Righteous Brothers Soul And Inspiration Reaction

The appearance of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" on the soundtrack to the 1986 film Top Gun was but one sign of the Brothers' long-lasting appeal. The pair re-united to perform together on a semi-regular basis through the '80s, most notably on a 20th Anniversary reunion tour in 1982. Medley and Hatfield also launched The Hop, an Orange Country nightclub featuring performers from the '50s and '60s. Re-immerging a solo artist, Bill Medley enjoyed another smash hit with his 1987, chart topping single "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life", a duet with Jennifer Warnes from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack album. When "Unchained Melody" became one of 1990's biggest hits after its inclusion in the movie Ghost, no one was more surprised than Medley and Hatfield. "I feel that the popularity of the song is just a miracle", Hatfield told the Chicago Sun-Times.

"I've always loved it, but never expected the public's reaction to it to be quite this feverish and strong." As they performed together in 1998, the Brothers found that "Unchained Melody", featuring Hatfield's lead vocal, drew ecstatic response. Combined with the air play that the original version of the song was receiving, it seemed the perfect time to reunite The Righteous Brothers as a recording act once again. They went into the studio together for the first time since 1974, with Medley producing. The sessions, which resulted in the tracks heard on their album "Reunion", showed that Medley and Hatfield's powers as singers remained unique and undimmed.

The new century saw a new generation of fans discover the magic of the Righteous Brothers. "Considering how long we've been in the business, this is a real treat," said Medley. In 1990, Bobby Hatfield's original recording of "Unchained Melody" was featured in the popular feature film Ghost, starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. It triggered an avalanche of requests to Top 40 radio stations by fans who had seen the movie to play the 1965 Righteous Brothers' recording.

This motivated Polygram (which now owned the Verve/MGM label archives) to re-release the song to Top 40 radio. It became a major hit for a second time, reaching No. 13 on the Hot 100 in 1990. The duo quickly re-recorded another version of "Unchained Melody" for Curb Records. Both the reissued and the re-recorded songs charted at the same time for several weeks, and the Righteous Brothers made history as the first act to have two versions of the same song in the Top 20 at the same time.

The re-recorded "Unchained Melody" hit No. 19 on the Hot 100 and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America . The Righteous Brothers released three albums under the Moonglow label, one of these and a further compilation album were released after they had joined Phil Spector. They released 12 singles with Moonglow, but only two were moderate hits – "Little Latin Lupe Lu" and "My Babe" from their first album Right Now!. In August and September 1964, they opened for The Beatles in their first U.S. tour. However, they left before the tour finished as they were asked to appear on a new television show called Shindig!

; they also felt unappreciated by the audience as they were then little known on the East Coast, and the audience demanded to hear the Beatles while they were performing. They returned to Los Angeles to tape the pilot for the show, and would later appear in the show regularly. Their next album was Some Blue-Eyed Soul; the term blue-eyed soul was first used to refer to The Righteous Brothers by black DJs, but after they became popular, the term became a general term for all white singers who sang what was then considered "black music". In October and November 1964, they opened for The Rolling Stones on their American tour.

It's a bit of a mystery as to why the Righteous Brothers never came close to duplicating that success during the rest of their tenure at Verve. They would only have a couple of other Top 40 hits in the 1960s with "He" (#18) and "Go Ahead and Cry" (#30), both in 1966, even with the aid of occasional compositions by the formidable Goffin-King team. They weren't really brothers, but Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield were most definitely righteous, defining and perhaps even inspiring the term "blue-eyed Soul" in the mid-'60s. Bobby Hatfield was born on August 10th, 1940 in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and Bill Medley was born on September 19th, the same year in Santa Ana, California. When Medley and Hatfield combined forces in 1962, they emerged from regional groups The Paramours and The Variations.

In fact, they kept The Paramours billing for their first single. Thinking of a new name, the pair remembered the night they sang in front of a group of U.S. Even on the Moonglow recordings, Bill Medley acted as producer and principal songwriter, taking the low parts with his smoky baritone, Hatfield taking the higher tenor and falsetto lines. The pair was spotted by British producer Jack Good, who had made his way to Los Angeles and was a producer with the popular Rock TV show Shindig!. They appeared on the program and were signed to the Philles label by Phil Spector, who had already had a run of success with The Crystals, The Paris Sisters, Curtis Lee, The Ronettes, and others.

