The Big O in Britain Page #4

# Left me standing all alone Alone and crying... #

There was something in Roy's voice

that was completely unique to him,

which was obviously a good thing because it was hard to emulate.

It had a crying sound to it. It almost was like a controlled cry.

His performance would just tear your heart out.

He could...

He could express all that emotion.

And, uh...

He was really different. Really different than anybody else.

# I love you even more than I did before

# But, darling, what can I do-o-o?

# For you don't love me

# And I'll always be

# Cry-y-y-ying over you... #

I think Roy's voice is like an opera voice, only sexy.

Opera voices... To me they're not sexy because of the music they're singing.

But Roy doing rock'n'roll and blues and blue notes, with that kind of opera voice,

that made it really different and put an opera slant on a rock'n'roll track.

It's wonderful and it's sad at the same time

because that's the inflection he puts into the soulfulness of his voice.

He's got marvellous soul. He was probably a soul singer before any of them.

# Crying

# O-o-o-o-o-o...

..ver you-u-u! #

Like Elvis said, "The best singer in the world right there, Roy Orbison."

He was the best singer of all.

# Golden days before they end... #

Roy's entry into the British music scene had been a triumph

with It's Over topping the UK charts in 1964,

but personal tragedy would soon threaten to end Roy's career.

In 1966, his wife Claudette was killed in a motorbike accident

and there was even more heartbreak to come.

He had this beautiful boy called Roy DeWayne. I used to take him to the zoo.

I loved his company. He was a really sweet kid.

I remember once I came back to the promotion offices, the Decca offices,

and Roy DeWayne, I'd exhausted him.

He must have been about six or seven. He wasn't a baby.

And I'd had to carry him back to the office. He was so exhausted, he fell asleep.

I remember his little head on my shoulder.

# But, oh, what will you do? #

And then he got... burnt to death in that fire.

# We're through... #

We'd been playing the Birmingham theatre for a week.

It was September, '68.

The following day we were going to do a last performance, a concert in Bournemouth.

Then he was flying back to the US. That was the end of the tour.

I got a call at 3am, local time in England.

# Send falling stars that seem to cry... #

He was on tour in England and got the news that his house had burned and he'd lost two of his boys.

I remember thinking, "How is that...

"..man gonna cope with that?"

# It breaks your heart in two... #

He stayed in seclusion for quite a while.

We made contact and let him know we cared and were concerned

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