I liked making it sing, making the voice ring, and I just kept doing it.

He told Rolling Stone in 1988, 'I liked the sound of. According to Orbison, the subsequent songs he wrote with Melson during this period were constructed with his voice in mind, specifically to showcase its range and power.

'Only the Lonely' shot to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit number one in the UK and Australia. A ballad Orbison wrote, 'The Clown', met with a lukewarm response after hearing it, Sun Records producer Jack Clement told Orbison that he would never make it as a ballad singer. Phillips remembered being much more impressed with Orbison's mastery of the guitar than with his voice. In the studio, Orbison concentrated on the mechanics of recording. They stayed in Phillips's home, sleeping in separate rooms. The band ultimately split over disputed writing credits and royalties, but Orbison stayed in Memphis and asked his 16-year-old girlfriend, Claudette Frady, to join him there. The Teen Kings also began writing songs in a rockabilly style, including 'Go! Go! Go!' and 'Rockhouse'. Much influenced by Elvis Presley, Orbison performed frenetically, doing 'everything we could to get applause because we had only one hit record'. The Teen Kings toured with Sonny James, Johnny Horton, Carl Perkins, and Cash. The song was released on Sun 242 in May 1956 and broke into the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 59 and selling 200,000 copies. The Teen Kings went to Sun Studio in Memphis, where Phillips wanted to record 'Ooby Dooby' again, in his studio. The Wink Westerners kept performing on local TV, played dances on the weekends, and attended college during the day. As two members of the band quit, two new members were added, and the group won a talent contest and obtained their own television show on KMID-TV in Midland, Texas. Orbison then enrolled in Odessa Junior College. While at North Texas State College, Roy heard a song called 'Ooby Dooby', composed by Dick Penner and Wade Moore, and after his first year of college, he returned to Wink with 'Ooby Dooby' in hand and continued performing with the Wink Westerners. When he heard that his schoolmate Pat Boone had signed a record deal, it further strengthened his resolve to become a professional musician. After graduating from Wink High School, he enrolled at North Texas State College in Denton, planning to study geology so that he could secure work in the oil fields if music did not pay.

When they were offered $400 to play at a dance, Orbison realized he could make a living in music. They played country standards and Glenn Miller songs at local honky-tonks and had a weekly radio show on KERB in Kermit. In high school, Orbison and some friends formed a band, the Wink Westerners.

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