<P> Orbison also began collaborating with Bill Dees, whom he had known in Texas . With Dees, he wrote "It's Over", a number - one hit in the UK and a song that would be one of his signature pieces for the rest of his career . When Claudette walked in the room where Dees and Orbison were writing to say she was heading for Nashville, Orbison asked if she had any money . Dees said, "A pretty woman never needs any money". Just 40 minutes later, "Oh, Pretty Woman" was completed . A riff - laden masterpiece that employed a playful growl he got from a Bob Hope movie, the epithet mercy Orbison uttered when he was unable to hit a note, and a merging of his vulnerable and masculine sides, it rose to number one in the fall of 1964 in the United States and stayed on the charts for 14 weeks . It rose to number one in the UK as well, spending 18 weeks total on the charts . The single sold over seven million copies . Orbison's success was greater in Britain; as Billboard magazine noted, "In a 68 - week period that began on August 8, 1963, Roy Orbison was the only American artist to have a number - one single in Britain . He did it twice, with' It's Over' on June 25, 1964, and' Oh, Pretty Woman' on October 8, 1964 . The latter song also went to number one in America, making Orbison impervious to the current chart dominance of British artists on both sides of the Atlantic ." </P> <P> "Oh, Pretty Woman" proved the pinnacle of Orbison's career in the 1960s . Following its release, he endured some upheavals . He and Claudette divorced in November 1964 over her infidelities, but the two reconciled and got back together 10 months later . His contract with Monument was expiring in June 1965 . Wesley Rose, at this time acting as Orbison's agent, moved him from Monument Records to Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer (MGM) (though in Europe he remained with Decca's London Records) for $1 million, and the understanding that he would expand into television and films, as Elvis Presley had done . Orbison was a film enthusiast and, when not touring, writing or recording, would dedicate time to seeing up to three films a day . </P> <P> Rose also became Orbison's producer . Fred Foster later suggested that Rose's takeover was responsible for the commercial failure of Orbison's work at MGM . Engineer Bill Porter agreed that Orbison's best work could only be achieved with RCA Nashville's A-Team . Orbison's first collection at MGM, an album titled There Is Only One Roy Orbison, sold fewer than 200,000 copies . With the onset of the British Invasion in 1964--65, the direction of popular music shifted dramatically, and most performers of Orbison's generation were driven from the charts . </P> <P> While on tour again in the UK in 1965, Orbison broke his foot falling off a motorcycle in front of thousands of screaming fans at a race track; he performed his show that evening in a cast . His reconciliation with Claudette occurred when she went to visit him while he was recuperating from the accident . </P>

Who sings never make a pretty woman your wife