Joe Melson, the singer-songwriter behind some of rock’s greatest operatic ballads and the musician widely credited with helping create the Roy Orbison sound, has died.
He was 91 years old.
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The news was posted on Facebook by Melson’s son-in-law, who introduced the announcement.
View this post on Instagram“It is with profound sadness that I must inform you that my father-in-law, Joe Melson, has passed on to write better songs (if that can be done),” Melson’s son-in-law wrote in the post. “Mr. Melson left by natural causes at the age of 91 on July 1st with family close by.”
Best known for his legendary songwriting partnership with Roy Orbison, Melson wrote more than 120 songs, including iconic hits “Only the Lonely,” “Crying,” and “Blue Bayou.” No stranger to the song charts, “Only the Lonely” hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and launched Orbison into superstardom. In addition, “Running Scared,” co-written by Melson, marked the dream team’s first No. 1 hit.
As a solo singer, Melson found modest success with Acuff-Rose Music and Hickory Records, per Saving Country Music. Beyond Orbison, Melson’s music included “Run, Baby Run (Back Into My Arms)” for the Newbeats and tracks for Glenn Barber and Don Folger.
A BMI Award winner, Melson enjoyed the peak of his career from 1959 to 1963. During that period, several of his best-known songs—including “Only the Lonely” and “Crying”—were released, and later recognized among Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, as well as inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Melson helped pioneer the dramatic rock ballad by blending rockabilly, country, and soaring operatic pop. In 2018, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
“This tremendous man has left the same tremendous hole with Raindrops, Raining in our Hearts,” the post continued. “Thank you all for your kindness to Joe throughout his over 75-year career. He was still writing up until Father’s Day this year. What a passion for his craft.”
Orbison’s estate also paid tribute to Melson on Facebook.
The statement read in full:
“In 1959, a young songwriter named Joe Melson tapped on the window of Roy’s car in West Texas. Roy was sitting there, guitar in hand, working out a melody the way he often did. That knock on the glass changed everything.
“Joe heard something in Roy—a voice built for heartbreak, for the operatic, for songs that didn’t just tell a story but ached,” the post continued. “What followed was one of the great songwriting partnerships in American music.
“Joe was rightfully inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018, a long-overdue recognition for a man some called the most unsung hero in songwriting,” the post continued. “But to our family, he was something simpler and dearer: the friend who saw what was possible in Roy before the rest of the world did, and who never stopped being proud of what they built together.
“We send our love to Joe’s family, and our deepest gratitude for a partnership that gave the world ‘the Roy Orbison sound,’” the post concluded. “Rest easy, Joe. Thank you for hearing it first.”
Orbison died in December 1988 at the age of 52 from a heart attack.
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