- Bill Dees
William "Bill" Dees (born
January 24 ,1939 ) is an American musician most famous for his song writing collaborations with legendary singerRoy Orbison .Born in the small town of Borger in the
Texas Panhandle , he played guitar and sang with a band called "The Five Bops," gaining enough recognition to perform on anAmarillo, Texas radio station. Dees eventually made his way toNashville, Tennessee where his meeting Roy Orbison led to a collaboration that produced a string of successful songs forMonument Records including the mega hit, "Oh, Pretty Woman " and "It's Over".In 1967, Dees co-wrote all the songs for the Orbison album and
MGM motion picture "The Fastest Guitar Alive ".Beyond his work with Orbison, Bill Dees wrote hundreds of songs, a number of which were recorded by performers such as
Johnny Cash ,Loretta Lynn ,Skeeter Davis ,Glen Campbell ,Billy Joe Royal ,Frank Ifield ,Mark Dinning andGene Pitney . In 2000, he recorded his own album titled "Saturday Night At The Movies"," a compilation of songs previously sung by Orbison that had been written with Dees and some that Dees had written alone.Dees now resides near Branson, Missouri, and continues to write songs with collaborator Jack Pribek.
Songs with Roy Orbison (partial list)
*"Oh, Pretty Woman " (1964)
*"It's Over" (1964)
*"Borne On The Wind" (1964)
*"Ride Away" (1965)
*"Crawling Back" (1965)
*"Sleepy Hollow" (1965)
*"Where Is Tomorrow" (1966)
*"Communication Breakdown" (1966)
*"Walk On" (1969)
*"Windsurfer" (1989)
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