When I was a very young lad of 10 years old I first saw Roy Orbison singing It's Over on a black and white tv here in England.

    I remember looking at his hair, black and immaculately combed back. In those days we listened to "PoP" songs on the wireless. The BBC didn't cater for younger people unless you liked hearing "Billy goats gruff" and "I know an old lady who swallowed a fly."

    The vast majority of music that we heard was big band/orchestra based with resident singers singing the POP tunes of the day which meant the original never got aired as much on the too few popular music programs.

    In England we relied on a station called Radio Luxemburg that sprang to life every evening about 7 pm. The only problem with Luxemburg   was that it was famous for it's "fade" you would just get into a good song and the damn signal would fade away and by the time it came back you had missed the rest of the song.

    To me Roy was always the Man in Black with the dark glasses and the combed back hair. I was horrified when I first saw him with the new style combed down - I wanted him to revert to his original style. But then a lot of other artistes had already gone the way of the Beatles and started growing their hair and combing it forward.

    To me Roy was always a tall thin Texan with a velvet voice and nice persona. His weight gradually built up and it took some getting used to with the new hairstyle as well.

    In 1968 I went away to Bridlington in Lancashire with two school friends for a weeks holiday, I had more money than they did but kept it hidden in my socks! We lived on fish and chips and egg and chips for the whole week -I had plans for the money when I got home. I bought The Orbison Way, There is Only One Roy Orbison- The Fastest Guitar Alive Soundtrack and Roy Orbison sings Don Gibson with the proceeds all were brand new in mint condition.

    I let it slip that I had saved the money from my holiday- my friends Steve Webster and Jeff Keller were not to pleased they had nearly starved on that holiday but I was young and mean - the prospect of getting all those new albums of Roy's meant more to me than helping them when their money was running out by putting my hand into my pocket (or socks in this case)

    I had joined Roy's fanclub back in 1965 when I was coming up for 13 years old. I remember seeing Roy and the Walker Brothers in Leeds my home town. Acts were shorter in those days they had package tours 3-5 big names and a few small time groups who filled in between the bigger acts. Outside the Theatre there would be the people selling large posters with Roy and the other acts I bought what I could.

    Towards the end of the 1960's there was a trend to get the more sensible acts onto Cabaret where they would perform for a whole week (sometimes two at the same venue in front of audiences who were having a meal and drink. I didnt live in London/Essex where I do now, but up in Yorkshire.

    There were several big cabaret venues in Yorkshire, one of these was Batley Variety Club. In 1969 Roy was over here with his backing band The Art Movement and the show was recorded This concert has been available on a cd but it is hard to get hold of these days.

    Getting back to Radio Luxemburg they used to run a programme called "Battle of the Giants" and one year Maggie Finch (recently departed and also known as Maggie Mitchell) organised the fans to collect petitions of votes for Roy and he reached the final against ELVIS. This was the BIG ONE, and Roy Beat Elvis in the final.

    I remember seeing Roy on a Granada TV show called The Wheeltappers and Shunters club. This was a northern based working class club owned by TV Comedian Bernard Manning and was broadcast nationwide in the UK.

    Vcr machines were not about in those days and when Roy came on the resident chairman Colin Crompton had a bell he used to interupt the acts - usually to make a comment.

    Now Colin was going bald and used to wear a hat even indoors it was a trademark. He said to Roy "Excuse me Mr Orpinton but can you tell me why you wear your sunglasses indoors when their is no sun?" Roy joined in this joke by saying " for the same reason you wear your hat when it's not raining"

    He sang 3 numbers including Sweet Mama Blue, during this song his voice faltered slightly but he regained his momentum and was barely noticed. I was able to catch a re-run of this show recently and tape it.

    When Roy was alive it was commonplace for his fans to get together and several times Roy would meet the fans who revered him. All those who met him will remember Roy for the quiet and sincere man who lived for his followers. Some Stars are from "the take the money and run  brigade" but not our Roy. Roy gave 110% to the fans at every performance encore after encore. He was approachable and would sign autographs -have his photo taken with fans - even allow himself to be kissed, I have proof of this on video.

    Since that fateful day on Dec 6th 1988 it has been left to the fans to keep his memory alive. Burt Kaufman produced "In Dreams" the Roy fanzine for many years and Dave Shoenfelt (who took the last ever photos of Roy 2 days before his death) has been arranging get-togethers for the last 10 years around the anniversary of his passing in America.

Roy is remembered for his songs for the lonely, but he made lots of happy songs too. He sang Rock and Roll - Country - Dance - Standards, all in his own inimitable style - sadly his MGM recordings are still not available legally on cd more than 30 years since they were first made. Let us hope that the powers that be will make them available in the near future.

Martin