Roy Orbison Reissue Project

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In celebration of one of the true pioneers of rock & roll and one of the all-time greatest singers to ever record rock, pop, or country music, Legacy Recordings released The Essential Roy Orbison, the first-ever "best of" collection spanning the Big O's entire career, on Tuesday, March 28. The Essential Roy Orbison, the cornerstone release of the Roy Orbison Reissue Project, is the first-ever career-spanning compilation of definitive high points from all phases of Orbison's musical history. The collection features early Sun Records rockabilly recordings including his first chart hit, 1956's "Ooby Dooby" (with the Teen Kings) b/w "Go! Go! Go!"; emotionally wrenching hits like "Love Hurts, " "Blue Bayou" and "Only The Lonely" and much more.

Barbara Orbison, Roy's widow, served as Executive Producer for The Essential Roy Orbison. The album's packaging includes an exhaustive essay on Roy Orbison and his immeasurable contributions to popular music penned by noted music historian/critic Chet Flippo.

Legacy Recordings will, over the course of the next two years, issue virtually every recording -- including the Sun Records, Monument, Jewel, MGM and Virgin catalogs -- ever cut by the archetypal Rock & Roll Hall of Famer.

Legacy will begin releasing the complete Roy Orbison Sun Records catalog in autumn 2006 and the three Monument (Columbia) albums -- Sings Lonely And Blue, Crying, and In Dreams -- with bonus tracks in spring 2006 Other classics in Legacy's Roy Orbison Reissue Project will include a DualDisc edition of King Of Hearts, the collection of Orbison's final vocal tracks featuring his Grammy-winning (Best Country Vocal Collaboration) version of "Crying" with k.d. lang and a remastered version of Mystery Girl, Orbison's final studio album.

The eagerly-anticipated arrival of The Essential Roy Orbison follows the February 7 release of the first Legacy edition of Black & White Night, the 1987 star-studded concert originally aired as a Cinemax special.

Black & White Night captures one of Orbison's most emotionally powerful and historically important concerts, recorded a year before his death. Conceived and produced by Barbara Orbison and T Bone Burnett, Black & White Night was a gathering of great artists who came to perform out of love for the songwriter and singer, Roy Orbison, who had influenced them so tremendously. "Roy Orbison & Friends: A Black & White Night" was filmed in starkly beautiful black & white at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles on September 30, 1987.

The all-star lineup that night included T Bone Burnett, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, Steven Soles, k.d. lang, Jennifer Warnes, and Bonnie Raitt as well as Glen D. Hardin, who'd played piano for Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley, on keyboards and mythic lead guitarist James Burton.

During his remarkable career, Roy Orbison received multiple Grammy awards including the prestigious Lifetime Achievement award and is also a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In light of these accomplishments, the Estate of Roy Orbison has committed to a campaign to urge the US Postal Service to issue a commemorative stamp in Orbison's honor. This campaign includes letters and petitions signed by dozens of Senators and Congressman and Entertainment luminaries.

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