aged 52) Madison, Tennessee, U.S.
Genres	Rock, rockabilly, pop, country
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, harmonica
Years active	1954–1988
Labels	Sun, Monument, MGM, London, Mercury/PolyGram, Asylum, Virgin/EMI Records
Associated acts	Traveling Wilburys, Teen Kings, The Wink Westerners, Class of '55
Website	http://www.royorbison.com
Notable instruments
Gibson ES-335

Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer-songwriter, best known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country and western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis. His greatest success came with Monument Records between 1960 and 1964, when 22 of his songs placed on the Billboard Top Forty, including "Only the Lonely", "Crying", and "Oh, Pretty Woman". His career stagnated through the 1970s, but several covers of his songs and the use of "In Dreams" in David Lynch's Blue Velvet revived his career in the 1980s. In 1988, he joined the supergroup Traveling Wilburys with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne and also released a new solo album. He died of a heart attack in December that year, at the zenith of his resurgence. His life was marred by tragedy, including the death of his first wife and his two eldest sons in separate accidents.

Orbison was a natural baritone, but music scholars have suggested that he had a three- or four-octave range.^[1] The combination of Orbison's powerful, impassioned voice and complex musical arrangements led many critics to refer to his music as operatic, giving him the sobriquet "the Caruso of Rock".^{[2][note 1]} Elvis Presley and Bono have stated his voice was, respectively, the greatest and most distinctive they had ever heard.^[3] While most men in rock and roll in the 1950s and 1960s portrayed a defiant masculinity, many of Orbison's songs instead conveyed a quiet, desperate vulnerability. He was known for performing while standing still and solitary, wearing black clothes and dark sunglasses which lent an air of mystery to his persona.

Orbison was initiated into the second class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 by longtime admirer Bruce Springsteen. The same year he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame two years later. Rolling Stone placed Orbison at number 37 on their list of The Greatest Artists of All Time, and number 13 on their list of The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.^[4] In 2002, Billboard magazine listed Orbison at number 74 in the Top 600 recording artists.^[5]

Early life[link]

Roy Orbison was born in Vernon, Texas, the middle son of Orbie Lee Orbison, an oil well driller and car mechanic, and Nadine Shultz, a nurse. Both of Orbison's parents were unemployed during the Great Depression, so the family moved to Fort Worth for several years to find work, until a polio scare prompted them to return to Vernon. To find work, the family moved to Wink, Texas. Orbison would later describe the major components of life in Wink as "Football, oil fields, oil, grease and sand",^[6] and in later years expressed relief that he was able to leave the desolate town.^{[note 2]} All the Orbison children were afflicted with poor eyesight; Roy used thick corrective lenses from an early age. A bout with jaundice as a child gave him a sallow complexion, and his ears protruded prominently. Orbison was not particularly confident in his appearance; he began dyeing his nearly white hair black when he was young.^[7] He was quiet and self-effacing, remarkably polite and obliging—a product, biographer Alan Clayson wrote, of his Southern upbringing.^[8] However, Orbison was readily available to sing, and often became the focus of attention when he did. He considered his voice memorable if not great.^[6]

On his sixth birthday, Orbison's father gave him a guitar. Orbison later recalled that, by the age of seven, "I was finished, you know, for anything else"; music would be his life.^[9] Orbison's major musical influences as a youth were in country music. He was particularly moved by the way Lefty Frizzell sang, slurring syllables.^[10] He also enjoyed Hank Williams and Jimmie Rodgers. One of the first musicians he heard in person was Ernest Tubb playing on the back of a flatbed truck in Fort Worth. In West Texas, however, he was exposed to many forms of music: "sepia"—a euphemism for what became known as rhythm and blues (R&B); Tex-Mex; orchestral Mantovani, and zydeco. The zydeco favorite "Joli Blon" was one of the first songs Orbison sang in public. At eight, Orbison began appearing on a local radio show. By the late 1940s, he was the host.^[11]

In high school, Orbison and some friends formed The Wink Westerners, an informal band that played country standards and Glenn Miller songs at local honky-tonks, and had a weekly radio show on KERB in Kermit.^[12] When they were offered $400 to play at a dance, Orbison realized that he could make a living in music. Following high school, he enrolled at North Texas State College, planning to study geology so that he could secure work in the oil fields if music did not pay.^[13] He formed another band called The Teen Kings, and sang at night while working in the oil fields or studying during the day. Orbison saw classmate Pat Boone get signed for a record deal, further strengthening his resolve to become a professional musician. His geology grades dropping, he switched to Odessa Junior College to consider becoming a teacher.

While living in Odessa, Orbison drove to Dallas to be shocked at the on-stage antics of Elvis Presley, who was only a year older and a rising star in the music scene.^[14] Johnny Cash toured the area in 1955, playing on the same local radio show as the Teen Kings and suggested that Orbison approach Sam Phillips at Sun Records, home of rockabilly stars including Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Cash. In their conversation, Phillips told Orbison curtly, "Johnny Cash doesn't run my record company!"^{[note 3]} but he was convinced to listen to a song composed by Dick Penner and Wade Moore in mere minutes atop a fraternity house at North Texas State, named "Ooby Dooby", that the Teen Kings had recorded on the Odessa-based Je–Wel record label.^[6] Phillips was impressed and offered the Teen Kings a contract in 1956.

