Lana (Roy Orbison)

15 JULY 1966


The great Roy Orbison broke through with 'Only the Lonely' in 1960 and enjoyed a few years of considerable chart success, although by 1966 the hits were drying up in the US. He was still doing quite well in the UK, however, and chalked up three Top 20 hits there in '66, including a #3 with 'Too Soon to Know' (a single that only reached #68 on the other side of the Atlantic.

'Lana', which had peaked at #15, was still in the Top 20 during this week. This was a fun, bouncy number that seemed slightly out of step with the changing styles, but Orbison - whose success was based on his voice rather than his looks - had maintained a solid-enough fan base in the UK to keep selling records. Despite that, 1966 was to be his last year of Top 20 success before his resurgence in the 1980s. It was also the year that his wife Claudette was killed in a motorcycle accident.

Orbison said of the late '60s: '[I] didn't hear a lot I could relate to so I kind of stood there like a tree where the winds blow and the seasons change, and you're still there and you bloom again.'

Lana (Roy Orbison)