They were given a song that Spector had written with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Hatfield and Medley recorded the tune and it entered the charts in late 1964. "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" was a smash success. It topped the charts in the U.S. and the UK and to this day is one of the most requested songs of the era. At nearly four minutes, the song was pushing the limits of what could be played on AM radio in the mid-'60s, and some listeners thought they were hearing a 45 single played at 33 rpm due to Medley's low, blurry lead vocal.

No matter, the song had a power that couldn't be denied. The Righteous Brothers continued to appear on Shindig! They were now international stars, and followed up their hit with another that reached the Top Ten, "Just Once In My Life". "I just wanted to take this unique opportunity to share my gratitude to Gloria, my wonderful wife and my rock for over 53 years, my family, friends, and fans," Thomas said in a statement at the time of his diagnosis.

Grant was born in New York City and worked in the LAByrinth Theater Company with Philip Seymour Hoffman. There, he produced and starred in a hip-hop infused one-man show based on his life called A Sucker Emcee. In his 20s, Grant took on the moniker "muMs," which was shortened from "Mumbles," as was suggested at the time by his fellow rap group members. When his hip-hop career didn't take off, muMs turned to "spoken word poetry," per The Times, which caught the attention of Oz creator Tom Fontana. From there, Grant had a prolific career in television, starring in six seasons of Oz as Poet, as well as appearing on shows including Chappelle's Show, The Sopranos, Luke Cage, and Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It. His film career was also stellar, with credits in Birdman or and Good Time.

Prior to his death, Grant was filming the Starz series Hightown and was slated to shoot BET's All the Queen's Men. Donner was born Richard Donald Schwartzberg in the Bronx in April 1930. He developed his love of film at a young age when he and his sister would visit their grandfather's Brooklyn movie theater and when he worked as a valet at a summer theater, The New York Times reported.

After joining the Navy as a teenager, Donner studied business at night at New York University but left the program after two years. He got work as an actor in commercials and television, where he encountered director Martin Hitt, who encouraged Donner to pursue directing. The Philadelphia native's career began in the 1960s on stage with Hello, Dolly! And expanded into television and film in the following decade with productions of Little Shop of Horrors and Miss Moffatt, as well as guest roles in The Jeffersons, Cos, and ABC's Keep On Truckin' variety show. Her stage work and music were so iconic at the time, Entertainment Weekly reported, that she actually inspired the role of Lorell in the Broadway production of Dreamgirls. Actress and singer Marion Ramsey, best known for her role of Officer Laverne Hooks in the Police Academy film franchise, died on Jan. 7, 2021, at age 73.

At the time of this writing, no cause of death has been reported, but her management team told Variety that she had "fallen ill" before her death. According to Medley, he was performing three shows a night in Las Vegas, but finding it too much of a strain on his voice singing solo, and under advice he sought out Hatfield to reform The Righteous Brothers; Hatfield at this point was broke and living alone in a small apartment. In 1974, Medley and Hatfield announced their reunion at an appearance on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. They signed with Haven Records, run by producers Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter and distributed by Capitol Records. Within a few weeks of reforming, they recorded Alan O'Day's "Rock and Roll Heaven", a paean to several deceased rock singers which became a hit, peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. After 1975, however, the Righteous Brothers would not appear in music charts except for re-releases of older songs and compilation albums, some of which were re-recordings of earlier works.

Bobby Hatfield and Bill Medley were in different groups before they met – Hatfield was in a group from Anaheim called the Variations, and Medley in a group from Santa Ana called the Paramours. Barry Rillera, a member of Medley's band who was also in Hatfield's group, suggested they go see each other's show and perform together. Later, after a member of Paramours left in 1962, Hatfield and Medley joined forces and formed a new Paramours, which included Johnny Wimber . They started performing at a club called John's Black Derby in Santa Ana, and were signed to a small record label Moonglow in 1962. They released a single "There She Goes (She's Walking Away)" in December 1962.

