When Orbison was first in the UK he toured with The Beatles.

In 1966 his wife, Claudette, died in a motor-cycle accident. Two years later two of his sons were killed in a housefire.

Scored his first minor hit in 1956 with "Ooby Dooby".

Toured with The Eagles in 1980.

Had a No. 1 1964 hit with "Oh, Pretty Woman".

Elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Elected to the American Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1989.

Near the end of his life, he became friends with k.d. lang after they recorded his 1961 hit single "Crying" as a duet. Was close friends with actor Martin Sheen.

Was on tour with a group called the "Travelling Willburys" at the time of his death.

Teamed up with Bob Dylan, Beatle George Harrison, Jeff Lynne from Electric Light Orchestra and Tom Petty in the group The Travelling Wilburys.

Children: Roy Dewayne Orbison (1958 - Sept 15 1968), Anthony King Orbison (1962 - Sept 15 1968), and Wesley Orbison (born 1965) by first wife Claudette. Roy Kelton Orbison Jr. (born Oct 18 1970) and Alex Orbison (born 1975) by second wife Barbara.

He was voted the 37th Greatest Artist in Rock 'n' Roll by Rolling Stone.

David Lynch frequently uses his songs in his films.

Was known to insist his backup performers give their best at every performance. Reportedly, one night while touring in Florida he dismissed his regular band (called the Candy Men, after an early hit), then invited the opening group, the Webs, to join him on tour, adopting the Candy Men name. One member of the Webs was singer/songwriter Bobby Goldsboro.

His identification with Wayfarer sunglasses began when he went on tour to England in the early 1960s, and forgot his regular specs. His lenses were prescription, but some fans mistook Orbison for being blind.

Longtime neighbor of Johnny Cash, in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

Recorded many of his most famous hits from the 1950s with legendary guitarist Hank Garland.

Underwent triple heart bypass surgery in 1978.

Is portrayed by Johnathan Rice in Walk the Line (2005) and by 'Brian Jones (XXII)' in Crazy (2006).

Had a vocal range of 3.5 octaves.

In 1977 Linda Ronstadt recorded a new version of "Blue Bayou" that became a major success and remained in the country music charts for months. In the early 1980s Don McLean's recording of "Crying" charted all over the world, reaching Number 1 in the UK. A duet between Orbison and Emmylou Harris took him to the country music Top 10 and crossed over into the pop charts.

Won Grammy Awards in 1981, 1987 and posthumously in 1991.

Rerecorded many of his classic hits in 1987 to critical and commercial success.

Toured the UK three times during 1963.

Voted most popular vocalist in 1965.

Was a friend of Elvis Presley.

Was the idol of Elvis Presley.

Attended the University of North Texas.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 674-676. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.

Made only one movie in his career: "The Fastest Guitar Alive" (1967) which was offered to him after Elvis Presley, his friend, turned it down.

Both he and his friend Elvis Presley suffered a heart attack in their bathrooms. Orbison was hospitalized but died.

First saw Elvis Presley in concert in 1955. Next year Presley was in his concert and entered in backstage. Orbison kept telling about Elvis' visit to his friends.

He offered his first big hit song "Only the Lonely" originally to Elvis Presley, but unfortunately all the material for Presley's next album had already been chosen. Later was discovered that Presley simply didn't want cover any Orbison's songs because he felt nobody could do better work with them than Orbison did.

Last met Elvis Presley in Las Vegas 1976 in the King's last concert in gambling city. Orbison was in the audience and Presley said on the microphone: "Quite simply, the greatest singer in the world, Roy Orbison".

Was one of the Million Dollar singers for little record company Sun Records based in Memphis, Tennessee with Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Wrote song "Hound Dog Man" (1979) in the memory of Elvis Presley.

In "Oh, Pretty Woman", he says 'mercy'. Despite his wide vocal range, he had trouble reaching the required note and said 'mercy' to express his difficulty.

Toured with both Elvis Presley and the The Beatles early in their careers.

According to the Rockabilly Hall of Fame [1], at a press conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Sam Orbison said that his brother Roy Orbison was always "saddened by the sordid treatment of Elvis Presley in the aftermath of his death in 1977."

The song Please Please Me by The Beatles was inspired by Only the Lonely as Paul and John explained it in the Anthology series.

Was good friends with k.d. Lang. Lang lent her vocals in a remake of the 1961 classic, "Crying".

The well-known Spider-Man villain Doctor Octopus is supposedly based on Orbison, especially his thick glasses and multiple vision disorders.

He was well known in the smaller world of radio controlled model aircraft as a champion modeler and flier.

His song "In Dreams" was used extensively in the David Lynch film Blue Velvet, and Lynch would later feature a bravura Spanish unaccompanied solo version of "Crying" ("Llorando") by Rebekah del Rio in his film, Mulholland Drive.

His early Sun side "Domino" was used repeatedly in Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train.

Orbison was portrayed by Johnathan Rice in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line.

The character Roy Koopa from Super Mario Bros. 3 was named after Roy Orbison.

In the Adam Sandler film The Waterboy, Coach Klein (Henry Winkler) has a tattoo of Orbison on his rear end.

Van Halen covered "Oh, Pretty Woman" on their Diver Down album.

Orbison performed "Oh, Pretty Woman" in the Season 3 Dukes of Hazzard episode "The Great Hazzard Hijack."

"Ooby Dooby" is featured as the favorite song of Zefram Cochrane in Star Trek: First Contact.

His posthumously-released music video for "I Drove All Night" featured Jennifer Connelly and Jason Priestley.

He owned one of the two or three interchangeable pickup guitars built by John Birch and John Diggins. One of them was featured in the John Birch catalog, the other was made for Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath. The Orbison guitar is now in possession of Greg Dorsett of Rock Stars' Guitars.

Comedy metal band Bad News attempted a cover version of 'Oh, Pretty Woman' on their eponymous album. Comedian Adrian Edmondson, who plays lead guitarist/vocalist Vim Fuego, stated that the only lyrics to Pretty Woman were to repeat 'Pretty Woman' over and over again. The song was, unsurprisingly, terribly covered.

Ulrich Haarburste released a novel entitled Roy Orbison in Cling Film in 2007.