Not Alone Anymore

Roy Orbison born on April 23, 1936.  His vocal style and idiosyncratic songwriting were unique in popular music.  Someone described his voice as "the cry of an angel falling backwards through an open window" and it was the voice that defined him.  He was certainly not a stage presence - Roy was known for his lack of movement, even his mouth barely seeming to move as those beautiful sounds were coming out.

After a string of huge hits from 1959 through 1964, including Only The Lonely, Cryin' (THC's favorite) and Pretty Woman, Roy disappeared from the U.S. pop charts for two decades, although he remained popular and continued touring in Europe and his reputation among fellow musicians remained sterling.

In 1987 his career revived with the release of a new greatest hits album and a duet with k.d. lang on Cryin'.  It culminated with being inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame with a speech by Bruce Springsteen who said:

I wanted a record with words like Bob Dylan that sounded like Phil Spector—but, most of all, I wanted to sing like Roy Orbison. Now everyone knows that no one sings like Roy Orbison

In early 1988 while recording an album with Jeff Lynne (formerly of ELO) he joined Jeff's other project which eventually became the Traveling Wilburys whose other members were Tom Petty, George Harrison and Bob Dylan.   Their album was released later that year and became a surprise hit, selling two million copies.  Roy was not to enjoy his resurgent popularity for long dying of a heart attack in December 1988.

From the Traveling Wilburys here are Roy and the guys (who do a great job on the sha-la-las) performing Not Alone Anymore.