Traveling Wilburys consists of Bob Dylan (guitar, vocals), George Harrison (guitar, vocals), Jeff Lynne (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Tom Petty (guitar, bass, vocals).
The Traveling Wilburys were a supergroup created by George Harrison and Jeff Lynne. Initially an informal grouping with Roy Orbison and Tom Petty, they got together at Bob Dylan's Santa Monica, California, studio to quickly record an additional track as a B-side for the single release of Harrison's " This is Love". The song they came up with was " Handle With Care" - which the record company immediately realised was too good to be released as a single "filler".
They enjoyed working together so much that they decided to create an album together. Written by all its members, the song writing and recording were accomplished by this group of musical legends over a ten-day period, (as Dylan was due to go out on tour). Released in October 1988 (under various pseudonyms as half-brothers, supposed sons of Charles Truscott Wilbury, Sr.), the album was immediately dubbed as one of the top 100 albums of all time by Rolling Stone. The death of band member Roy Orbison (on December 6, 1988) prevented further full collaborations, and the band continued without him.
"Wilburys" was a slang term coined by Harrison and Lynne during the recording of Cloud Nine as a reference to " gremlins" in the recording equipment and process. The term was used again when the entire group was together. Harrison suggested "The Trembling Wilburys" as the group's name, but they decided to use "Traveling" instead.
A charity single entitled " Nobody's Child", aimed at drawing attention to the orphaned children of Romania, followed in early 1990. A second album (titled Volume 3 to account for the missing chapter that was Roy Orbison's contribution) was released in October 1990. Without Orbison's voice and songwriting, however, the album met with less success.