Sun Records and Acuff-Rose: 1957–1959[link]

The Teen Kings went to Memphis and although Orbison had grown weary of "Ooby Dooby", Phillips wanted to cut the record again in a better studio. Orbison rankled quietly at Phillips' dictating what the band would play and how Orbison was to sing it.^[15] However, with Phillips' production, the record broke into the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 59 and selling 200,000 copies.^[6] The Teen Kings toured with Sonny James, Johnny Horton, and Cash. Much influenced by Elvis Presley, Orbison performed frenetically, doing "everything we could to get applause because we had only one hit record".^[16] The Teen Kings also began writing more material such as "Go! Go! Go!" and "Rockhouse", generally in standard rockabilly style. The band ultimately split over disputed writing credits and royalties, but Orbison stayed in Memphis and asked his 16-year-old girlfriend, Claudette Frady, to join him.^{[note 4]} They stayed in Phillips' home, where they slept in separate rooms; in the studio Orbison concentrated on the mechanics of recording. Sam Phillips remembered being much more impressed with Orbison's mastery of the guitar than his voice;^[17] a ballad Orbison wrote called "The Clown" was met with lukewarm appreciation at best. Sun Records producer Jack Clement told Orbison after hearing it that he would never make it as a ballad singer.^[18]

He found a modicum of success at Sun Records and found his way into Elvis Presley's social circle, once going to pick up a date for Presley in his purple Cadillac. Orbison sold "Claudette", a song he wrote about Frady, whom he married in 1957, to The Everly Brothers and it appeared on the B-side of their smash hit "All I Have To Do Is Dream". The first and perhaps only royalties Orbison earned from Sun Records enabled him to make a down-payment on his own Cadillac. However, frustrated at Sun, Orbison gradually stopped recording, toured music circuits around Texas to make a living, and for seven months in 1958 quit performing completely.^[19] His car repossessed and in dire financial straits, he often depended on family and friends for funds.^[20]

For a brief period in the late 1950s Orbison made his living at Acuff-Rose, a songwriting firm concentrating mainly on country music. After spending an entire day writing a song, he would make several demo tapes at a time and send them to Wesley Rose, who would try to find the musical acts to record them. Orbison attempted to sell to RCA Victor songs he recorded that were written by other writers as well, working with and being completely in awe of Chet Atkins who had played guitar with Presley. Orbison tried one song penned by Boudleaux Bryant called "Seems to Me". Bryant's impression of Orbison was "a timid, shy kid who seemed to be rather befuddled by the whole music scene. I remember the way he sang then—softly, prettily but almost bashfully, as if someone might be disturbed by his efforts and reprimand him."^[21]

Playing shows late into the night, and living with his wife and young child in his tiny apartment, Orbison often sought refuge by taking his guitar to his car and writing songs there. Songwriter Joe Melson, an acquaintance of Orbison's, tapped on his car window one day in Texas in 1958 and the two decided to try to write some songs together.^[22] During three recording sessions in 1958 and 1959, Orbison and Melson recorded seven songs at RCA Nashville, with Atkins producing, but only two songs were judged worthy of release by RCA;^[23] Wesley Rose maneuvered Orbison into the sights of producer Fred Foster at Monument Records.

Arrival: 1960–1964[link]

Orbison became one of the first recording artists to popularize the Nashville Sound, a trend of country and pop crossover music that used session musicians dubbed the A-Team: guitarists Grady Martin, Harold Bradley, Ray Edenton, and Bob Moore; pianists Floyd Cramer or Hargus "Pig" Robbins; drummer Buddy Harman; and backup vocals by the Jordanaires or the Anita Kerr Singers. The Nashville Sound was developed by producers Atkins, Owen Bradley—who worked closely with Patsy Cline—Sam Phillips, and Fred Foster.^[24][25] In his first session for Monument in Nashville, Orbison took on a song that RCA had refused, "Paper Boy", backed by "With The Bug" as the B-side, but neither charted.^[26]

According to musician and author Albin Zak, the combination of the studio—engineered by Bill Porter, who experimented with close miking the doo-wop backup singers—production by Foster, and accompanying musicians, gave Orbison's music a "polished, professional sound...finally allow(ing) Orbison's stylistic inclinations free rein".^[23] In addition to the Nashville Sound's core components, Orbison requested strings in the studio. With this combination, Orbison recorded three new songs, the most notable of which was "Uptown", penned by himself and Melson.^[27] Impressed with the results, Melson later recalled, "We stood in the studio, listening to the playbacks and thought it was the most beautiful sound in the world".^[6][28] The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll states that the music Orbison made in Nashville "brought a new splendor to rock", and compared the melodramatic effects of the orchestral accompaniment to the music production of Phil Spector.^[29]

"Uptown" earned a modest spot at number 72 on the Billboard Top 100 and Orbison set his goal on negotiating a contract with an upscale nightclub somewhere. Rock and roll itself, in its infancy in the late 1950s, was stalled. Elvis Presley was in the Army. Eddie Cochran and fellow Texan Buddy Holly—both of whom Orbison had previously toured with—had died, to Orbison's deep astonishment. Little Richard had found religion and Chuck Berry was in jail. Orbison's former Sun Records colleague Jerry Lee Lewis was disgraced when his marriage to his 13-year-old cousin was reported widely in the press. In their wake, pop music filled the radio waves, dominated by teen idol crooners who sang cleansed formulas like those about the twist dance craze and "death discs" like "Teen Angel" and "Endless Sleep".^[30]

