Dec 14

Roy Orbison

Greatly Appreciated

ROY ORBISON
 
 
Roy Orbison  (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer-songwriter, best known for his trademark sunglasses, 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 40, including “Only the Lonely”, “Crying”, and “Oh, Pretty Woman”.  In 1988, he joined the Traveling Wilburys supergroup with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne and also released a new solo album.  (More from Wikipedia)  
 
 
The second and last single by the Lonesome Drifter, “Honey, Do You Think of Me” b/w “I’ll be Lonesome When You’re Gone” came out on Ram Records itself.   The B side had been written and recorded by Linda Brannon on Ram two years earlier.   Carol Williams (who had recorded Ram Records’ first single) provided the second vocal on the Lonesome Drifter’s remake.  Linda and Carol would, respectively, shortly marry Jerry Kennedy and Billy Sanford (who played guitar on the Lonesome Drifter recording of “I’ll be Lonesome When You’re Gone”).  These two men later left Shreveport to join Roy Orbison’s band; they can be heard doing the masterful guitar work on his mega-hit “Oh, Pretty Woman”. 
 
(May 2011)
 
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Over her career, k.d. lang has collaborated with many prominent musicians from Roy Orbison, to Dwight Yoakam, to Tony Bennett, to fellow Canadian artist Anne Murray.  She first came to prominence during a performance at the closing ceremonies of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary; in 2010, k.d. lang performed Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. 

 

(January 2014)

 

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On June 2, 1964, the Soul Agents released their first single on Pye Records, “I Just Wanna Make Love to You” b/w “Mean Woman Blues”.  “Mean Woman Blues” is also an oft recorded song; Elvis Presley included “Mean Woman Blues” in the soundtrack for his 1957 film, Loving You (his first starring role in a movie), and “Mean Woman Blues” was the flip side of Roy Orbison’s immortal “Blue Bayou” when the song was originally released in 1963.  In the U.K., Cliff Richard and the Shadows had released “Mean Woman Blues” in 1959. 

 

(May 2014)

 

Last edited: March 22, 2021