#TBT: Billboard Magazine Roy Orbison’s MGM Records Years Get Royal Treatment With Box Set and Unreleased Album: Exclusive
August 14, 2015
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Roy Orbison is celebrated primarily for his years with the Sun and Monument Records labels, where he recorded such career-defining hits as “Ooby Dooby,” “Only the Lonely,” “In Dreams,” “Crying” and “Oh, Pretty Woman” in the ’50s and early ’60s. But 50 years ago, at the height of Beatlemania, the singer was the object of a fierce bidding war that led to a $1 million move to MGM Records. His eight-year, 12-album tenure there was not as commercially successful as his previous years, but with top 40 and international hits like “Ride Away” and “Breakin’ Up Is Breakin’ My Heart,” it was still creatively vital. And Orbison’s heirs are ensuring that era of his career gets its due.
