On this day in Music History — December 6, 1988 The world lost one of its most distinctive and haunting voices. After spending the day flying model airplanes with his sons and sharing dinner at his mother’s home, Roy Orbison suffered a fatal heart attack at just 52 years old. From the moment his recording career took flight in 1960, Orbison delivered twenty-three Billboard Top 40 hits and carved out a place in music history unlike anyone else. Songs like “Only the Lonely,” “Crying,” “In Dreams,”