Good Morning Folks,

We have a doosy here. Roy Orbison! Who knew the Beatles were Roy’s back up band at a time? Shockingly the obit-o-sphere was quiet when it came to Mr. Orbison until I ran across Robert Sandall’s piece from The Independent back in 1998. A few things I found particularly interesting/funny in this stellar write-up are:

• Orbison’s response to a question in the late 1960’s when his original ascent in the pop charts was fading – “The hippie thing,”Orbison admitted, “was not my kind of thing.”
• Springsteen is the fucking man

I’ll let Bobby take it from here….

Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988)

Roy Orbisondied on the crest of sudden universal acclaim for his soaringand deliciously mournful ballads, ending a 30-year recording career in whichlife imitated art with unimaginable cruelty.

“All artists go through a period when they turn on success or successturns on them,” Roy Orbison remarked with characteristic steadiness notlong before his sudden death last December. “Most of them can’t ride thatout. I guess I was fortunate in that I had been playing and singing for 13years when success came. It touched me deeply but it didn’t make mecrazy.” Continue