Roy Orbison’s sons have used new technology to record a song by their late father.
The ‘Oh, Pretty Woman’ hitmaker, who died in 1988, recorded a track called ‘The Way is Love’ on a boombox and his sons Alex, Roy Jr and Wesley have been able to work on the song together, which will now feature on a 25th anniversary re-issue of Roy’s last album ‘Mystery Girl’ from 1989.
Alex told BANG Showbiz: "My mom felt very strongly about the song and she tried to do something with it forever.
"We found the [original] tape in a giant pile we were going through and it’s such a beautiful song with a strong message.
"It really did feel like we were recording with my dad, which I never got to do before he died. We made sure everything was perfect and layered all of the tracks.
"Looking at the finished product, I think he’d definitely be proud of what we’ve done."
Alex, who thinks there could be more tracks they want to work on in the future, claims being in the studio with his brothers brought them closer together.
He said: "My dad had brothers himself and he had said, ‘Sometimes you don’t get along but at the end of the day you have to hug and love each other’. We came together as brothers over this."
A documentary entitled ‘Mystery Girl: Unraveled’, executive produced by Alex, Roy and Wesley and directed by Alex, also features new interviews with Billy Burnette, John Carter Cash, Mike Campbell, Steve Cropper and more, along with never-before-seen interviews with Bono and the late Barbara Orbison.
Alex said: "We feel like one of the goals of the documentary was to show the recording process was like but also what my dad was like.
"You get to see a bit of his personality and his sense of humour. His laugh and things that are so endearing to us. We had great archive footage and it was a goal for us to show the man behind the sunglasses.
"He had such a dark ominous look at times, the songs were so heart-breaking and people assumed he was somber and morose, but he was such an upbeat, kind and gentle soul."
Roy Orbison’s re-release of ‘Mystery Girl’ is out now.
Roy Orbison’s sons create new song by their father