However, the Paramours did not have much success and soon broke up, leaving Hatfield and Medley to perform as a duo in 1963. According to Medley, they then adopted the name The Righteous Brothers for the duo because black Marines from the El Toro Marine base started calling them "righteous brothers". Marine in the audience would shout, "That was righteous, brothers!", and would greet them with "Hey righteous brothers, how you doin'?" on meeting them. Via/ YouTube Young YouTuber, Jayy, filmed herself reacting to The Righteous Brothers' song, "Unchained Melody" for the first time. Jayy watches a performance from 1965 given by Bobby Hatfield. The Righteous Brothers were a duo, but would sometimes sing together, at other times they would sing a song solo, as in this case.

Hatfield performs this song with no hitches at all, hitting more notes in one song than many performers would have hit in an entire concert. The Righteous Brothers were one of the biggest acts of the early 1960s, but despite this many young people have not been exposed to this music before. The Righteous Brothers had three more big hits in 1965 on Spector's Philles label ("Just Once in My Life," "Unchained Melody," and "Ebb Tide"), all employing similar dense orchestral arrangements and swelling vocal crescendos. Yet the Righteous Brothers-Spector partnership wasn't a smooth one, and by 1966 the duo had left Philles for a lucrative deal with Verve. But they would only have a couple of other Top 40 hits in the 1960s ("He" and "Go Ahead and Cry," both in 1966), even with the aid of occasional compositions by the formidable Goffin-King team. In 1968 Medley left for a solo career; Hatfield, the less talented of the pair , kept the Righteous Brothers going with Jimmy Walker .

Comedian and actor Anthony Johnson died on Sept. 6, 2021. He was 55 years old; no cause of death has yet been reported, per The New York Times. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Asner served in the military before embarking on a stage acting career, first in Chicago and then New York City, per Biography. He had numerous television roles throughout the 1950s and 1960s, including on "The Outer Limits," and he made his movie debut in the Elvis Presley film, "Kid Galahad," in 1962.

However, Asner was most famous for his role of Lou Grant on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"for seven years, as well as the spinoff, "Lou Grant," which ran for five seasons. He won five Emmys for playing Grant, plus one Emmy each for his work in "Roots"and "Rich Man, Poor Man." "With heavy heart, I'm sharing the news of the passing of my beloved, Michael. We had 18 wonderful years together with the many dogs we fostered and adopted," his wife, Jodi Lister Nader, said in a statement. Born Charles Robert Watts in London, Watts was a lifelong fan of jazz and accomplished self-taught drummer in the genre. Damon was born in Brooklyn, New York and began acting on Broadway a year after graduating from Brandeis University.

He got his big break in television playing Prince Charming in a 1965 CBS production of "Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella," then spent time in London doing TV and stage work. In 1977, Damon was cast in "General Hospital" as Dr. Alan Quartermaine. He would stay in the role for more than three decades, reprising the part in its spinoff, "Port Charles." He won his first Daytime Emmy for best supporting actor in a drama series in 1999 after being nominated six other times throughout his tenure on the ABC soap operas.

Alaskan Bush People patriarch Billy Brown died on Feb. 7, 2021 following a seizure, TMZ reported. Leslie Odom Jr. took his first breath in Astoria, Queens in 1981, his parents first son. Seeking greener pastures, the family soon relocated to the East Oak Lane neighborhood of Philadelphia, where Odom was raised with one sister, Elizabeth. Here the young man was allowed free reign to develop his innate talents— speaking up and singing out in Baptist Church brought early acclaim, while at home he was given his own karaoke machine at age nine, as well as a tape deck to mess around on and record demos.

Since then, with sweat, tears, time, and a lot of hard work, Odom has navigated to heights that would make any working actor giddy—but he's no Icarus. So let's learn a little more about this man on a mission, who's been soaring around the cinematic stratosphere as if he was born with wings, poised to smash any remaining glass ceilings still left in entertainment. Between 1976 and 1981, Hatfield and Medley stopped performing as a duo after the death of Medley's first wife, as he wanted time off to look after his son. They reunited for an anniversary special on American Bandstand in 1981 to perform an updated version of "Rock And Roll Heaven". They resumed touring intermittently, and they recorded a 21st Anniversary Celebration concert in 1983 at the Roxy on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, which was later released on video and was also aired on television. The Righteous Brothers had several other hit singles with Philles Records in 1965, including "Just Once in My Life" and "Unchained Melody" (originally the B-side of "Hung on You"), both reaching the Billboard Top 10.

