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One American performer, in Elvis Presley's opinion, had "the ideal voice."
The vocalist was dubbed "the best singer in the world" by ELVIS PRESLEY, who later rejected a song he had written.
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Even though Elvis Presley is hailed as the greatest rock and roll performer of all time, he had his idols. Similar to how Elvis and his work greatly influenced The Beatles, the King had one major American star in particular who he looked up to.
Years into his career, Elvis even went on tour with this celebrity, also known as The Big O, and travelled for weeks with him.
Roy Orbison was an American Rockabilly musician who Elvis adored. The musician is best renowned for having revolutionised the music business with his more aggressive vocal style. He wore wide Ray Bans and a black, coiffed, slicked-back hairdo, which became his hallmark style. Over the years, Elvis also adopted some of these characteristics.
Throughout the 1950s, the singer was one of the most popular performers on the planet. In many ways, he laid the foundation for artists like Elvis Presley and The Beatles to significantly dominate music.
It wasn't an easy feat, but at the time he had sold more than 7 million albums globally. But most all, he won Elvis Presley's unshakable admiration.
Elvis declared that Orbison was "the best vocalist in the world" on stage at one of his Las Vegas residency performances.
Elvis treated the vocalist with the utmost respect. He performed live renditions of songs by various artists, including The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, and others, during his long career.
Elvis, however, declined to perform any of Orbison's songs. According to reports, he believed that he couldn't "sing any of Roy's songs any better than the original recordings."
Orbison had "the most exquisite voice," he later remarked.
However, Elvis and Orbison shared a mutual regard. In fact, from 1954 until 1976, Orbison made it a point to see as many performances as he could.
In the 1960s, Orbison even joined Elvis on tour. He toured the country as Elvis' opener and developed close ties with him.
He also served as The Beatles' opening act during their tenure in the USA. He is now the only performer to have ever opened for both Elvis Presley and The Beatles.
Despite his personal friendship with Elvis, Orbison was unable to produce a song for the Mississippi native.
But not without making an effort. He wrote Only the Lonely for The King in its original form in 1960. He made the decision to give Elvis himself the song since he was so enthused by it.
Orbison went to Graceland, Elvis' home, and rapped on the door. He informed the doorman that he needed to hand deliver a song.
He was unfortunate because Elvis wasn't home. And the doorman informed him that the music probably wouldn't be of interest to him.
Despite being discouraged by this information, Orbison persisted. The Everly Brothers were not interested despite his efforts to entice them.
