Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his distinctive and powerful voice, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Orbison's music is mostly in the rock genre and his most successful periods were in the early 1960s and the late 1980s. His music was described by critics as operatic, earning him the nicknames "The Caruso of Rock" and "The Big O". Many of Orbison's songs conveyed vulnerability at a time when most male rock-and-roll performers projected machismo. He performed with minimal motion and in black clothes, matching his dyed black hair and dark sunglasses.

Orbison was born on April 23, 1936, in Vernon, Texas. He was the second of three sons born to Orbie Lee Orbison (1913–1984) and Nadine Vesta Shults (1914–1992). Orbie was an oil-field driller who struggled to find work after the great depression and Nadine enjoyed painting and writing poetry. Orbison’s direct paternal ancestor was traced to Thomas Orbison (born 1715) from Lurgan, Northern Ireland, who settled in the Province of Pennsylvania in the middle of the century. According to The Authorized Roy Orbison, a biography written by Roy's son Alex, the family moved to Fort Worth in 1942 to find work in the aircraft factories. Due to eyesight problems, Roy wore thick glasses from the age of four.

Orbison performed at the Front Row Theater in Highland Heights, Ohio, on December 4, 1988. Exhausted, he returned to his home in Hendersonville to rest for several days before flying again to London to film two more videos for the Traveling Wilburys. He was also booked in to tour the U.S. and Europe in the following year.