Medley said that he produced "Unchained Melody"; the song was originally intended only as a track on the album Just Once in My Life, and Spector had asked him to produce the albums so Spector could spend time and money on producing singles. Later copies of the original 45 release credited Spector as producer when it became a hit. Spector commissioned Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil to write a song for them, which turned out to be "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'". The song, released in late 1964, became their first major hit single and reached No. 1 in February 1965.

Produced by Phil Spector, the record is often cited as one of the finest expressions of Spector's Wall of Sound production techniques. It is one of the most successful pop singles of its time, despite exceeding the then-standard length for radio play. Indeed, according to BMI, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" became the most-played song on American radio and television of the 20th century, with more than eight million airplays by the end of 1999. In 1964, music producer Phil Spector came across the Righteous Brothers when they performed in a show at the Cow Palace in Daly City, where one of Spector's acts, The Ronettes, was also appearing, and he conducted the band for the show.

Spector was impressed enough to arrange a deal with Moonglow in early October 1964 allowing him to record and release songs by the Righteous Brothers in the US, Canada and UK under his own label, Philles Records. Prior to this, all the songs Spector produced for Philles Records featured African-American singers; the Righteous Brothers would be his first white vocal group for the label. However, their "blue-eyed soul" vocal style suited Spector. Other notable hits include three US 1965 Top Tens – "Just Once in My Life" and covers of "Unchained Melody" and "Ebb Tide" – and the massive US 1966 number one "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration", plus the 1974 comeback hit "Rock and Roll Heaven". Both Hatfield and Medley also had for a time their own solo careers.

In 2016, Medley re-formed The Righteous Brothers with Bucky Heard and they continue to perform as a duo. Before going onstage for the first time as a solo singer, Righteous Brother Bill Medley reminisces over his long-time singing partner Bobby Hatfield, who died Nov. 5, 2003. This was opening night of the "Bill Medley Celebrates The Music of The Righteous Brothers" show on March 17, 2004 at the Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The Righteous Brothers web page received many fan requests to "keep the music going," said Medley. Oddly enough the songs that became big, big, big hit records were like that. "Lov'n Feeling" features me quite a bit and "Unchained Melody" is Bobby Hatfield singing it by himself.

The reason is Phil Spector asked me to produce the albums and he would do the singles and there were only so many duets that we could come up with. Bobby would do a solo on the album and I would do a solo. He wanted to do "Unchained Melody" and I said great. As far as we were concerned it was just an album cut. Phil put it on the "B" side and for some reason the disc jockeys just flipped it over. If we had our druthers we would have been singing together all the time.

But some of the songs just weren't built for that. They were performing For a group of marines when afterwords a black marine went up to them and said man that was righteous, brother and that's how they got their name. They weren't brothers, but Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield were most definitely righteous, defining the term "blue-eyed soul" in the mid-'60s. They had their first major hit with the 1964 song "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", produced by Phil Spector and often considered one of his finest works. Other notable hits include "Ebb Tide", "Soul and Inspiration", "Rock and Roll Heaven", and in particular, their version of "Unchained Melody".

Two more hits in '74, "Give it to the People" and "Dream On," rounded out a solid year for the duo. Medley recorded a duet with Jennifer Warnes, "(I've Had) The Time of My Life," a number one hit in 1987 through its exposure in the blockbuster movie Dirty Dancing starring Patrick Swayze. In 1990, another hit Swayze film, Ghost, featured the duo's "Unchained Melody," a smash all over again for a new generation. The Righteous Spector classic hit the charts, as did a newly-recorded version on the Curb label. One city where they'd gotten a nice dose of airplay was San Francisco.

During a show there at the Cow Palace later in the year, Phil Spector saw firsthand the excitement these blue-eyed soul brothers incited and instantly wanted them to be part of his master plan to dominate the music industry. He approached Van Hoogten, dangled some cash, and cut a deal that gave him control of the Brothers and all record releases in the U.S., Canada and Britain for the next four years, while Moonglow retained rights to the act's recordings throughout the rest of the world. A song written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil , "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" was envisioned as a Spectorized masterpiece of emotional excess, with all of the instruments swirling around the room in typical "Wall of Sound" fashion. And so with considerable effort it emerged as planned, arguably the apex of Spector's career and positively the defining moment for Bill and Bobby. R.J. Van Hoogten, the owner of Moonglow, was interested in recording Bill and Bobby as a duo.