Writing for the voice[link]

Influenced by contemporaneous hits such as "Come Back to Me (My Love)" and "Come Softly to Me", Orbison and Melson wrote a song in early 1960 which, using elements from "Uptown" employed strings and the Anita Kerr doo-wop backup singers.^[31] It also featured a note hit by Orbison in falsetto that showcased a powerful voice which, according to biographer Clayson, "came not from his throat but deeper within".^[32] The song was "Only the Lonely"; Orbison and Melson had earlier tried to pitch it to Elvis Presley and the Everly Brothers but were turned down.^[33] They instead recorded the song at RCA's Nashville studio with Porter trying a completely new strategy: building the mix from the top down rather from the bottom up, beginning with the close-miked background vocals in the foreground and ending with the rhythm section soft in the background.^[27][34] This combination became Orbison's trademark sound.^[31] The single shot to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit number 1 in the UK and Australia. According to Orbison, the subsequent songs he wrote with Melson during this period were constructed with his voice in mind, specifically to showcase its range and power. He told Rolling Stone in 1988: "I liked the sound of [my voice]. I liked making it sing, making the voice ring, and I just kept doing it. And I think that somewhere between the time of "Ooby Dooby" and "Only the Lonely", it kind of turned into a good voice."^[35]

Instantly Orbison was in high demand. He appeared on American Bandstand and toured the U.S. for three months non-stop with Patsy Cline. When Presley heard "Only the Lonely" for the first time, he bought a box of copies to pass to his friends.^[36] Melson and Orbison followed it with the more complex "Blue Angel" which peaked at U.S. number 9/UK number 11, a self-performed version of "Claudette", and "I'm Hurtin'", which rose to number 27 but failed to chart in the UK.^[37]

	"Running Scared" by Roy Orbison noicon Sample of "Running Scared" as recorded by Orbison in 1961, featuring Orbison's natural voice hitting high G sharp
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Orbison was now able to move his wife and son to Nashville full-time. Back in the studio, seeking a change from the doo-wop styled pop sound of "Only the Lonely" and "I'm Hurtin'", Orbison worked on a new song, "Running Scared", based loosely on the rhythm of Ravel's Boléro; the song was about a man on lookout for his girlfriend's previous boyfriend, who he feared would try to take her away. Orbison encountered difficulty when he found himself unable to hit the song's highest note without his voice breaking. He was backed by an orchestra in the studio and Porter told him he would have to sing louder than his accompaniment because the orchestra was unable to be softer than his voice.^[38] Fred Foster then put Orbison in the corner of the studio and surrounded him with coat racks in an improvised isolation booth to emphasize his voice. Orbison was unhappy with the first two takes, but in the third, he abandoned the idea of using falsetto and sang the final high G sharp naturally, so astonishing everyone present that the accompanying musicians stopped playing.^[29] On that third take, "Running Scared" was completed. Fred Foster later recalled, "He did it, and everybody looked around in amazement. Nobody had heard anything like it before."^[6]

Developing the image[link]

Just weeks later "Running Scared" reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 9 in the UK. The composition of Orbison's following hits reflected "Running Scared": a story about an emotionally vulnerable man facing loss or grief, culminating with a surprise ending in a crescendo that employed Orbison's dynamic voice. "Crying" followed in July 1961 and reached number 2; it was coupled with an R&B up-tempo song titled "Candy Man" written by Fred Neil and Beverley Ross, which reached the Billboard Top 30, staying on the charts for two months.^[37] Orbison's second son was born in 1962, and Orbison hit number 4 in the U.S. and number 2 in the UK with "Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream?)", an upbeat song written by country songwriter Cindy Walker. The rest of the year he charted with "The Crowd", "Leah", and "Workin' For the Man", which he wrote about working one summer in the oil fields near Wink.^[5][39] His relationship with Joe Melson, however, was deteriorating over Melson's growing concerns that his own solo career would never get off the ground.^[40]

Lacking the photogenic looks of many of his rock and roll contemporaries, Orbison eventually developed a persona that did not reflect his personality. He had no publicist in the early 1960s, no presence in fan magazines, and his single sleeves did not feature his picture. Life magazine called him an "anonymous celebrity".^[41] After leaving his thick eyeglasses on an airplane in 1962 or 1963, Orbison was forced to wear his prescription sunglasses on stage and found that he preferred them. His biographers suggest that although he had a good sense of humor and was never morose, Orbison was very shy and suffered from severe stage fright; wearing sunglasses helped him hide somewhat from the attention. The black clothes and desperation in his songs led to an aura of mystery and introversion.^[6][42][43] Years later, Orbison said "I wasn't trying to be weird, you know? I didn't have a manager who told me to dress or how to present myself or anything. But the image developed of a man of mystery and a quiet man in black somewhat of a recluse, although I never was, really."^[44]

His dark and brooding persona, combined with his tremulous voice in lovelorn ballads marketed to teenagers, helped Orbison corner the pop market in the early 1960s. He had a string of hits in 1963 with "In Dreams" (U.S. number 7/UK number 6), "Falling" (U.S. number 22/UK number 9), "Mean Woman Blues" (U.S. number 5/UK number 3) coupled with "Blue Bayou" (U.S. number 29/UK number 3).^[5][45] He finished the year with a Christmas song written by Willie Nelson titled "Pretty Paper" (U.S. number 15 in 1963/UK number 6 in 1964).

