On his excellent album, Tried & True, Clay Aiken recorded the beautiful Roy Orbison song, Crying. According to numerous polls and discussions, many people consider this song one of the best on the album.
Roy Orbison was a popular singer-songwriter and was known for his musicianship and powerful voice. He was born in Texas in 1936 and sang with a country band throughout high school.
Roy was at the apex of his career in the mid 1960s. He had a recording contract with Monument Records and 22 of his songs charted on the Billboard Top Forty, including Crying.
Orbison had a singing range of three to four octaves and he sang with great passion. The musical arrangements were almost always complex and classical in style.
In concert, Orbison seemed almost mysterious. He always wore black clothing and dark glasses. He always stood stock-still and by himself on stage. Orbison said of his motionless performances that his songs did not fit any moving and dancing. Orbison commented about his stage presence, saying:
I’m not a super personality—on stage or off. I mean, you could put workers like Chubby Checker or Bobby Rydell in second-rate shows and they’d still shine through, but not me. I’d have to be prepared. People come to hear my music, my songs. That’s what I have to give them.
Roy died of a heart attack in December of 1988 after spending a full day with his family. He was 52 and his death was a shock. After his death, Roy received many accolades. On Rolling Stone’s list of The Greatest Artists of All Time, Orbison is placed at #37 and is #13 on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. In Billboard Magazine, Orbison was listed as #74 in the Top 600 recording artists.
Did you ever see Orbison in concert? It must have been an amazing time.
On October 14, 2010, Clay Aiken performed Crying with Casey Thompson as part of his WTTW – Chicago Benefit concert. The following video shows not only the great performance by the two of them, but the relaxed friendship that Casey and Clay seem to have. Enjoy!
Casey is just so stinking adorable!! They are so cute together and I could watch them over and over!! The flirting makes me so giddy!! Seriously? He's gay? LOL! Once again Martha, thanks for bringing this over. I hadn't seen it in like forever!
wonderful!!! Beautiful together
This album is truly amazing as Clay captures the essence of each song. My favorite is "Bring Back My Love", but each title can be #1 depending on my mood of the day. One thing I have learned is Clay can sing the heck out of anything!
Thanks for the vid! Crying is one of my favorites on TnT! I did get the opportunity to see Roy Orbison in concert, but it was so long ago, I barely remember. The main thing I do remember is that he opened for Conway Twitty, in Ocean City, MD…..back in the 70's. Jerry Lee Lewis was originally scheduled and I bought a ticket for my Mom because she was a big Jerry Lee fan. They came on and announced that Jerry Lee had cancelled and I felt sad for my Mom…but the replacement was Roy Orbison, which made me happy. She is also a big fan of Roy's and, personally, I was much happier about seeing Roy than I was about Jerry Lee!
Loved Roy Orbison..Thank you for shining the spotlight on him! Crying is one of my faves from Tried and True.. that Clay covered…
Martha, thank you for bringing one of my favourite covers of all back to us today. The Chicago concert ranks at the top of my list as my No.1 favourite. The OMG concert was amazing but the intimate setting at Chicago is something I will never forget. Thank you again.
Roy Orbison was a brilliant singer. So different that the other ones who performed during that time, I believe he would be so proud to hear Clay sing his rendition of this classical song. Clay and Casey are so amazing with each other. Also, Clay and Quiana performed" Crying" during his Tried and True tour in 2011. and they were just as amazing, too! My thanks for this wonderful video, brings back sentimental feelings with this performance.
amazing wonderfull together singing crying i had never seen roy orbasion in c oncert
He sounded so fine! Loved hearing him sing that song! Miss his singing.
Loved watching this again. Clay and Casey sounded really good together. They were great during the Timeless Tour with Ruben. Thanks Musicfan.
The Tried and True cd is very special to me since it's the only one I was able to buy here in our local record store. The rest I got via Amazon.com. It is an excellent album indeed filled with such great classic songs ever written and made so much more special when Clay recorded it. It is truly a collector's item. Clay and Casey not only look cute together but they sound wonderful too!!! Love the video! Thanks Martha 🙂