Roy Jr., Wesley and Alex Orbison Carry on Their Father’s Legacy with Three Major Projects
The Authorized Roy Orbison book, A Love So Beautiful album and 2018 hologram tour highlight busy period for Roy’s Boys
The Fest For Beatles Fans is proud to announce that Roy Orbison’s three sons – Roy Jr., Wesley and Alex Orbison, better known as Roy’s Boys – will join musician Jeff Slate’s Birds of Paradox at this year’s Metro New York City event, scheduled to take place during the weekend of March 9-11, 2018, at the Hyatt Regency in Jersey City, New Jersey. They will appear in concert on Saturday, March 10, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Traveling Wilburys, the supergroup founded by their father with former Beatle George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and ELO’s Jeff Lynne in 1988, in a performance dubbed Weekend Wilburys, and will appear throughout the weekend at various events at The Fest For Beatles Fans (http://www.thefest.com/2018-fests/new-york-metro-march-9-10-11-2018/).
Roy Orbison Jr. (guitar, vocals), Wesley Orbison (vocals, guitar) and Alex Orbison (drums, vocals) – Roy’s Boys -- will join Jeff Slate (vocals, guitar), whose Birds of Paradox will be making its fifth Fest For Beatles Fans appearance, and whose all-star ranks have included musicians who have recorded and appeared with former Beatles, David Bowie and Roy Orbison himself, for a set of Wilburys-era and Roy Orbison classics. They will also be greeting fans to promote the recent Center Street book The Authorized Roy Orbison (http://amzn.to/2BNEAgo) that Roy’s Boys wrote with Slate, who is also a renowned rock journalist, as well as Sony/Legacy’s A Love So Beautiful: Roy Orbison and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (http://amzn.to/2FBnqFe) and the forthcoming hologram tour with the RPO.
Roy’s Boys work tirelessly to protect and further their father’s legacy. Wesley Orbison, the eldest, is a seasoned songwriter and guitar player. His song “The Only One” (co-written with Craig Wiseman), appears on Roy Orbison’s multi-platinum album Mystery Girl. Roy Orbison Jr. is a singer and guitar player who will be the opening act on this year’s Roy Orbison and the Royal Philharmonic hologram tour. He enjoys spending time with his beautiful bride, Asa, and their son, Roy Orbison III. They are expecting another child on Valentine’s Day. Alex Orbison, a drummer by trade, is co-president of Still Working Music and is a producer of the forthcoming film, The Beatle Who Vanished, based the book of the same name, about Jimmie Nicol, the drummer who briefly filled in for a tonsillitis-ridden Ringo Starr during The Beatles' 1964 world tour. All three brothers reside with their families in Nashville, Tennessee. Roy’s Boys have played together all their lives, but only began recording and performing live together recently. They backed their father on the song “The Way Is Love” on the 2015 expanded edition of Mystery Girl, and in 2017, Roy Orbison and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra producers Don Reedman and Nick Patrick featured the three on "Oh, Pretty Woman" for that album. Recently, they recorded a song with country legend and Roy Orbison friend Johnny Cash’s son John Carter Cash and are currently playing live and recording together and separately.
Singer-songwriter Jeff Slate is an internationally recognized recording artist and music journalist. He co-founded the band the Mindless Thinkers, founded The Badge and has performed and worked with countless rock luminaries, including Pete Townshend of The Who, Sheryl Crow and others. His band with David Bowie sideman Earl Slick, and his current band Jeff Slate & Friends, are both mainstays of the Northeast music scene. As a solo performer he has played all over the world, from St. George's Hall in Liverpool to Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco. His music has appeared on the BBC and in shows like Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill. Jeff writes about music for Esquire, contributed liner notes to the 50th anniversary edition of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and is the author with Roy’s Boys of The Authorized Roy Orbison. In previous years Jeff’s Birds of Paradox band has included appearances by Steve Holley and Laurence Juber of Wings, Gary Van Scyoc and Adam Ippolito of John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Elephant’s Memory Band and Mark Rivera of Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band. This year’s band will include musicians who have recorded and appeared with everyone from David Bowie to Roy Orbison. Jeff plays Gibson and Epiphone electric and acoustic guitars, Hofner basses and uses Vox amplifiers.
The Fest For Beatles Fans, the original and longest running Beatles fan celebration of its kind, began as the brainchild of a New York-born, New Jersey-raised Beatles fan, Mark Lapidos. In 1974, the 26-year-old manager of a Sam Goody record store and Beatles devotee decided he wanted to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the year in which the Beatles first came to America with a weekend convention in Manhattan for fellow Beatles fans. Though he’d never produced such an event before, Lapidos took the plunge and booked the convention halls at the Commodore Hotel in New York City. On Sunday April 28th 1974, he attended a March of Dimes Walkathon in New York’s Central Park that John Lennon appeared at with his friend Harry Nilsson. Just one hour later, Lapidos found his way to the suite at the Pierre Hotel where Lennon was staying. He told Lennon all about his idea. Lennon’s response was simple: “I’m all for it! I’m a Beatles fan too!” With the enthusiastic support of John Lennon, the first Fest was held in New York City in September 1974. It was blessed by all four Beatles – who all donated musical instruments to be auctioned for charity – and was a raging success, with over 8,000 Beatles devotees attending. Rolling Stone saluted the event with a front cover story. Within a couple of years the Fest had become an integral part of the Beatles fan experience in America, with Fests taking place in several major cities in the U.S., and annual Fests recurring in key regions. That phenomenon has continued. Now the Fest is attended by several generations of Beatles lovers – with the fastest-growing demographic being attendees in their teens and twenties.
For tickets: http://www.thefest.com/2018-fests/buy-tickets/
“The Way Is Love” featuring Roy’s Boys: https://youtu.be/VMtXt4hQHhM
“Oh, Pretty Woman” video featuring Roy’s Boys and Roy III: https://youtu.be/oRL24HNzKTc