Roy Orbison Was He Blind
Roy kelton orbison april 23 1936 december 6 1988 was an american singer songwriter and musician known for his impassioned singing style complex song structures and dark emotional ballads.
Roy orbison was he blind. His trademark shades never left him. Roy orbison was blind. Critics hailed him as the casuso of rock after famed opera singer enrico caruso.
Let s start with the elephant in the room despite the very widespread belief to the contrary roy orbison was not actually blind. This is causing some to claim he was blind. Who d ied on december 6 1988 at the age of 52.
Even when told it was just a stage act they swear he really was and the act story is fake. Just months after they died orbison recorded an album that addressed the trauma and was thought to have been lost forever until. Neither is correct though his poor vision required him to wear thick corrective lenses.
He was in the midst of writing a book on his own life before he died. Roy orbison wearing his trademark dark glasses are the first thing which comes to mind when most people picture him. That he was an albino and that he wore his trademark dark glasses because he was blind or nearly so.
His music was described by critics as operatic earning him the nicknames the caruso of rock and the big o. In 1969 two of roy orbison s sons died in a tragic house fire. While most male rock and roll singers in the 1950s and 1960s projected gyrating masculinity many of orbison s songs conveyed vulnerability which he performed standing still wearing black clothes.
It seems that simply because he always performed with dark sunglasses on a great swath of the public came to the conclusion that the singer was visually impaired an assumption which it turns out was not accurate. Many of his songs conveyed vulnerability at a time when most male rock and roll. I had that myself when i was a child and had to have an operation to sort it out due to me being crosseyed my myopia was brought on by chicken pox but.
Speaking years later about his dark glasses and clothes orbison said. Roy orbison was not blind he had myopia. I wasn t trying to be weird you know.
He began wearing his trademark dark glasses in 1963 just before a british tour with the beatles. Two misconceptions about orbison s appearance continue to surface. Orbison died in 1988 aged 52 and if he d lived a little longer there might have been no need for the new biography.
