Roy Orbison's exquisite voice was the sound of hard luck and shattered hopes. He had the sound first, on such pop-opera masterpieces as 'Crying,' 'In Dreams' and 'Only the Lonely.' The actual heartaches came later.

Like his good friend Johnny Cash, Orbison was rarely seen in anything but his trademark black, and no wonder -- he had more than enough to mourn in his abbreviated life. His first wife, Claudette, died in a motorcycle accident in 1966. A couple of years later, two of their three sons were killed when the family home in Tennessee burned to the ground while Orbison was performing in England. Ten years after that, his heavy touring schedule was interrupted when the singer, then barely into his 40s, suffered a serious heart attack that required open heart surgery.

In the mid-1980s, Orbison, whose biggest hits had all come more than two decades earlier, had a well-deserved career renaissance. Shortly after 'In Dreams' was featured in David Lynch's 'Blue Velvet,' HBO taped a star-studded tribute, with the bespectacled crooner backed by a band of lifelong admirers including Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello and Tom Waits. In 1988, he recorded two albums destined for huge success -- a comeback record called 'Mystery Girl' (with songs by Costello along with Bono and the Edge of U2) and a superstar side project, the Traveling Wilburys, with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, George Harrison and ELO's Jeff Lynne.

The Wilburys album came out in October, with the solo record set for release just after the new year. Orbison scarcely had time to enjoy the former, the latter not at all: On Dec. 6, he suffered a fatal heart attack at his mother's house near Nashville. He was 53.

If the songs of this one-of-a-kind Rock and Roll Hall of Famer live on, so does his torment. In April 2007, the longtime lakeside home of Johnny and June Carter Cash, on property originally owned by Orbison, went up in flames; at the time, it was being remodeled by Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees. Earlier this month, yet a third former Orbison property, this one later owned by Tammy Wynette, burned in yet another mysterious blaze. Fire officials haven't determined what caused the most recent inferno, but one thing seems certain: More than 20 years after his death, misfortune still won't leave the King of Pain alone.