Only The Lonely is Roy Orbison’s breakthrough 1960 hit, it’s his first number 1 hit and one where he establishes his distinctive sound for the rest of his career. After a period at the start of his career without much success, Only The Lonely proved to be a breakthrough in terms of chart performance but also the way he used his voice. In a later interview Orbison said: “I liked the sound of [my voice]. I liked making it sing, making the voice ring, and I just kept doing it. And I think that somewhere between the time of "Ooby Dooby” and “Only the Lonely”, it kind of turned into a good voice.“ The single reached the number 1 spot on the UK singles chart on 20 October 1960, staying there for two weeks out of it’s overall chart time of 24 weeks. It also hit number 2 on America’s Billboard pop music charts on 25th July 1960. It include Larry Parks on drums, Floyd Cramer on piano, Bob Moore on bass, Hank Garland and Harold Bradley on guitars with Joe Melson and the Annita Kerr on backing vocals.