As "In Dreams" was released in April 1963, Orbison was asked to replace guitarist Duane Eddy on a tour of the UK in top billing, with The Beatles, whose popularity was on the rise. When he arrived in England, however, he saw the amount of advertising devoted to the quartet and realized he was no longer the main draw. He had never heard of them and, annoyed, asked hypothetically, "What's a Beatle anyway?" to which John Lennon replied after tapping his shoulder, "I am."^[46] On opening night, Orbison opted to go onstage first although he was the more established act. Known for having raucous shows expressing an extraordinary amount of energy, Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr stood dumbfounded backstage as Orbison performed completely still and simply sang through fourteen encores.^[47] Finally, when the audience began chanting "We want Roy!" again, Lennon and McCartney prevented Orbison from going on again by physically holding him back.^[48] Starr later said, "In Glasgow, we were all backstage listening to the tremendous applause he was getting. He was just standing there, not moving or anything."^[47] Through the tour, however, both acts quickly learned to get along, a process made easier by the fact that the Beatles admired his work.^[49] Orbison felt a kinship with Lennon, but it was Harrison with whom he would later form a strong friendship. The moniker of "The Big O" would eventually follow him back to the States, where it became an unofficial nickname for Orbison.

Riding the success[link]

	"Oh, Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison noicon Opening sample of "Oh, Pretty Woman" as recorded by Orbison in 1964, and as noted by Mick Jagger to be a direct influence on the opening of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones[50]
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Touring in 1963 took a toll on Orbison's personal life. His wife Claudette began having an affair with the contractor who built their home in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Their friends and relatives attributed it to her youth and that she was unable to withstand being alone and bored; when Orbison toured England again in the fall of 1963, she joined him.^[51] He was immensely popular wherever he went, finishing the tour in Ireland and Canada. Almost immediately he toured Australia and New Zealand with The Beach Boys and returned again to the UK and Ireland, where he was so besieged by teenage girls that the Irish police had to halt his performances to pull the girls off him.^[52] He continued to tour, however, and visited Australia again, this time with The Rolling Stones. Mick Jagger later remarked of a snapshot he took of Orbison in New Zealand: "A fine figure of a man in the hot springs, he was."^[53]

Orbison also began collaborating with Bill Dees, whom he had known in Texas. With Dees, he wrote "It's Over", a number 1 in the UK, and a song that would be one of his signature pieces for the rest of his career. When Claudette walked in the room where Dees and Orbison were writing to say she was heading for Nashville, Orbison asked if she had any money. Dees said, "Pretty woman never needs any money".^[54] Forty minutes later, "Oh, Pretty Woman" was completed. A riff-laden masterpiece that employed a playful growl he got from a Bob Hope movie, the epithet Orbison uttered when he was unable to hit a note ("Mercy!"), and a merging of his vulnerable and masculine sides, it rose to number 1 in the fall of 1964 in the U.S. and stayed on the charts for 14 weeks; it hit number 1 in the UK as well, spending 18 weeks total on the charts. The single sold over seven million copies.^[6] Orbison's success was greater in Britain; as Billboard magazine noted, "In a 68-week period that began on August 8, 1963, Roy Orbison was the only American artist to have a number-one single in Britain. He did it twice, with 'It's Over' on June 25, 1964, and 'Oh, Pretty Woman' on October 8, 1964. The latter song also went to number one in America, making Orbison impervious to the current chart dominance of British artists on both sides of the Atlantic."^[55]

Career decline and personal tragedies: 1965–1969[link]

"Oh, Pretty Woman" proved the pinnacle of Orbison's career in the 1960s. Following its release, he endured some upheavals. He and Claudette divorced in November 1964 over her infidelities, though they remarried in August 1965. Wesley Rose, at this time acting as Orbison's agent, moved him from Monument Records to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), for a million dollars and the understanding that Orbison would expand into television and films as Elvis Presley had done. Orbison was a film enthusiast, and when not touring, writing, or recording would dedicate time to seeing up to three films a day.^[56] However, Rose also began acting as Orbison's producer. Fred Foster later argued that Rose's takeover was responsible for the commercial failure of Orbison's work at MGM; engineer Bill Porter agreed that Orbison's best work could only be achieved with RCA Nashville's A Team.^[26] Orbison's first collection at MGM, an album titled Goodnight, sold fewer than 200,000 copies.^[6] The British Invasion also occurred at the same time, changing the direction of rock music significantly.^[57]

While on tour again in the UK in 1965, Orbison broke his foot falling off a motorcycle in front of thousands of screaming fans at a race track, and performed his show that evening in a cast. His reconciliation with Claudette occurred when she went to visit him while he was recuperating from the accident.^[58] Orbison was fascinated with machines. He was famous for following a car that he liked on sight, and making the driver an offer on the spot.^[59] He had a collection worthy of a museum by the late 1960s. He and Claudette shared a love for motorcycles; she had grown up around them, but Orbison claimed Elvis Presley had introduced him to motorcycles.^[60] However, tragedy struck on June 6, 1966, when Orbison and Claudette were riding home from Bristol, Tennessee. She was struck by a semi-trailer truck and died instantly.^[61]

