Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23 1936 – December 6 1988), nicknamed "The Big O", was an influential American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll, whose recording career spanned more than four decades. By the mid-1960s Orbison was internationally recognized for his ballads of lost love, rhythmically advanced melodies, four-octave vocal range, characteristic dark sunglasses, and sometimes distinctive usage of falsetto, typified in songs such as "Only The Lonely", "In Dreams", "Oh, Pretty Woman", "Crying" and "Running Scared". In 1989, he was inducted posthumously into the National Academy of Popular Music/Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Two common misconceptions about his appearance stubbornly continue to surface about Orbison: one, that he was an albino, and two, that he wore his trademark dark glasses because he was blind or nearly so. Neither is correct, although his poor vision required him to wear thick corrective lenses (He suffered from childhood from a combination of hyperopia, severe astigmatism, presbyopia, anisometropia, and strabismus). Orbison's trademark sunglasses were a fashion statement arising from an accident early in his career. Due to go onstage in a few minutes, Orbison left his regular glasses in an airplane. Unable to see without corrective lenses, the only other pair of glasses he had available were darkly tinted prescription sunglasses. "I had to see to get onstage," so he wore the glasses throughout his tour with the Beatles, and he carried on with it for the rest of his professional career. "I'll just do this and look cool."

Early life and career

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Orbison was born in Vernon, Texas, the second son of Nadine and Orbie Lee. After moving to Fort Worth around 1943 to find work in the munitions and aircraft factories expanded as a result of the Second World War, the family moved to the tiny oil town of Wink in late 1946. Music was an important part of his family life.

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epic records news

MUDVAYNE SLAM RADIO WITH THEIR FASTEST-RISING SINGLE YET
Fri, 26 Sep 2008 23:35:02 -0000
"DO WHAT YOU DO" IS #1 MOST ADDED AT ACTIVE ROCK AND #2 MOST ADDED AT MODERN ROCK BAND OPENS UP TICKET SALES AT ALL OUTLETS (Monday, September 29) AND PARTNERS WITH BESTBUY TO ADD A FREE LIVE WEBCAST OF THEIR CONCERT TO FAN CLUB MEMBERS MUDVAYNE--one of the most creative and distinctive bands in the aggressive music world with sales exceeding 5 million units worldwide--have slammed onto the charts with "Do What You Do," the fastest-rising single of their career. Garnering over 75 radio adds out of the box--in the first 36 hours the track became available this week--the song is #1 most added at the Active Rock chart and #2 most added at Modern Rock.  As the band prepare to release THE NEW GAME--their first studio album in three years, due out November 18 via Epic Records--the band is working even harder to get the best possible deal directly to their fans in light of the tough economy by opening up ticket sales of their upcoming tour to all outlets and partnering with Best Buy to add a free live web cast of their concert to fan club members who pre-order the album at bestbuy.com/mudvayne.  "We want fans that cannot afford to see us live or that live outside our tour markets to still get the benefits of our ‘The Album Is The TicketTM' program," says singer Chad Gray, "and by adding the live webcast and releasing ticket sales to the general public, we are now able to offer fans even more value and options for their money in this rough financial time." The concert webcast will be from one of the tour stops (TBA) on the first leg of "The New Game Tour 2008."  Meanwhile, all tickets will be released at all outlets by Monday, September 29th. All current ‘The Album Is The Ticket' members are entitled to a free meet & greet at their selected show. The current dates for "The New Game Tour 2008" are as follows.  Note: All dates subject to change. DATE            CITY                VENUE Tue    10/28        El Paso, TX            El Paso County Coliseum Thu    10/30        Corpus Christi, TX        The Pavilion At Concrete Fri    10/31        Grand Prairie, TX        Nokia Live Sat    11/1        San Antonio, TX        Sunset Station Mon    11/3        Houston, TX            Warehouse Live Wed    11/5        Tulsa, OK            Cain's Ballroom Fri    11/7        Oklahoma City, OK        Bricktown Events Center Sat    11/8        Albuquerque, NM        Albuquerque Convention Center Sun    11/9        Tempe, AZ            The Marquee Theatre Tue    11/11        Hollywood, CA        Palladium Wed    11/12        Las Vegas, NV        The Joint Fri    11/14        San Francisco, CA        The Grand Ballroom Sat    11/15        Portland, OR            Roseland Theatre Mon    11/17        Seattle, WA            Showbox SoDo Wed    11/19        Spokane, WA            The Knitting Factory Concert Hall Fri    11/21        Denver, CO            The Fillmore Auditorium Sat    11/22        Kansas City, MO        Uptown Theatre Mon    11/24        Wichita, KS            The Cotillion Tue    11/25        St Louis, MO            The Pageant Wed    11/26        East Peoria, IL        East Peoria Event Center Fri    11/28        Des Moines, IA        Val Air Ballroom Sat    11/29        Maplewood, MN        The Myth Mon    12/1        Milwaukee, WI            The Eagles Ballroom Tue    12/2        Chicago, IL            The Congress Theater Fri    12/5        Detroit, MI            The Fillmore Detroit Sat    12/6        Grand Rapids, MI        The Orbit Room Mon    12/8        Cincinnati, OH            Bogart's Tue    12/9        Columbus, OH        LC Pavilion Thu    12/11        Baltimore, MD            Rams Head Live! Fri    12/12        Philadelphia, PA        The Electric Factory Sat    12/13        Worcester, MA        The Palladium Tue    12/16        New York, NY            Roseland Ballroom Wed    12/17        Norfolk, VA            The Norva Fri    12/19        Atlanta, GA            Tabernacle Sat    12/20        Lake Buena Vista, FL        House of Blues
You Oughta Know Lenka!
Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:08:00 -0000
Lenka is VH1's newest You Oughta Know artist! For one week, listen to a preview of Lenka's debut album, Lenka, on VH1's The Leak.
Get Mudvayne's New Single, "Do What You Do"
Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:03:48 -0000
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