NOTICE: All the Roy Orbison pages, following Page 1, contain music. If you are in an area that requires quietness, please turn down or turn off your speakers. Otherwise, enjoy a few of Roy Orbison's hits. Thank you. - Wilson Jay

Roy Kelton Orbison was born on April 23, 1936 in Vernon, Texas, the son of oil driller and auto mechanic, Orbie Lee Orbison and his wife, Nadine Shultz Orbison. During the depression, the family moved to Fort Worth so Orbie and Nadine could find work. Nadine was a nurse. Later, a polio scare in the Fort Worth area caused the family to move back to Vernon. In another employment move, Orbie and Nadine moved the family to the west Texas town of Wink, where Orbie found work in the oilfields.

Roy, like his siblings, had been born with bad eyesight; Roy, himself was almost completely blind. Jaundice caused Roy to have a sallow complexion and his hair turned white when he was young. He was not confident at all in his appearance. He started dying his hair black when he was young. In keeping with his southern upbringing, he was very quiet and polite. Though he had severe stage fright, he always liked singing. He didn’t consider his voice to be anything special, but when he did sing, he suddenly became the center of attention.

After learning to play the guitar that was given him as a gift on his sixth birthday, he decided that music was where Roy would concentrate his efforts. Among his earliest musical influences were Lefty Frizzell, Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers and Ernest Tubb. He began to explore all music types, including Rhythm and Blues, Tex-Mex and Zydeco. One of his favorite songs was Jole Blon, the Zydeco favorite.

At eight years of age, he began appearing on a local radio show. By the late 1940s, he hosted his own show.

In high school, he and his friends organized the Wink Westerners, playing country standards along with some of the music of Glenn Miller. It was when they were offered four-hundred dollars to play at a dance that Roy realized that he really could make a living in music.

After high school, he enrolled in North Texas State College, where he studied Geology. During his time in college, he organized another band called The Teen Kings. Among his classmates was a young man who was offered a record deal and took it. He was Pat Boone. This made Roy more determined to pursue a career in music. His grades in Geology began to suffer, so he relocated to Odessa, Texas and attended Odessa Junior College, where he considered becoming a teacher. The Teen Kings remained together and continued to play engagements and the radio show.

Roy drove from Odessa to Dallas, about 350 miles to see a young entertainer name Elvis Presley. He was surprised at his antics on stage. In 1955, Johnny Cash appeared on the same radio show as the Teen Kings and suggested to Roy that he contact Sam Phillips at Sun Records in Memphis. Upon doing so, Phillips told Roy, “Johnny Cash doesn’t run my record company!” In spite of what appeared at first to be a rejection, Phillips agreed to listen to a record made by the Teen Kings. The song was called, Ooby Dooby, a song that was quickly composed in a fraternity house at North Texas State College. Phillips liked it and offered the Teen Kings a contract in 1956!