A grieving Orbison threw himself into his work, collaborating with Bill Dees to write music for The Fastest Guitar Alive, a film that MGM had scheduled for him to star in as well. It was initially planned as a dramatic Western, but was rewritten as a comedy.^[62] Orbison's character was a spy who stole and had to protect and deliver a cache of gold to the Confederate Army during the U.S. Civil War and was outfitted with a guitar that turned into a rifle. The prop allowed him to deliver the line "I could kill you with this and play your funeral march at the same time", with — according to biographer Colin Escott — "zero conviction".^[6] Orbison was pleased with the film, although it proved to be a critical and box office flop. While MGM had included five films in his contract, no more were made.^[63][64]

He recorded an album dedicated to the songs of Don Gibson and another of Hank Williams covers, but both sold poorly. As the psychedelic rock movement took hold in the late 1960s, Orbison felt lost, later saying "[I] didn't hear a lot I could relate to so I kind of stood there like a tree where the winds blow and the seasons change, and you're still there and you bloom again."^[65] He continued to tour, and had previously made some smart real estate investments, so money was never an issue for him again. During a tour in the Midlands of England on September 16, 1968, he received the news that his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee, had burned down and his two eldest sons had died.^[66] The property was sold to Johnny Cash, who planted an orchard on it. On March 25, 1969, Orbison married German teenager Barbara Jakobs, whom he had met several days before his sons' deaths.^[67] His youngest son with Claudette (Wesley, born 1965) was raised by Orbison's parents; Orbison and Barbara had a son (Roy Kelton) in 1970 and another (Alexander) in 1974.^[68]

Rediscovery[link]

Covers: 1970s[link]

Orbison recorded in the 1970s, but his albums performed so poorly that he began to doubt his talents.^[69] Author Peter Lehman would later observe that his absence was a part of the mystery of his persona: "Since it was never clear where he had come from, no one seemed to pay much mind to where he had gone; he was just gone."^[70] His influence was apparent, however, as several artists released covers of his songs that performed very well. "Love Hurts" was remade by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, and again by heavy metal band Nazareth. Sonny James sent "Only the Lonely" to number 1 on the country music charts.^[71] Bruce Springsteen ended his concerts with Orbison songs and Glen Campbell had a minor hit with a remake of "Dream Baby". A compilation LP of Orbison's greatest hits went to number 1 in the UK in 1977. The same year he began to open concerts for The Eagles, who started as Linda Ronstadt's backup band. Ronstadt herself covered "Blue Bayou" in 1977, her version reaching number 3 on the Billboard charts and remaining in the charts for 24 weeks. Orbison credited this cover in particular for reviving his memory in the popular mind, if not his career.^[72]

On 18 January 1978 Orbison underwent a triple heart bypass. He had suffered from duodenal ulcers as far back as 1960, and had been a chain smoker since adolescence.^[73] Although he felt revitalized following the triple bypass, he continued to smoke and his weight fluctuated for the rest of his life.

Don McLean covered "Crying" in 1980 in a version which hit number 5 in the U.S. and stayed on the charts for 15 weeks; it was number 1 in the UK for three weeks.^[74] Although he was all but forgotten in the U.S., Orbison took a chance and embarked on a tour of Bulgaria. He was astonished to find he was as popular there as he had been in 1964; he was forced to stay in his hotel room because he was mobbed on the streets of Sofia.^[75] Later that year, he and Emmylou Harris won a Grammy for their duet "That Lovin' You Feelin' Again". It was his first such award, and he felt more than ever that the time was ripe for his full return to popular music.^[76] However, it would be several more years until this came to fruition.

Revival: 1987–88[link]

Orbison's career was fully revived in 1987. He released an album of his re-recorded hits titled In Dreams: The Greatest Hits. A song he recorded named "Life Fades Away" was featured in the film Less Than Zero. He and k. d. lang performed a duet of "Crying" and released it on the soundtrack to Hiding Out, winning a Grammy for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals.^[77]

However, one film in which Orbison refused to allow his music was Blue Velvet. Director David Lynch asked to use "In Dreams" and Orbison turned him down.^[78] Lynch used it anyway. The song served as one of several obsessions of a psychopathic character named Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper). It was lip-synched by an effeminate drug dealer played by Dean Stockwell, after which Booth demanded the song be played over and over, once beating the protagonist while the song played. During filming, Lynch asked for the song to be played repeatedly to give the set a surreal atmosphere.^[79] Orbison was initially shocked at its use: he saw the film in a theater in Malibu and later said, "I was mortified because they were talking about the 'candy colored clown' in relation to a dope deal... I thought, 'What in the world...?' But later, when I was touring, we got the video out and I really got to appreciate what David gave to the song, and what the song gave to the movie—how it achieved this otherworldly quality that added a whole new dimension to 'In Dreams'."^[6]

