Unchained Medley: Confessions of a Righteous Brother

Sixty years after it went to No. 1, the Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” remains the most powerful, emotionally-wrought example of what later came to be called blue-eyed soul: Black-sounding pop music sung by white people.

There have been – and still are today – pretenders to the throne, but the benchmark remains “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” produced in the fall of 1964 by Phil Spector with his legendary Wall of Sound, with chill-inducing vocals by baritone Bill Medley and tenor Bobby Hatfield.

According to Broadcast Music International, it was the most-played song on U.S. radio and television in the 20^th century.

They weren’t brothers and they weren’t Black but this record, and several that followed in its wake, proved their righteousness. And 60 years later, their records still pack a considerable wallop.

Although he produced the Brothers’ hit version of “Ebb Tide,” Spector wasn’t involved in the making of “Unchained Melody” (“Oh my love, my darling, I’ve hungered for your touch …”) or “You’re My (Soul and Inspiration),” the duo’s other gold-standard discs.

Bill Medley, 84, is still actively recording, and performing as one-half of the Righteous Brothers. Bobby Hatfield died in 2003, and Medley, after many years, brought in the singer Bucky Heard to fill his late partner’s shoes.

(Medley’s Dirty Dancing duet with Jennifer Warnes, “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” topped the charts and won both a Grammy and an Academy Award in 1987.)

Medley and Heard – the Righteous Brothers – perform Sunday (March 9) at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater.

St. Pete Catalyst: “You’ve Got That Lovin’ Feeling” was 60 years ago. Does that blow your mind?

Bill Medley: It blows my mind; every time I walk onstage and start singing those songs. I think my God, that was a long time ago! [laughing] I was a kid! It was nuts.

Could you have foreseen it going this long? In those days, the lifespan of a pop record maker was probably a couple of years at best.

Bobby and I didn’t think it was a hit in the first place. We loved the song, and we loved the record, but we felt it was too long and we were never gonna get it played. I sounded like I was on the wrong speed.

Maybe that’s why it works, Bill!

Well, that’s what I think. Everything that’s wrong with it kind of made it special.

Did I hear that you and Bobby both wanted to do the solo vocal on “Unchained Melody” when it was presented to you?

Back in the day: Medley (left) and Hatfield. Publicity photo.

I was writing a lot then, and I think I had wanted to do a song that I had written. It was funny that we both came up with the same song. But I knew that Bobby sang the heck out of it, so I was happy that he did it.

 If you listen with earphones you can hear the vocal background. I’m just one of the guys in the group on that song. But I played piano, I arranged it and produced it – you know, I did what a producer does. And it came out great; Bobby just so killed that song.

 Is it true that Spector, when it became a hit, put his name on the record as producer?

Sure! I think there’s some early, early copies that say I produced it. And then he started putting on the label that he produced it. Once it was a hit.

Did you guys get grief from Black musicians in the day because “blue-eyed soul” has a Black soul-music sound, and you used that word “righteous”?

No, not to our faces anyway. Everybody was very positive and pulling for us, all the Black artists. Everybody was just kind of amazed at how we sounded. And any street music – blues, country, rock – any of that stuff, people can really tell if you’re faking it or not. I think all the Black artists knew that we weren’t faking it, and they were very supportive.

Bobby has been gone a number of years. Was there ever a thought that you wouldn’t go onstage without him?

It took me 13 years, you know, to put it back together. I had no thoughts of putting the Righteous Brothers back together. I just felt like, you can’t replace Bobby Hatfield. All you can do is fill in for him.

For years, I’d been asked “Why don’t you keep the music going?” by fans and friends and people in the business. So when I heard Bucky – he was doing a couple of Journey songs – I said well, if he can do Journey, he can probably do the Righteous Brothers. [laughing]

We’re going on 10 years. It’s been wonderful.

I’ll rephrase my earlier question: Does THAT surprise you? They’re great records, but they were a long time ago.

A very long time ago. I’m just amazed when I walk onstage and see a full house, or this and that. I’m totally amazed – where are these people coming from?

But now I know! I mean, if Little Richard was still doing shows, I’d go to his show.

Do you do “The Time of My Life”?

Sure. My daughter travels with us, and she sings it with me.

You have a new country album out, Straight From the Heart. A lot of big names singing with you on there. Where did that idea come from?

I’ve loved country music for years. It didn’t want to necessarily become a country artist – I’m basically a rhythm ‘n’ blues singer, and I just think some of those older country ballads are just some of the best blues you can do. I always thought George Jones was a great blues singer. He did some soulful, soulful stuff.

I pretty much love just good music, period. After all these years, I wanted to at least get that album done, that I’ve always felt in my heart and soul that I needed to do.

You turn 85 in September. You’ve talked about retiring. Is that happening this year?

Well, this is our Farewell Tour but it’s probably going to take a couple of years to wind it down. We have a couple of contracts that we have to fulfill.

And I hate to sound like Cher, but you never know. [laughing] We worked with Jack Benny in ’65 or ’66 and he said “This is my first farewell tour.” [laughing] ! I love it.

It’s hard to get out of the business, man. The traveling is tough, the traveling’s real tough, but the shows just keep you breathing and keep you going.

Tickets for the Sunday, March 9 performance are available at this link.