Joe Melson

Claudie Joe Melson was born on May 11, 1935, in Bonham, Texas, northeast of Fort Worth, to Clarence and Bernice Melson. He was raised on a farm until he was sixteen and grew up in a large family, with siblings Pat, Dennis, Kenneth, Wanda and Katie. He attended high school in Gore, Oklahoma, and in Chicago before returning to Texas. By his teenage years in the early 1950s he was already singing and writing songs.

Melson studied accounting at Odessa Junior College (now Odessa College) in Odessa, Texas, while working in the mailroom at Standard Oil. He studied and played music throughout his teens.

In West Texas Melson fronted a rockabilly band, the Cavaliers, playing dances and nightclubs; their song Raindrops became his debut single. He and Roy Orbison knew each other from the Odessa music scene, and according to The New York Times and the Orbison family, their partnership began when Melson tapped on the window of Orbison's car while Orbison was working out a melody on his guitar. Beginning in 1959 they wrote together, first at Melson's home in Midland and then in Nashville. Their first collaboration, Only the Lonely (1960), reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 in the UK and is regarded as the first operatic rock ballad. It was followed by Blue Angel (1960, No. 9), I'm Hurtin' (1961), Running Scared (1961, No. 1), Crying (1961, No. 2), The Crowd (1962), The Actress, Lana and Blue Bayou (1963). Melson sang or arranged the background vocals on all of the hits he wrote with Orbison, and the two wrote more than 120 songs together before reuniting as writers from 1971 to 1975. With Don Gant he co-wrote Run, Baby Run (Back Into My Arms), a 1965 hit for the Newbeats, and Orbison's Cry Softly Lonely One. He also co-wrote Don Gibson's Ever Changing Mind and Glenn Barber's I'm the Man on Susie's Mind, Unexpected Goodbye and Love Songs Just for You. His songs were recorded by Kitty Wells, Floyd Cramer, Bobby Vee, the Crickets, Conway Twitty, Bob Luman, Del Reeves and many others.

Melson recorded singles of his own for Hickory Records from 1960 to 1963, the best known being Hey Mister Cupid, and later recorded for EMP Records and other labels in 1964, 1965, 1971, 1979 and beyond. He and Orbison also recorded vocal duets. In August 2014 he released a triple A-side single, Last Goodbye, Fields of Gold and Girl Back on Blue Bayou, with Australian singer Damien Leith, who remained his co-writer in his final years.

Melson's first two marriages, to Susie Mills and Dagmar Frazier, ended in divorce. He had two children, Michael Melson and Michelle Byerly, from his first marriage and two daughters, Melodie Garner and Serena Aaker, from his second. In 2025 he married his longtime fiancee, Julie Tan (listed in his funeral home obituary as Chew L. Tan). His son-in-law Dwayne Byerly also served as his manager. He lived for many years in the Nashville area and was a familiar presence on the Hendersonville music scene. His family invited memorial donations to donate.jw.org.

Melson saw himself as a craftsman who had earned his place, saying "I've paid my dues to make it!" when his Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame induction was announced. Colleagues and his family stressed his lifelong passion for the craft: his son-in-law said he was still writing until Father's Day 2026, weeks before his death. He asked that no memorial service be held and that his family share a simple message instead.

Melson is credited with helping to shape the Roy Orbison sound, the sweeping, operatic style that set Orbison apart from the hard-driving rock and roll of the 1950s. The Orbison family called him "the friend who saw what was possible in Roy before the rest of the world did." Only the Lonely and Crying are both in the Grammy Hall of Fame and appeared on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. His songs have been recorded by artists including Linda Ronstadt, Don McLean, Sonny James, Glen Campbell, Chris Isaak, Del Shannon, Bobby Vinton, Waylon Jennings, Pat Benatar, Ronnie Milsap, Norah Jones and k.d. lang, and by 2002 they had logged more than 15 million confirmed U.S. airplays.

BMI Award-winning songwriter. Only the Lonely inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (1999). Crying inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (2002). International Rock-A-Billy Hall of Fame, Jackson, Tennessee (inducted August 8, 2002). Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (class of 2018, inducted at the October 28, 2018 gala).

Joe Melson died of natural causes at his home in Nashville on July 1, 2026, at the age of 91, with family close by. His son-in-law and manager, Dwayne Byerly, announced the death on Facebook in mid-July, writing that Melson had "passed on to write better songs (if that can be done)." Arrangements were handled by Hendersonville Memory Gardens, Funeral Home and Cremation Center. Following his wishes, no memorial service was held.