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Roy Orbison

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Wikimp3 information about the music of Roy Orbison. On our website we have 70 albums and 70 collections of artist Roy Orbison. You can find useful information and download songs of this artist. We also know that Roy Orbison represents Rock genres.

Biography

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Although he shared the same rockabilly roots as Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison went on to pioneer an entirely different brand of country/pop-based rock & roll in the early '60s. What he lacked in charisma and photogenic looks, Orbison made up for in spades with his quavering operatic voice and melodramatic narratives of unrequited love and yearning. In the process, he established rock & roll archetypes of the underdog and the hopelessly romantic loser. These were not only amplified by peers such as Del Shannon and Gene Pitney, but also influenced future generations of roots rockers such as Bruce Springsteen and Chris Isaak, as well as modern country stars the Mavericks.

Orbison made his first widely distributed recordings for Sun Records in 1956. Roy was a capable rockabilly singer, and had a small national hit with his first Sun single, "Ooby Dooby." But even then, he was far more comfortable as a ballad singer than as a hepped-up rockabilly jive cat. Other Sun singles met with no success, and by the late '50s he was concentrating primarily on building a career as a songwriter, his biggest early success being "Claudette" (recorded by the Everly Brothers).

After a brief, unsuccessful stint with RCA, Orbison finally found his voice with Monument Records, scoring a number-two hit in 1960 with "Only the Lonely." This established the Roy Orbison persona for good: a brooding rockaballad of failed love with a sweet, haunting melody, enhanced by his Caruso-like vocal trills at the song's emotional climax. These and his subsequent Monument hits also boasted innovative, quasi-symphonic production, with Roy's voice and guitar backed by surging strings, ominous drum rolls, and heavenly choirs of backup vocalists.

Between 1960 and 1965, Orbison would have 15 Top 40 hits for Monument, including such nail-biting mini-dramas as "Running Scared," "Crying," "In Dreams," and "It's Over." Not just a singer of tear-jerking ballads, he was also capable of effecting a tough, bluesy swagger on "Dream Baby," "Candy Man," and "Mean Woman Blues." In fact, his biggest and best hit was also his hardest-rocking: "Oh, Pretty Woman" soared to number one in late 1964, at the peak of the British Invasion.

It seemed at that time that Roy was well-equipped to survive the British onslaught of the mid-'60s. He had even toured with the Beatles in Britain in 1963, and John Lennon has admitted to trying to emulate Orbison when writing the Beatles' first British chart-topper, "Please Please Me." But Orbison's fortunes declined rapidly after he left Monument for MGM in 1965. It would be easy to say that the major label couldn't replicate the unique production values of the classic Monument singles, but that's only part of the story. Roy, after all, was still writing most of his material, and his early MGM records were produced in a style that closely approximated the Monument era. The harder truth to face was that his songs were starting to sound like lesser variations of themselves, and that contemporary trends in rock and soul were making him sound outdated.

Orbison, like many early rock greats, could always depend on large overseas audiences to pay the bills. The two decades between the mid-'60s and mid-'80s were undeniably tough ones for him, though, both personally and professionally. A late-'60s stab at acting failed miserably. In 1966, his wife died in a motorcycle accident; a couple of years later, his house burned down, two of his sons perishing in the flames. Periodic comeback attempts with desultory albums in the 1970s came to naught.

Orbison's return to the public eye came about through unexpected circumstances. In the mid-'80s, David Lynch's Blue Velvet film prominently featured "In Dreams" on its soundtrack. That led to the singer making an entire album of re-recordings of hits, with T-Bone Burnett acting as producer. The record was no substitute for the originals, but it did help restore him to prominence within the industry. Shortly afterward, he joined George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne in the Traveling Wilburys. Their successful album set the stage for Orbison's best album in over 20 years, Mystery Girl, which emulated the sound of his classic '60s work without sounding hackneyed. By the time it reached the charts in early 1989, however, Orbison was dead, claimed by a heart attack in December 1988.

Title: Lonely and Blue

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Pop

Title: Million Sellers

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Pop

Title: Easter Bells

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Rock, Punk Rock

Title: Super Hits

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Pop Rock

Title: Rocking Chair

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Jazz

Title: Festive Sounds

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Pop

Title: Christmas Cards

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Rock

Title: At High Altitude

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Rock

Title: Bitter And Sweet

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Rock

Title: Touch Of Romance

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Rock

Title: Anthology (CD1)

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Rock, Pop

Title: Weaselly

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Rock

Title: Evergreen Super Hits

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Pop

Title: Best Songs Masters

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Rock

Title: White And Yellow

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Jazz

Title: Our Starlet

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Pop

Title: Indian Spirit

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Jazz

Title: Summer Songs

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Rock, Punk Rock

Title: Festive Tones

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Rock, Punk Rock

Title: Path To Green

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Rock

Title: Mystic Moments

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Rock, Punk Rock

Title: Hi Buddy

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Rock, Punk Rock

Title: Wonderworld Of Hits

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Pop

Title: Sailing

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Rock, Punk Rock

Title: Dance On The Train

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Jazz

Title: Orbison (CD4)

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Rock, Punk Rock, Pop

Title: 1967

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Rock, Rock & Roll, Pop

Title: 20 Golden Classics

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Pop

Title: A Happy Easter

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Rock, Punk Rock

Title: A New Friend

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Jazz

Title: Bouncing Blue Lights

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Rock

Title: Cherry Pie

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Rock, Punk Rock

Title: Fantastic Selection

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Rock

Title: Fashion

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Pop

Title: Happy Sounds

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Rock, Punk Rock

Title: Hidden Insights

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Pop

Title: Hot Summer Jam

Artist: Roy Orbison

Genre: Pop

Collections

Title: Clasicos del Cine

Genre: Pop

Title: 21 Classic #1 Hits

Genre: Pop

Title: The Best Old Songs

Genre: Pop

Title: Adn & Rock 'N' Roll

Genre: Rock

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ...18 Next >

Featuring albums

Title: Times Four

Artist: Nighthawks

Genre: Blues, Rock, Rock & Roll

Title: 21 Classic #1 Hits

Artist: Various

Genre: Pop

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Artist: Various

Genre: Country

Title: 21 Classic #1 Hits

Artist: Various Artists

Genre: Pop

Title: Country Duets

Artist: Various Artists

Genre: Country

Title: Cowboy Pop

Artist: Various Artists

Genre: Country

Title: Class Of '55

Artist: Johnny Cash

Genre: Pop Rock

Title: 100 Hits Forever

Artist: Weather Report

Genre: Pop

Title: FLIRT (CD2)

Artist: Paul Anka

Genre: Soul, Rock, Pop

Genres