The same year, Orbison was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and initiated into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Bruce Springsteen, who concluded his speech with a reference to his own song "Thunder Road": "I wanted a record with words like Bob Dylan that sounded like Phil Spector—but, most of all, I wanted to sing like Roy Orbison. Now everyone knows that no one sings like Roy Orbison."^[80] In response, Orbison asked Springsteen for a copy of the speech, and said of his induction that he felt "validated" by the honor.^[80] A few months later, Orbison and Springsteen paired again to film a concert at the Cocoanut Grove Ballroom in Los Angeles. They were joined by Jackson Browne, T-Bone Burnett, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Bonnie Raitt, Jennifer Warnes, and k.d. lang. Lang later recounted how humbled Orbison had been by the show of support from so many talented and busy musicians: "Roy looked at all of us and said, 'If there is anything I can ever do for you, please call on me.' He was very serious. It was his way of thanking us. It was very emotional."^[81] The concert was filmed in one take and aired on Cinemax under the title Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night; it was released on video by Virgin Records, selling 50,000 copies.^[82]

[edit] Traveling Wilburys and Mystery Girl: 1988

In 1987, Orbison had begun collaborating with Electric Light Orchestra frontman Jeff Lynne on a new album. At the same time Lynne was completing production work on George Harrison's Cloud Nine, and all three had lunch one day when Orbison accepted an invitation to sing on Harrison's album. They contacted Bob Dylan, who allowed them to use a recording studio in his home. Along the way, Harrison had to stop by Tom Petty's house to pick up his guitar; Petty and his band had backed Dylan on his last tour.^[83] By that evening, the group had written "Handle with Care", which led to the concept of recording an entire album. They called themselves the Traveling Wilburys, representing themselves as half-brothers from the same father. They gave themselves stage names; Orbison chose his from his musical hero, calling himself "Lefty Wilbury" after Lefty Frizzell.^[84] Expanding on the concept of a traveling band of raucous musicians, Orbison offered a quote about the group's foundation in honor: "Some people say Daddy was a cad and a bounder. I remember him as a Baptist minister."^[85]

Lynne later spoke of the recording sessions: "Everybody just sat there going, 'Wow, it's Roy Orbison!'... [E]ven though he's become your pal and you're hanging out and having a laugh and going to dinner, as soon as he gets behind that mike and he's doing his business, suddenly it's shudder time."^[86] Orbison was given one solo track on the album titled "Not Alone Anymore". His contributions were highly praised by the press. Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 spent 53 weeks on the U.S. charts, peaking at number 3. It hit number 1 in Australia and topped out at number 16 in the UK. The LP won a Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group.^[77] Rolling Stone included it in the top 100 albums of the decade.^[87]

Orbison was in high demand for concerts and interviews once again, and was thrilled about it. He began writing songs and collaborating with many musicians from his past and newer fans to develop a solo album titled Mystery Girl. U2's lead singer Bono had become aware of Orbison when he saw Blue Velvet and, with The Edge wrote "She's a Mystery to Me" for him.^[79] Bono witnessed the recording of the song and recalled:

I stood beside him and sang with him. He didn't seem to be singing. So I thought, 'He'll sing it the next take. He's just reading the words.' And then we went in to listen to the take, and there was this voice, which was the loudest whisper I've ever heard. He had been singing it. But he hardly moved his lips. And the voice was louder than the band in its own way. I don't know how he did that. It was like sleight of hand. ^[88]

Mystery Girl was produced by Jeff Lynne, whom Orbison considered the best producer he had ever worked with,^[89] while Bono, Elvis Costello, Orbison's son Wesley and others offered their songs to him. The biggest hit from the album was "You Got It", written by Lynne and Tom Petty. It posthumously rose to number 9 in the U.S. and number 3 in the UK.^[5][45]

Death[link]

While Orbison determinedly pursued his second chance at stardom, he reacted to his success in constant surprise, confessing "It's very nice to be wanted again, but I still can't quite believe it."^[90] He lost some weight to fit his new image and the constant demand of touring, as well as the newer demands of making videos. In November 1988, Mystery Girl was completed and Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 was rising up the charts. Orbison went to Europe where he was presented with an award and played a show in Antwerp where footage for the video for "You Got It" was filmed. He gave multiple interviews a day in a hectic schedule. A few days later a manager at a club in Boston was concerned that he looked ill, but Orbison played the show to another standing ovation.^[91] Finally, exhausted, he returned to his home in Hendersonville to rest for a few days before flying again to London to film two more videos for the Traveling Wilburys. On December 6, 1988, he spent the day flying model airplanes with his sons. After having dinner at his mother's home in Tennessee, Orbison died of a heart attack at 52.^[92]

Orbison's death was an international news event. Author Peter Lehman suggests that had he died in the 1970s when his career was in the doldrums, it might have earned a minor mention in the obituary section of the newspaper.^[93] However, the response to his death reflected just how popular Orbison had again become. The Nashville Banner put it on the front page across six columns; it also made the front page of the New York Times. The tabloid The National Enquirer suggested on its cover that he had worked himself to death. A memorial was held in Nashville, and another in Los Angeles; he was buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.^[94][95] In January 1989, Orbison became the first musician since Elvis Presley to have two albums in the Top Five at the same time.^[96]

Style and influence[link]

