Roy Orbison sing, making the voice ring, and I just kept doing it. And I think that somewhere between the time of "Ooby Dooby" and "Only the Lonely", it kind of turned into a good voice." Its success transformed Orbison into an overnight star and he appeared on Dick Clark's "Saturday Night Beechnut Show" out of New York City. When Presley heard "Only the Lonely" for the first time, he bought a box of copies to pass to his friends. Melson and Orbison followed it with the more complex "Blue Angel", which peaked at number nine in the US and number 11
Roy Orbison million copies. Orbison's success was greater in Britain; as "Billboard" magazine noted, "In a 68-week period that began on August 8, 1963, Roy Orbison was the "only" American artist to have a number-one single in Britain. He did it twice, with 'It's Over' on June 25, 1964, and 'Oh, Pretty Woman' on October 8, 1964. The latter song also went to number one in America, making Orbison impervious to the current chart dominance of British artists on both sides of the Atlantic." Following "Oh, Pretty Woman", Orbison endured some upheavals. Claudette and he divorced in November 1964 over her infidelities,