Roy Kelton Orbison was a singer, songwriter, and musician best known for his passionate singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Orbison was born in Vernon, Texas on April 23, 1936. The family moved to Fort Worth in 1942 to find work in the aircraft factories, according to The Authorized Roy Orbison. Orbison attended Denver Avenue Elementary School until his family was forced to return to Vernon due to a polio scare.
Orbison and some friends formed the band Wink Westerners in high school. They performed country standards and Glenn Miller songs at local honky-tonks and had a weekly radio show on Kermit, Texas’ KERB. When they were offered $400 to play at a dance, Orbison realized he could make a living as a musician.
Orbison enrolled at North Texas State College in Denton with the intention of studying geology in order to find work in the oil fields if music did not pay. When Orbison learned that his schoolmate Pat Boone had signed a record deal, he became even more determined to become a professional musician.
Roy Orbison family, wife and children
Roy Orbison married Claudette Frady in 1957, but divorced her in 1964 due to her infidelity. They reconciled ten months later, but divorced again in 1966. Orbison married German teenager Barbara Jakobs on March 25, 1969, and they remained married until his death in 1988.
Roy had 5 children. Roy DeWayne and Anthony King, Orbison’s two eldest sons with Claudette, were tragically killed as children in a house fire at his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee, while he was playing in Bournemouth, UK.
Roy Orbison parents and siblings
Orbie Lee Orbison and Nadine Shullz were Roy’s parents. Roy has two siblings Roy Kelton Orbison, Jr and he has an older half-brother, Wesley Orbison.
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