Although Orbison is counted as a rock and roll pioneer, and has been cited by numerous critics as one of the genre's most influential musicians, his style was noted for how it departed from the norm. Rock and roll in the 1950s was defined by a driving backbeat, heavy guitars, and lyrical themes that glorified youthful rebellion.^[98] However, very little of what Orbison recorded met these characteristics. The structure and themes of his songs defied convention, and his much-praised voice and performance style were unlike any other in rock and roll. Many of his contemporaries compared his music with that of classically trained musicians, although Orbison never mentioned any classical music influences. Author Peter Lehman summarized it, writing, "He achieved what he did not by copying classical music but by creating a unique form of popular music that drew upon a wide variety of music popular during his youth".^[99]

Song structures[link]

U2 frontman Bono holds Orbison as a standard in musical creativity, commenting in 1999, "The thing people don't talk about enough as far as I'm concerned is how innovative this music was, how radical in terms of its songwriting. As I become more interested in songwriting, you hit a wall where Roy Orbison is standing."^[100] Bob Dylan highlighted Orbison's song structures in his book Chronicles: Volume One, specifically noting how they were "songs within songs".^[101] Music critic Dave Marsh also wrote that these compositions "define a world unto themselves more completely than any other body of work in pop music".^[102] Orbison's music, like the man himself, has been described as timeless, diverting from contemporary rock and roll and bordering on the eccentric, within a hair's breadth of being weird.^[103] New York Times writer Peter Watrous declared in a concert review: "He has perfected an odd vision of popular music, one in which eccentricity and imagination beat back all the pressures toward conformity".^[104]

In the 1960s, Orbison refused to splice edits of songs together, and insisted in recording them in single takes with all the instruments and singers together.^[105] The only convention Orbison followed in his most popular songs is the time limit for radio fare in pop songs. Otherwise, each seems to follow a separate structure. Using the standard thirty-two-bar form for verses and choruses, normal pop songs followed the verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-verse-chorus structure. Where A represents the first verse and B represents the chorus, most pop songs can be represented by A-B-A-B-C-A-B, like "Ooby Dooby" and "Claudette". Orbison's "In Dreams" was a song in seven movements that can be represented as Intro-A-B-C-D-E-F; no sections are repeated. In "Running Scared", however, the entire song repeats to build suspense to a final climax, to be represented as A-A-A-A-B. "Crying" is more complex, changing parts toward the end to be represented as A-B-C-D-E-F-A-B modified, C modified, D modified, E modified, F modified.^[106] Although Orbison recorded and wrote standard structure songs before "Only the Lonely", he claimed never to have learned how to write them:

"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."^[107]

Elton John's writing partner Bernie Taupin wrote that Orbison's songs always made "radical left turns", and k. d. lang declared that good songwriting comes from being constantly surprised, such as how the entirety of "Running Scared" eventually depends on the final note, one word.^[108] Some of the musicians who worked with Orbison were confounded by what he asked them to do. Nashville session guitarist Jerry Kennedy stated, "Roy went against the grain. The first time you'd hear something, it wouldn't sound right. But after a few playbacks, it would start to grow on you."^[55]

Themes of songs[link]

Critic Dave Marsh categorizes Orbison's ballads into themes reflecting pain and loss, and dreaming. A third category is his uptempo rockabilly songs such as "Go! Go! Go!" and "Mean Woman Blues" that are more thematically simple, addressing his feelings and intentions in a masculine braggadocio. In concert, Orbison placed the uptempo songs between the ballads to keep from being too consistently dark or grim.^[109]

In 1990, Colin Escott wrote an introduction to Orbison's biography published in a CD box set: "Orbison was the master of compression. Working the singles era, he could relate a short story, or establish a mood in under three minutes. If you think that's easy—try it. His greatest recordings were quite simply perfect; not a word or note surplus to intention."^[6] After attending a show in 1988, Peter Watrous of The New York Times wrote that Orbison's songs are "dreamlike claustrophobically intimate set pieces".^[104] Music critic Ken Emerson writes that the "apocalyptic romanticism" in Orbison's music was well-crafted for the films his songs appeared in in the 1980s because the music was "so over-the-top that dreams become delusions, and self-pity paranoia", striking "a postmodern nerve".^[110] Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant favored American R&B music as a youth, but beyond the black musicians, he named Elvis and Orbison especially as foreshadowing the emotions he would experience: "The poignancy of the combination of lyric and voice was stunning. [Orbison] used drama to great effect and he wrote dramatically."^[100]

The loneliness in Orbison's songs that he became most famous for, he both explained and downplayed: "I don't think I've been any more lonely than anyone else... Although if you grow up in West Texas, there are a lot of ways to be lonely."^[100] His music offered an alternative to the postured masculinity that was pervasive in music and culture. Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees stated, "He made emotion fashionable, that it was all right to talk about and sing about very emotional things. For men to sing about very emotional things... Before that no one would do it."^[100] Orbison acknowledged this in looking back on the era in which he became popular: "When ["Crying"] came out I don't think anyone had accepted the fact that a man should cry when he wants to cry."^[100] Peter Lehman, on the other hand, considered Orbison's theme of constant vulnerability an element of sexual masochism.^[102]

Voice quality[link]

