| THE
RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS (ARTIST BIOGRAPHY)
"You never close your eyes…" That simple, six-note
opening line from You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' resonates among
the most familiar kick-offs in pop music history. It helped create
an unexpected legacy. When Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield (The
Righteous Brothers) closed their eyes at their beginning in 1962,
they clutched a rather na’ve dream: They simply wanted to put a
group together that was good enough to play Las Vegas lounges.
Open your own eyes four decades later, and it's difficult to imagine
a time when The Righteous Brothers had not impacted American pop
culture.
Their signature, You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin', stands as the
most-played song in the history of American radio. Bobby's Unchained
Melody, which was produced by Bill, re-surfaced 25 years after they
first recorded it to become an essential, million-selling part of
the movie "Ghost." It has since been recognized in an AOL poll as
the best love song of all-time. The Righteous Brothers galvanized
the link between rock and rhythm & blues so convincingly that they
spurred the creation of a new term, "blue-eyed soul." And their
legacy is permanently recognized with their 2003 induction into the
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
The significance of the honor is not lost on the duo. Bill Medley
and Bobby Hatfield had no idea when they first met in Orange County,
California, that their partnership would give them a lifetime of
relevance. At the time, to expect their work would somehow be
enshrined in a Hall of Fame would have been ludicrous.
"It's a blessing to still be around after 40 years," Medley suggests.
"When we started out, rock 'n' roll was thought to be only a fad.
Some DJs were even smashing their records of this so-called 'devil
music,' so we were always talking about what we'd do next. We still
are!"
But even from the beginning, The Righteous Brothers were doing
something special. Elvis Presley had shocked the culture as a
Caucasian in the '50s, by threading his music with the intensity of
R&B. The Righteous Brothers gave the concept a new sophistication.
With Medley's rich, seductive bass and Hatfield's urgent,
gospel-inflected tenor creating a unique harmonic blend, they sang
with such depth of soul that listeners assumed they were
African-American. Combined with the density of Phil Spector's "wall
of sound" production, the duo defied traditional music labels,
gaining play on both pop and R&B stations. When a Philadelphia air
personality tabbed their music "blue-eyed soul," The Righteous
Brothers built a tradition that still exists in pop music today. And
no less than Elvis himself demonstrated respect for the duo by
frequently singing You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' and Unchained
Melody during his 1970s performances.
The Righteous Brothers actually began existence as members of a
5-piece group called The Paramours. Performing in a local bar, a
Black marine in the audience shouted out after one of their duets, "That
was righteous, brothers." They remembered the occasion and
eventually renamed their group The Righteous Brothers for their
first album.
Within two years, they had made inroads at radio, landed a
semi-regular spot on ABC-TV's "Shindig," and proven flexible enough
to share concert bills with the legendary Jack Benny, and open for
The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. But their full power would not
be recognized until the 1964 session that yielded You've Lost That
Lovin' Feelin'. They built a pleading, four-minute cry of romantic
desperation that Vanity Fair would recognize as "the most erotic
duet between men on record." "We had no idea if it would be a hit,"
Medley recalls. "It was too slow, too long, and right in the middle
of The Beatles and the British Invasion." And clearly on target with
public taste. The performing rights organization BMI has recorded
some 8 million plays of the song, making it the most-programmed
title in the history of American radio.
But it's merely one of numerous pinnacle moments The Righteous
Brothers would achieve. They crashed the Billboard Top 10 five times
in 15 months, adding such classics as (You're My) Soul And
Inspiration, Ebb Tide and Just Once In My Life. And their undeniable
chemistry has demonstrated an amazing resiliency. After parting in
1968, they reunited in 1974, hitting the Top 10 once again with the
reverential Rock And Roll Heaven. The movies Top Gun, Ghost, Naked
Gun and Dirty Dancing repeatedly re-established the Righteous brand.
Medley's Grammy-winning duet with Jennifer Warnes I've Had The Time
of My Life from Dirty Dancing was a platinum seller and walked away
with the "Song of the Year" honors. Hatfield's performance of
Unchained Melody in Ghost, originally recorded in a single studio
take, was so overwhelmingly received that the duo recorded a new
version, which also went platinum and brought them a Grammy
nomination.
"Movies," Hatfield maintains, "introduced our music to a whole new
generation of fans, for whom we are truly grateful."
Fans of multiple generations still keep The Righteous Brothers
active. The duo routinely performs 60-80 shows on the road during a
year, in addition to singing for about 12 weeks in Las Vegas, the
city they had originally hoped would merely provide a weekly salary.
Their spontaneity and interplay guarantee that no two shows are ever
quite the same.
Forty years after their debut, The Righteous Brothers have opened
the eyes of both critics and music buyers, and, frankly, surprised
even themselves. With a trend-setting sound, the most-played song in
history and a place in rock's Hall of Fame, their once-na’ve dream
of merely playing Vegas has been superseded by an awesome legacy
The Righteous Brothers were the musical duo of Bill
Medley and Bobby Hatfield. They recorded from 1963 through 1975, and
continued to perform live until Hatfield’s death in 2003. Their
emotive vocal stylings were sometimes dubbed “blue-eyed soul.”
Hatfield and Medley both possessed exceptional vocal talent, with
range, control, and tone that helped them create a strong and
distinct duet sound (and perform as soloists). Medley sang the low
parts with his deep, soulful baritone, with Hatfield taking the
higher register vocals with his soaring tenor. They gained their
name when an African-American Marine shouted out “That was righteous,
brothers” at the end of a show. John Wimber, one of the founding
leaders of the Vineyard Movement, played the keyboard in the band.
Their first major hit single was “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’”
in 1965. Produced by Phil Spector, the record is often cited as one
of the peak expressions of Spector’s Wall of Sound production
techniques. It was one of the most successful pop singles of its
time, despite exceeding the standard length for radio play. Indeed,
“You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” remains the most played song in
radio history, estimated to have been broadcast over 8 million times
to date. A little known fact about this song was that Spector
utilized Sonny and Cher as back-up singers.
They had several other Spector-produced hit singles during the
1960s, including “Ebb Tide” and “Unchained Melody” in 1965 and
“(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration” in 1966.
Soul and Inspiration was produced by Bill Medley for Verve Records.
Phil Spector was not involved with this recording in any way, shape
or form. Also, although it is credited to Phil Spector, Bill Medley
produced “Unchained Melody”. Medley produced the B-Side for the
singles and Spector handled the production work on the A-Side. The
A-Side for “Unchained Melody” was the single “Hung on You” produced
by Phil Spector although it was the B-Side that ended up being the
hit. |
