A Texas native whose life was marred with tragedy will finally get his day in the sun… again. The estate of Roy Orbison, famed Texas singer and musician who passed away in 1988, announced on July 10 that the superstar will be touring once again – this time in hologram form! Welcome to the future.
His legendary status couldn’t keep him from experiencing epic misfortune, but his talent has made him one of the more popular icons of his time… and now, too, of the present day. A 28-city North American tour featuring Roy Kelton Orbison, a larger-than-life Texan who was as remarkably humble as he was talented, is scheduled to kick-off this fall. Concert stops include Dallas and Grand Prairie, scheduled for late October.
Photo: Facebook/Roy Orbison Jr
The “concerts,” starring Orbison’s hologram version will be backed by a full live orchestra. Entitled “In Dreams: Roy Orbison in Concert — The Hologram Tour,” it’s not the first time this mode of performance has been employed, and it won’t be the last. However, it’s unique in terms of the genre and era. Orbison appealed to the masses in his black attire and dark glasses. Teenagers the world over flocked to his rockabilly sound which immortalized brooding as a lifestyle, but with a catchy beat and a pining that was unmistakable.
His real life mirrored that pining, however. He was born in Vernon, Texas and, after a move to Fort Worth as well as Wink, moved back to Vernon where he described life as “football, oil fields, oil, grease and sand.” Looking for a release, he turned to music, through which he developed a band, his own sound, and began making appearances on a local television program. It eventually led to contact with bigger and brighter stars and finally his own stardom. Orbison met Elvis Presley in Odessa, Texas, and following that, connected with Johnny Cash, who gave him the number for Sam Phillips of Sun Records. Not long after his time at Sun, he moved to Monument Records, through which he released “Crying,” Oh, Pretty Woman,” Only the Lonely,” and “Running Scared.”
Photo: Facebook/Roy Orbison – Alma de rock & roll – Juan Pedro Guerrero Via Benjamin Koelewijn
With great fame came great tragedy, however, in the death of his first wife, Claudette, in a motorcycle accident in Gallatin, Tennessee, and that of his two eldest sons, who died as a result of a house fire just two years later. With his parents raising his youngest son, Orbison managed to piece his life back together out of the grief, eventually remarrying and beginning a second family. His career took some dips and dives from the late ’60s into the ’70s, but in the ’80s it found a second wind of sorts with the formation of the Traveling Wilburys and the posthumous release of his final solo album in 1988, entitled “Mystery Girl.”
“In Dreams: Roy Orbison in Concert — The Hologram Tour” will feature 16 of his biggest hits and, according to the website, “As you watch Orbison sing his first notes into the microphone, you will thrill to the realization that you are part of rock and roll history — totally being rewritten.”
