HOLLYWOOD — Roy Orbison posthumously received the 2,400th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Friday, honoring a career that saw him become one of the first international rock ‘n’ roll stars.

“This is a wonderful way of remembering somebody that you love,” Orbison’s widow, Barbara, said in accepting the star at the late-morning ceremony in front of the Capitol Records building that attracted Eric Idle, Chris Isaak, Jeff Lynne, Joe Walsh and Dwight Yoakam.

Singer-songwriter T-Bone Burnett, who produced Orbison’s 1987 two-record album, “In Dreams: The Greatest Hits,” praised Orbison for being a rock ‘n’ roll pioneer.

“This beautiful, resonant, power, quiet thing he did with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and a few other guys changed the world,” Burnett said.

Actor Dan Aykroyd said that since seeing Orbison in concert in his native Ottawa when he was in high school, “I’ve worn nothing but black.”

“Today, I feel I can wear sunglasses any time I want because Roy did,” Aykroyd said.

To Aykroyd, Orbison was “a great balladeer as well as being a great rock ‘n’ roller.”

“His music was at times gentle, and also kind of vicious with the growl,” Aykroyd said. “No man could say ‘mercy’ like he could.”

Orbison’s star is next to those honoring John Lennon, a close friend, and George Harrison, a fellow member of the Traveling Wilburys.

Harrison’s widow Olivia attended the ceremony, as did Barbara Bach, wife of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr.

Orbison drew fans worldwide for a five-octave range and for a songwriting style that connected with teenagers who knew how unrequited love and loneliness felt. Orbison is also credited with bringing rock ‘n’ roll to Nashville and helping inspire the British Invasion.

Born April 23, 1936, in Vernon, Texas, and raised there and in Fort Worth and Wink, Orbison was given his first guitar at the age of 6 and began singing on radio shows when he was 8.

In 1956, Orbison led a high school combo, the Teen Kings, in a recording of a song called “Ooby Dooby,” written by his classmates at North Texas State University, where he studied geology, which came to the attention of Sam Phillips of Sun Records, who also gave Presley his first recording contract.

Orbison moved to the Nashville, Tenn.-based Monument label in 1960.

Beginning with “Only the Lonely,” he would record 19 Top 40 hits in a five-year period, including the No. 1 hits, “Oh! Pretty Woman” and “Running Scared.”
Orbison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, with Bruce Springsteen serving as his presenter.

Orbison died of a heart attack on Dec. 6, 1988, at the age of 52, two days after performing what would turn out to be his last concert.