Go Back in Time with the Traveling Wilburys Quiz

Answer:

To start off with, the Traveling Wilburys consisted of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty. The band got together in 1988 and was active until 1991. All the artists were from America and the UK, and one could say there was a "supergroup".

In reality, the band got together by accident. George and Jeff were basically talking about the recording of George's 11th album, "Cloud Nine". They talked about asking Bob, Roy and Tom to feature on the album with a bonus track. When the lads got together, they recorded the song "Handle with Care". After the track was recorded, they thought the track was too good for the album as a bonus track. The musicians then decided to record a full album, which included the track "Handle with Care". The lads called the album "Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1", which was released on October 18, 1988.

The name of the band came from studio equipment, such as equalisers and limiters. George and Jeff called the gear "wilburys", so the first name suggested was the Trembling Wilburys; however, Jeff thought the Traveling Wilburys sounded better, and the rest of the lads agreed. On the band's first album, "The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1", all the members in the band had pseudonyms. George Harrison was known as Nelson Wilbury. Jeff Lynne was known as Otis Wilbury, and Tom Petty was known as Charlie T. Wilbury Jr. Roy Orbison was known as Lefty Wilbury and Bob Dylan was known as Lucky Wilbury.

Sadly, Roy Orbison died on December 6, 1988, from a heart attack; he was only 52 years old. The rest of the band decided to carry on without Roy and started to write and record their second studio album, which would also be the last album from the band. The new album would be called "Travelling Wilburys Vol. 3". George intentionally skipped volume 2 to mock the fans. For the second album, all the lads changed their pseudonyms. Now we have Clayton Wilbury (Jeff Lynne), Spike Wilbury (George Harrison), Boo Wilbury (Bob Dylan), and Muddy Wilbury (Tom Petty).

The album was released on October 29, 1990. "Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3" was dedicated to the memory of "Lefty Wilbury" (Roy Orbison). In the short time the band were together, they never played any of their songs live or toured as a band. George had said on record he had plans for the band, with more albums and maybe a tour. One of the challenges the band faced was they all had solo projects they were working on, so time spent on the Wilburys was in short supply.

The final track on the album, "Wilbury Twist", was released as a single on March 25, 1991. It only charted on the Canadian Singles Chart and on the Australian ARIA Chart. To accompany the single, there was a music video which featured several well-known celebrities, including Whoopi Goldberg, Fred Savage, Ben Savage and Milli Vanilli.