Decade-long friendship between Roy Orbison's hit maker and Australian singer

For over a decade, Australian singer Damien Leith has maintained a unique creative partnership with Joe Melson, the celebrated songwriter credited with discovering Roy Orbison and co-writing his iconic hits like "Crying," "Only The Lonely," and "Running Scared."

“

He'd start each session like, 'All right, Damien, I was just thinking about the lyric from last week', and he would kick in where we left off. I rarely ever saw him with paper in front of him, he remembered everything and it blew my mind.

Leith, the 2006 Australian Idol winner, describes his Monday morning ritual: logging onto his computer to spend an hour in his home studio with Melson, who would appear on screen, impeccably dressed and with his guitar ready. "He'd start each session like, 'All right, Damien, I was just thinking about the lyric from last week', and he would kick in where we left off," Leith recalled. "I rarely ever saw him with paper in front of him, he remembered everything and it blew my mind."

Their collaboration resulted in 81 songs, with the final one written just weeks before Melson's passing earlier this month. Leith shared that their friendship began in 2011 when Melson was intrigued by Leith's rendition of "Crying." Unlike other artists who imitated Orbison's style, Leith's version offered a different ending and vocal approach, which Melson admired. "He was all about artists finding their own sound and he wanted any singer to identify with the thing that makes them unique, and we became great friends," Leith said.

“

He was all about artists finding their own sound and he wanted any singer to identify with the thing that makes them unique, and we became great friends.

Leith reflected on their final songwriting session the week before Melson died. "He was in great form, he had all these brilliant ideas and we started writing a brand new song, which was the first one we had written from scratch in quite some time." Leith believes Melson pushed through to complete that song, seeing it as a final gift. He anticipates that performing these songs live in his Roy Orbison tribute show will carry an extra emotional weight, knowing the personal stories behind them.

“

He was in great form, he had all these brilliant ideas and we started writing a brand new song, which was the first one we had written from scratch in quite some time. I just thought it was so strange that the week before he passed away we wrote a brand new song, which I think was him saying, 'This session is for you', and I really do kind of believe he pushed through on purpose.