Roy Orbison With Bruce Springsteen And The Rock Hall Jam Band music video Oh, Pretty Woman (1987)
Roy Orbison music video She's A Mystery To Me
Roy Orbison music video Oh, Pretty Woman
Roy Orbison music video You Got It
Roy Orbison And K.D. Lang music video Crying
Roy Orbison And K.D. Lang music video Crying
Roy Orbison music video In Dreams
Roy Orbison music video You Got It
Roy Orbison music video In Dreams
Roy Orbison music video Oh, Pretty Woman (From The Ed Sullivan Show 1965)
Roy Orbison music video In Dreams
Roy Orbison music video Crying (From The Midnight Special)
Roy Orbison music video Oh, Pretty Woman (From The Midnight Special)
Roy Orbison music video Oh, Pretty Woman
Roy Orbison music video I Drove All Night
Roy Orbison And K.D. Lang music video Crying
Roy Orbison music video In Dreams
Roy Orbison music video Oh, Pretty Woman
Roy Orbison music video I Drove All Night
Roy Orbison music video You Got It
Roy Orbison music video I Drove All Night
Roy Orbison music video Oh, Pretty Woman
Roy Orbison music video Oh, Pretty Woman
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's vocal instrument bridged the gap between baritone and tenor, and music scholars have suggested that he had a three- or four-octave range. 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". Elvis Presley as well as Petty and Dylan, have stated his voice was, respectively, the greatest and most distinctive they had ever heard. While most male performers in rock and roll in the 1950s and '60s projected a defiant masculinity, many of Orbison's songs instead conveyed a quiet, desperate vulnerability. He was known for performing while standing still and solitary and for 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. In 2002, Billboard magazine listed Orbison at number 74 in the Top 600 recording artists.