Suddenly, Roy was in demand. He did an appearance on Dick Clark's American Bandstand and toured, non-stop with Patsy Cline for three months. Following the tour, he recorded Blue Angel, which topped out at number 9 on the charts and I'm Hurtin, which only made it to number 27. This was a greater success than he'd had before. In time, he moved his wife and son to Nashville.

In the studio, Roy and Joe Melson were having trouble with their latest song. It included a note so high that Roy couldn't reach it without doing it falsetto. Roy was unhappy with the first two takes of it. A falsetto just didn't sound right to him. On the third take, the musicians couldn't believe what they heard. He topped a high G sharp, naturally, without slipping into a falsetto! None of them had ever heard such a thing, or a voice with such natural range! He had done what he thought he could do and Running Scared hit the charts with an upward climb that ended only at number 1 in 1961! In July of 1961 he released Crying, which took a number 2 slot on the charts. When his second son was born, he had a number 4 hit with Dream Baby and he continued through the year with hits with Leah, The Crowd and Workin' for the Man.

Roy's association with Joe Melson was weakening. Melson was becoming concerned that his own career would never develop as he was hoping.

Roy didn't have a manager to tell him how to dress and how to act on stage. In time, the persona developed of the mysterious man in black, a quiet man who had an incredible voice that pleased millions. There was a reason for the dark sunglasses he wore, with his weak eyesight the dark glasses seemed to visually isolate him from the audience, thereby countering his serious stage fright. In the early years, Roy's record covers never had pictures of him on them!

In 1962, his second son, Anthony was born.

In 1963 he racked up more hits with In Dreams, Mean Woman Blues and Blue Bayou. In the same year, he was asked to replace Duane Eddy on a tour of the UK. He was billed as the Big O and sang with a little known band at the time, the Beatles! John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr couldn't believe what happened next! Roy was called back for fourteen encores and after his last song, the crowd began to shout, "We want Roy, we want Roy!"

Claudette began to tire of the loneliness and boredom she experienced in their Hendersonville, Tennessee home while Roy was on tour. She became involved with another man, while Roy was making tours overseas. As 1963 progressed, Roy toured Australia and New Zealand with the Beach Boys. Following that tour, he returned almost immediately to tour the UK and Ireland and this time, Claudette was with him. In Ireland, the police had to stop his performance to pull the girls off him! Following that tour, he turned around and toured Australia again with a relatively unknown group called the Rolling Stones!