My Genealogy Hound

Roy Orbison, Grave Site, Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, Los Angeles, California, photo

The unmarked grave site of singer and song writer, Roy Orbison. The Orbison family has chosen not to place any marker upon his grave.

Roy Orbison was born on April 23, 1936 at Vernon, Texas. His interest in music began at a young age. He received a guitar as a present on his sixth birthday and first performed on a local radio show at the age of eight. While in high school, Orbison and several friends formed his first band which performed at dances and local radio. In 1956, at the age of 20, Orbison received his first recording contract. None of the recordings of this time period proved to be highly successful. His first major success was Only The Lonely which was recorded in 1960. Orbison stated this was his first recording that he was entirely satisfied with. Ironically, he had tried to sell the song to Elvis Presley and others but all turned it down thus he recorded it himself. Other successful songs followed in 1962 with Crying and Running Scared. Orbison's biggest hit came in 1964 with his iconic recording of Oh, Pretty Woman.

Orbison songs were typically intense, emotional, passionate and often included a sense of painful memories. He was also known for wearing dark clothing and dark sunglasses which gave him something of a dark, moody persona. Unlike other popular performers of the time, he usually sang standing or sitting still rather than moving about the stage.

Orbison was no stranger to tragedy. In 1966, his wife, Claudette, was killed in a motorcycle accident. In 1968, while Orbison was touring in England, his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee burned, killing his two oldest sons.

Roy Orbison died of a heart attack at the age of 52 on December 6, 1988 in Hendersonville, Tennessee. After his first wife was killed, Orbison married Barbara Jakobs. Barbara died of pancreatic cancer on December 6, 2011, exactly 23 years to the day of Roy's death. Both are buried in unmarked graves in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, Los Angeles, California.