Never-heard-before Roy Orbison song to be released more than 25-years after the 'Pretty Woman' singer's death
- Roy Orbison's three sons, have helped create a new song by their father that will appear on the 25th anniversary reissue and expansion of Orbison's final album, Mystery Girl
- They found an old vocal track for a song called The Way is Love originally recorded on a boombox and were able to reclaim it using technology that had to be created to accomplish the work
Rock'n'roll legend Roy Orbison's three sons have produced and remastered a previously unheard track by their father for release.
Entitled The Way is Love, the song was originally recorded on a home tape-deck by the 'Pretty Woman' singer and will appear on the 25th anniversary edition of Orbison's final album, Mystery Girl.
Wesley, Roy Jr. and Alex Orbison have claimed the process of cleaning up the cassette needed new technology specifically developed for the task.
New song: Roy Orbison's son's Wesley, Roy Jr. and Alex Orbison have helped create a new song by their father that will appear on the 25th anniversary reissue and expansion of Orbison's final album, "Mystery Girl" that is being re-released on May 20, 2014
In total, nine never-before-heard tracks from the 1960s icon will be released on the deluxe edition of Mystery girl which will be released on May 20.
The three Orbison brothers fulfilled a lifelong dream of playing along with their father on a record by adding guitar and drums to the track.
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Adding to the rock royalty proceedings was John Carter Cash - the son of legendary country singer, Johnny Cash.
'It really brought us closer together in a lot of ways,' said Alex Orbison, 38, who contributed drums and backing vocals to the track.
Royalty: Rock and roll legend Roy Orbison is honored with a star posthumously on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with family members, from left, sons Wesley, Alex, wife Barbara Orbison, and Roy Jr. in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles
Anticipation: The cover of the Roy Orbison album, Mystery Girl - Deluxe put together by Orbison's sons, Wesley, Roy Jr. and Alex Orbison along with stars such as Jeff Lynne and Bono
'We were able to finish it up and get it out by Father's Day, too, which was obviously special to us,' he said.
'We all just wanted to not stop recording,' he added. 'We had so much fun. It was really too much fun.'
The deluxe edition will also include, Mystery Girl: Unraveled, a one-hour documentary directed by Alex Orbison.
It will chart how the album was put together with interviews from four of the album's producers - Jeff Lynne, Mike Campbell, Barbara Orbison and Bono.
Pretty woman: American pop singer Roy Orbison poses with his then 18-year-old wife Barbara to the media in London in 1969
Legends: American singer Roy Orbison (dark glasses), is fed pieces of his birthday cake by Beatle John Lennon (L), and Ringo Starr (fourth from left), at a party held at the La Dolce Vita Restaurant in London's SoHo district to celebrate Roy's 28th birthday
Legends: American singer Roy Orbison (dark glasses), is fed pieces of his birthday cake by Beatle John Lennon (L), and Ringo Starr (fourth from left), at a party held at the La Dolce Vita Restaurant in London's SoHo district to celebrate Roy's 28th birthday
The film includes eight Orbison music videos, including four previously unreleased videos.
Orbison was going through a career renaissance at the time he released 'Mystery Girl.' The 'Oh, Pretty Woman' singer had just earned a new round of attention working with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty in The Travelling Wilburys and was excited about the new album.
It included contributions from Lynne, Petty and most of his Heartbreakers, Bono and the Edge of U2, Elvis Costello and many other friends. His wife, Barbara, acted as his manager at the time and even sang backup on the album. Wesley Orbison wrote a song as well.
Sadly, though, he passed away two months before its release in February 1989 at age 52 of a heart attack.
His sons got to experience something of that excitement nearly a quarter of a century later. They weren't able to record with their dad, but it most definitely was a family moment.
This is not the first time that recordings have been cleaned up and released after a singers death.
In 1995, 15 years after his death, the three surviving Beatles used a John Lennon vocal from a cassette tape to create Free As A Bird - which was released for their successful Anthology project.
Fab: The Beatles wave after arriving at the San Francisco airport Aug. 18, 1964 - in 1995 - an unused John Lennon vocal was used to create Free As a Bird
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