Orbison admitted that he did not think his voice was put to appropriate use until "Only the Lonely" in 1960, when it was able, in his words, to allow its "flowering".^[112] Carl Perkins, however, toured with Orbison while they were both signed with Sun Records and recalled a specific concert when Orbison covered the Nelson Eddy and Jeannette MacDonald standard "Indian Love Call", and had the audience completely silenced, in awe.^[113] When compared to the Everly Brothers, who often used the same session musicians, Orbison is credited with "a passionate intensity" that, according to The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll, made "his love, his life, and, indeed, the whole world [seem] to be coming to an end—not with a whimper, but an agonized, beautiful bang".^[29]

Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel both commented on the otherworldly quality of Orbison's voice. Dwight Yoakam stated that Orbison's voice sounded like "the cry of an angel falling backward through an open window".^[114] Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees went further to say that when he heard "Crying" for the first time, "That was it. To me that was the voice of God."^[100]

Bob Dylan marked Orbison as a specific influence, remarking that there was nothing like him on radio in the early 1960s:

With Roy, you didn't know if you were listening to mariachi or opera. He kept you on your toes. With him, it was all about fat and blood. He sounded like he was singing from an Olympian mountaintop. [After "Ooby Dooby"] (h)e was now singing his compositions in three or four octaves that made you want to drive your car over a cliff. He sang like a professional criminal ... [H]is voice could jar a corpse, always leave you muttering to yourself something like, 'Man, I don't believe it'.^[101]

Likewise, Tim Goodwin, who conducted the orchestra that backed Orbison in Bulgaria, had been told that Orbison's voice would be a singular experience to hear. When Orbison started with "Crying" and hit the high notes, Goodwin stated, "The strings were playing and the band had built up, and sure enough, the hair on the back of my neck just all started standing up. It was an incredible physical sensation."^[115]

Orbison's severe stage fright was particularly noticeable in the 1970s and early 1980s. During the first few songs in a concert, the vibrato in his voice was almost uncontrollable, but afterwards, it became stronger and more dependable.^[116] This also happened with age. Orbison noticed that he was unable to control the tremor in the late afternoon and evenings, and chose to record in the mornings when it was possible.

Performance[link]

Orbison, center (in white), performing in 1976

Orbison often excused his motionless performances by saying that his songs did not allow instrumental sections so he could move or dance on stage, although songs like "Mean Woman Blues" did offer that.^[117] He was aware of his unique performance style even in the early 1960s when he commented, "I'm not a super personality—on stage or off. I mean, you could put workers like Chubby Checker or Bobby Rydell in second-rate shows and they'd still shine through, but not me. I'd have to be prepared. People come to hear my music, my songs. That's what I have to give them."^[118]

Lang compared Orbison to a tree, with passive but solid beauty.^[119] This image of Orbison as immovable was so associated with him it was parodied by John Belushi on Saturday Night Live, as Belushi dressed as Orbison falls over while singing "Oh, Pretty Woman", and continues to play as his bandmates set him upright again.^[116] However, lang quantified this style by saying, "It's so hard to explain what Roy's energy was like because he would fill a room with his energy and presence but not say a word. Being that he was so grounded and so strong and so gentle and quiet. He was just there."^[100]

Orbison attributed his own passion during his performances to the period when he grew up in Fort Worth while the U.S. was mobilizing for World War II. His parents worked in a defense plant and his father would bring a guitar in the evenings and their friends and relatives who had just joined the military would gather, and drink and sing heartily. Orbison later reflected, "I guess that level of intensity made a big impression on me, because it's still there. That sense of 'do it for all it's worth and do it now and do it good.' Not to analyze it too much, but I think the verve and gusto that everybody felt and portrayed around me has stayed with me all this time."^[120]

Discography[link]

Honors[link]

• Grammys^[77]

• Best Country Performance Duo Or Group (1980) with Emmylou Harris
• Best Spoken Word Or Non-Musical Recording (1986) with Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sam Phillips, Rick Nelson and Chips Moman
• Best Country Vocal Collaboration (1988) with k. d. lang
• Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal (1989) as part of The Traveling Wilburys
• Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male (1990)
• Lifetime Achievement Award (1998)

• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1987)^[35]
• Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (1987)^[107]
• Songwriters Hall of Fame (1989)^[121]
• Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2010)^[122]

See also[link]

Video and televised feature performances:

• 1972: Roy Orbison – Live from Australia
• 1982: Live at Austin City Limits
• 1987: Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night
• 1999: In Dreams: The Roy Orbison Story

References[link]

1. ^ Comparisons of Orbison's music and voice to opera have been made by Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and songwriter Will Jennings among others. (Lehman, p. 21.)
2. ^ Ellis Amburn argues that Orbison was bullied and ostracized while in Wink and that after he became famous, he gave conflicting reports to local Texas newspapers claiming it was still home to him, while simultaneously maligning the town to Rolling Stone. (Amburn, pp. 11–20.)
3. ^ Although both Orbison and Cash mentioned this anecdote years later, Phillips denied that he was so abrupt on the phone with Orbison or that he hung up on him. One of the Teen Kings later stated that the band did not meet Cash until a week later while they were on tour with other Sun Records artists. (Amburn, pp. 42–43).
4. ^ Alan Clayson's biography names Orbison's girlfriend Claudette Hestand.

Citations[link]