The Tragic Life of Roy Orbison

Roy Orbison Songs

Roy Orbison the gifted songwriter and singer, that some of his critics refer to his style as being operatic and giving him the nick name of “the Caruso of Rock”. Roy Orbison made famous such classic hits as; Oh Pretty Woman, Only the Lonely, Crying, Running Scared and You Got It.

The Tragedies

He had a tragic life. First losing his beloved first wife Claudette in a tragic motor cycle accident, and then losing two of his three boys in a house fire.

On June 6, 1966, Roy and Claudette were riding their motor bikes in tandem, heading to the National Drag Races in Bristol, Tennessee. After the races they were heading home just a few miles out of Hendersonville.  Roy told Claudette he would show her a short cut, so he pulled ahead. Roy was out of sight when Claudette was hit by a truck at an intersection. The impact threw her off the bike; she hit the hood of the truck and ended up under the truck.  She was rushed to the hospital where she later died of her injuries.

Shortly after Claudette’s death, on the evening of September 14, 1968 Roy was not home; he was performing in Birmingham. That evening at Roy’s home in Hendersonville, his sons Roy Duane, Tony and Westley were down stairs playing with fire, using a lighter. Suddenly a corner of the bedding caught on fire and the boys tried to put it out, to no avail. Their grandfather was able to save the youngest son, Wesley but the two older boys, Roy Duane and Tony perished in the fire.

Roy Orbison died of a heart attack in 1988 at the age of 52.

Too Soon To Know

The song “Too Soon To Know” was written days before Claudette’s death but it served as her eulogy. Even though the song was about the end of a love affair, it could have also been sung for the end of a loved one’s life. After Claudette’s death the song quickly went to #3 in Britain but stalled at #68 on the US charts. Listen to this beautiful heartfelt song as Roy sang it in Melbourne Australia in 1973 live concert, you can almost hear the pain in Roy’s voice.

Sam Phillips, Elvis and the invention of rock ‘n’ roll

By Todd Leopold, CNN

Updated 12:10 PM ET, Wed November 18, 2015

(CNN)Sun Records founder Sam Phillips relished imperfections.

A phone going off in the middle of a recording session? No matter; that’s a take. Carl Perkins telling Phillips that he missed some notes? Too bad: It had the best feel. A damaged speaker cone making the guitar sound distorted? Exactly the sound he’s looking for.

As long as the feel was right, Phillips wanted it: “perfect imperfection,” he called it.

“In many ways, (to Phillips,) a flawless record was a record without soul,” said Peter Guralnick, author of the new Phillips biography, “Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ‘n’ Roll.”

His instincts served him well. That last example, for instance, became the hit “Rocket 88,” often touted as the first rock ‘n’ roll record.

And that was, literally, just the beginning. As demonstrated in Guralnick’s biography, Phillips’ discoveries reshaped the boundaries of popular music: Perkins, Johnny Cash, Howlin’ Wolf, Jerry Lee Lewis, Charlie Rich and the king of them all, Elvis Presley.

In establishing Sun Records and the Memphis Recording Service (“We record anything — anywhere — anytime,” noted the sign), Phillips gave musical opportunities to African-Americans who had generally been ignored by mainstream recording companies, as well as rural whites whose raw sound wasn’t accepted by the big labels.

 

“He believed in the democratic dream. That was his deepest-rooted belief,” said Guralnick, author of highly regarded Elvis Presley and Sam Cooke biographies.

Phillips’ roster shows just how innovative, wide-ranging and sympathetic he was:

Howlin’ Wolf

 

Chester Arthur Burnett, better known as Howlin’ Wolf, was already in his early 40s when Phillips first heard him. Phillips was smitten immediately.

 

“THIS IS WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR,” he said, capital letters and all, according to Guralnick’s biography.Read More:

 

Eli Williams, 26, has been competing in Elvis impersonator contests since 2008

Get those rhinestone-studded suits ready and comb through those sideburns because today would have been Elvis Presley’s 80th birthday.

As music fans around the world celebrate the King of Rock and Roll’s legacy with festivals, concerts and a four-day event in Memphis, Tenn., Surrey-based Elvis impersonator Eli Williams will be marking the occasion by performing at Vancouver’s Barclay Manor—something he’s done every Jan. 8th for the last five years.

Williams’ admiration for Elvis began when he was in high school. Though he’s always known about the King through his grandmother, it was the movie “Men In Black” that drew him in.

After watching a scene where actor Tommy Lee Jones slid an eight-track of Elvis Presley’s “Promised Land” into his futuristic vehicle’s player, Williams picked up several of Elvis’s albums, got himself a pompadour hairstyle and started growing out his sideburns.

Williams, 26, started performing as an Elvis impersonator in 2008. He shared his passion for the King’s music with CBC’s The Early Edition.

On what drew him to Elvis when he was a teenager: “I really liked the music. He was a cool-looking guy, cool hair, sideburns…it was just so much different than everything else at the time and, I’d even say, now. There’s definitely something to be said for someone who passed away almost 40 years ago now and we’re still talking about him.”

On how he got started as an Elvis impersonator: “A friend of mine said — and at that point, I’d started combing my hair in the Elvis pompadour and growing out my side burns — he said to me, ‘I have a band, we should do this on the talent show.’ I said, ‘I’ve never sung in public before. I’m an Elvis fan, but not a singer.’ He said, ‘It’ll be ok. We’ll do it, it’s fine.’ So we did it and after that, I was like, ‘Wow, I really love performing.'”

On impersonating Elvis: “It’s very difficult because everybody has their own interpretation of what Elvis was — be it the skinny guy in 1954, be it Elvis in the movies, Elvis in the army. It’s very hard to be a very sincere act … and I try to be, in my mind, as authentic and stick to the source as possible.”  More:

Roy Orbison MGM Records Years Get Royal Treatment With Box Set and Unreleased Album: Exclusive

Roy Orbison MGM Years – Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Roy Orbison is celebrated primarily for his years with the Sun and Monument Records labels, where he recorded such career-defining hits as “Ooby Dooby,” “Only the Lonely,” “In Dreams,” “Crying” and “Oh, Pretty Woman” in the ’50s and early ’60s. But 50 years ago, at the height of Beatlemania, the singer was the object of a fierce bidding war that led to a $1 million move to MGM Records. His eight-year, 12-album tenure there was not as commercially successful as his previous years, but with top 40 and international hits like “Ride Away” and “Breakin’ Up Is Breakin’ My Heart,” it was still creatively vital. And Orbison’s heirs are ensuring that era of his career gets its due.

In December, Roys Boys LLC — the Nashville-based company run by sons Wesley, Roy Jr. and Alex Orbison — will release a pair of projects from the MGM vaults through Universal Music Enterprises. The 153-song MGM Years will feature all of Orbison’s albums plus a rarities compilation, while One of the Lonely Ones is an unreleased 12-track album recorded in 1969 but shelved due to what Alex calls “a logjam of releases” and some financial issues with the label. A copy of that album will be included with the first 500 preordered physical copies of the box set, and with preorders of the digital version.

Alex says the two releases mark the ­beginning of a campaign to put the MGM catalog, much of which has been long out of print, back into ­circulation. Universal’s purchase of Polydor Records, which previously had taken over the MGM catalog, made the company the partner for Roys Boys and for worldwide releases of the catalog. “We have creative control and final say on everything,” adds Alex. “In essence, we’re the record company.” More: