Roy Orbison: Love Hurts

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Wesley Orbison

Roy Orbison Jr

Alex Orbison

Lesley Douglas

Tracy Nurse

Nigel Cole

Des Shaw

Documentaries

Music: Classic Pop & Rock

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

15/12/2017

BBC Four - Roy Orbison: Love Hurts

Roy Orbison's personal and musical legacy is explained by his three sons.

Roy Orbison's legacy as a beloved rock legend and a devoted father is revealed through intimate interviews with Roy's three surviving sons, featuring previously unseen home videos.

Roy Orbison died 29 years ago but he's hardly forgotten. As one of rock 'n' roll's pioneers he achieved superstar status in the 60s, writing and releasing a series of smash singles such as Oh, Pretty Woman, Only the Lonely, In Dreams and Crying. But while his professional life was full of triumph, Roy suffered terrible misfortune in his personal life, losing his wife and two of his children in successive tragedies, rebuilding his life by relying on his music to distract him from desolation.

Roy's legacy as a beloved rock legend and a devoted father is revealed through intimate interviews with Roy's three surviving sons, featuring previously unseen home videos as Alex, Roy Jnr and Wesley Orbison discuss the immense talent and fierce determination that provided the driving force behind their father's incredible success and the dedication to Roy's family that helped create a strong spiritual base to escape the pressures of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle.

This is the personal story of the relationship between three children and their father; a father who died when they were young, and who they have reconnected with and come to understand through embracing his life's work. It is not often that one gets to understand the person who is the music phenomenon, but in this film about relationships, family, love, loss and affirmation, we get to see the man behind the ever-present dark sunglasses and brooding loner persona, witnessing his struggle with personal demons, and ultimately redemption and acknowledgement from his peers.

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