Credit: Far Out / Ollie Atkins
Sat 22 August 2026 17:32, UK
Emerging as the biggest name in the 1950s rock ‘n’ roll scene, Elvis Presley became one of the first-ever globalised superstars.
With a voice that could, by turns, stir honey into tea from a thousand paces or rock a can of Red Bull to sleep, cherubic looks, and hips so slick they could make an ageing snake look stiff, he was a worthy bastion of a new revolution.
He awakened a sleeping potential for what we now know and love as pop culture. As the Beatles’ John Lennon once famously remarked, “Before Elvis, there was nothing”. Presley’s musical career blossomed through the decade, with US record shops turning over vast, unprecedented profits from his hotcake singles.
Then, the tap was turned off. In December 1957, Presley was drafted into the US Army. While the proud patriot might have quipped, “The Army can do anything it wants with me,” when he was honourably discharged in March 1960, the world had moved on, and his second chapter was one of diminished returns.
Rock ‘n’ roll had evolved for a few years without him, and the ‘British Invasion’ was just around the corner, waiting to dethrone the king they all used to hail. Yet, Elvis was not without his allies, the old guard from an era where prowess and performative command were still vital tenets. So, the appeal of some of the old favourites proved pervasive.
The King’s favourite singer
In 1956, Roy Orbison was signed by Sun Records, Presley’s formative label, and alongside the likes of Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis, he began to make a name for himself. Unlike Presley, Orbison liked to write his own lyrics. One of his early ambitions was even to have the ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ star sing one of his songs, and in 1960, as the King returned from his military duties, Orbison made his move.
Understandably, the bespectacled crooner saw Presley as the perfect man to take on his new anthem, ‘Only the Lonely’, full of soaring sentiment and enough swing for Presley’s potent timbre to work with. After getting in contact with the star, however, he was disheartened to receive a polite rejection. Sadly, Orbison received a similar response after pitching the track to The Everly Brothers.
Consequently, a little-known songwriter ended up putting the single out himself in May 1960. With it, he would introduce the world to a voice that sounded heartbroken from the diaphragm up. Bob Dylan would later say he sounded “like he was singing from an Olympian mountaintop”.
Credit: Jack de Nijs for Anefo
The success the unlikely star saw was rapid. On October 20th, 1960, Orbison’s quivering croon saw ‘Only the Lonely’ strike the top of the UK singles chart after reaching a peak at number two in the US. People loved this curious new character. Needless to say, Presley will have felt a little regret as he reviewed the stats, but overall, he was happy for his fellow Sun Records alumnus.
In many ways, they were playing for the same team. Their more traditional blend of pop and rock defied the zeitgeist of rocking psychedelia. Above all, they were also virtuosos – both knew that while their ‘cool’ cache wasn’t quite competing anymore, they could crank out a tune and have an audience swoon all the same. Could Donovan sing ‘Hound Dog’ and send the front two rows straight to the maternity ward? Gimme a break!
So, through the 1960s, the pair’s friendship blossomed and during one of Presley’s famous Las Vegas concerts, he described Orbison as having the “perfect voice” and called him the “greatest singer in the world.” Presley wasn’t one to offer lavish praise all that often, but for Orbison, he made an exception. How could he not?
In a return of praise, Orbison reflected upon seeing Presley perform in Odessa for the first time in February 1955, and how it inspired him to take a swing at making music himself. “His energy was incredible; his instinct was just amazing,” he recalled in a 1980 interview.
Adding, “I just didn’t know what to make of it. There was just no reference point in the culture to compare it.” He was, it seemed, a Promethean force fresh from nowhere.
Presley would go on to perform a cover of Orbison’s crooning classic ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight?’ But beyond that, he always kept a keen eye on how the slicked-back star was able to still make his more classically inclined tunes heard in a changing world. The answer for Presley was always the same: he had the perfect voice.
That’s very, very high praise, indeed. Especially from a King.
