Roy Orbison was one of the most influential American singer-songwriters and a pioneer of rock and roll whose recording career spanned more than four decades. By the mid-1960s, He was internationally recognized for his ballads of lost love, rhythmically advanced melodies, three octave vocal range, and characteristic dark sunglasses. Notable hits written and recorded by Orbison on Rolling Stone's list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time include "Only The Lonely", "Oh, Pretty Woman", "In Dreams" and "Crying". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Orbison suffered a heart attack and died just before midnight on 1988 December 6 at the age of 52. In 1989, Roy Orbison was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1768: The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica was published. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica)

1917: Halifax Explosion: A ship in Halifax Harbour carrying trinitrotoluene (TNT) and picric acid caught fire after a collision with another ship and exploded, devastating Halifax, Canada. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion)

1922: The Irish Free State came into existence, one year after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Free_State)

1957: Project Vanguard: An attempt to launch the first American satellite failed with an explosion on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral (pictured). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Vanguard)

1989: Marc Lépine killed 14 women in the École Polytechnique Massacre in Montreal, leading to new gun control laws in Canada. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%3Fcole_Polytechnique_massacre)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

Love is made out of ecstasy and wonder;Love is a poignant and accustomed pain.It is a burst of Heaven-shaking thunder;It is a linnet's fluting after rain. -- Joyce Kilmer (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joyce_Kilmer)