The Righteous Brothers is a popular American band founded by talented artists Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield. They recorded cool tracks from 1963 to 1975. The duet continues to perform on stage today, but in a changed composition.
The artists worked in the style of "blue-eyed soul". Many ascribed kinship to them, calling them brothers. In fact, Bill and Bobby were not related. Friends worked in a team and they had one goal - to create top musical works.
Reference: Blue-eyed soul is rhythm and blues and soul music performed by white-skinned musicians. For the first time, the musical term sounded in the mid-60s of the last century. Blue-eyed soul was especially heavily promoted by Motown Records and Stax Records.
The History of The Righteous Brothers
At the very beginning of the 60s, Bobby Hatfield and Bill Medley worked in the already famous bands The Paramours and The Variations. During one of the performances of the presented bands, someone shouted from the audience: "That's Righteous Brothers".
The phrase somehow hooked the artists. When Bobby and Bill reach the decision to "put together" their own project, they will take the hint of the viewer - and call their brainchild The Righteous Brothers.
Interestingly, the duo's first single was released under the name The Paramours. True, this was the only case when the musicians released the track without thought. In the future, the artists' work was published only under The Righteous Brothers.
The musicians divided the vocal duties as follows: Medley was responsible for the “bottoms”, and Bobby took responsibility for the sound in the upper register. Billy performed in a duet not only as a vocalist. He wrote the lion's share of the musical material. In addition, he produced some of the tracks.
Fans have always noted the external similarity of the artists. At first, the artists did not comment on the topic of family ties, thereby warming up interest in their person. But, later they denied information about a possible relationship.
The creative path and music of The Righteous Brothers
At the beginning of their creative journey, the newly minted team worked on the Moonglow label. The duo was produced by Jack Good. Things were going frankly "not very" for the guys. Everything changed after they starred in the program Shindig. They were noticed by the owner of the Philles label. The musicians signed a contract with the company.
The owner of the recording studio brought the musicians to a whole new level. In 1964, the artists present a piece of music that gives the first portion of popularity. We are talking about the song You ve Lost That Lovin Feelin.
The track topped all sorts of music charts. The guys were at the top of the musical Olympus. They got what they had been striving for so long.
On the wave of popularity, the duet releases another track, which repeats the success of the previous work. The song Just Once In My Life confirmed the high status of the artists. This was followed by the release of Unchained Melody and Ebb Tide. Dense arrangements and a powerful vocal crescendo turned out to be more than ever in place. The duo's rating went through the roof.
Unchained Melody
The track Unchained Melody deserves special attention. The composition was covered by many artists, but it was the duet version that exalted him. In 1990, she sounded in the film "Ghost", after which the song again entered the charts. The Righteous Brothers re-recorded the track and the new version also charted. This was the first time in the history of music that two versions of a track performed by the same band were on the charts at the same time.
Here is a short summary of The Righteous Brothers awards, which performed the featured track:
- in the early 90s - a nomination for a Grammy.
- "zero" - the original version is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
- 2004 - 365th place in the ranking of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" - Rolling Stone.
Despite the duo's popularity, relations with the owner of the recording studio deteriorated significantly. They were looking for a new label. They soon began collaborating with Verve.
On the new label, the guys recorded the single (You re My) Soul and Inspiration. The work turned out to be very successful. Produced by Medley himself. Unfortunately, this was the last successful work of the musicians. In the future, what came out in the duet's recordings did not cling to music lovers.
Decline in the group's popularity
As the 60s drew to a close, Medley pursued a solo career while Hatfield retained the right to use the Righteous Brothers name. He continued to release songs. Soon, a new member joined the line-up in the person of Jimmy Walker.
Interestingly, individually, Medley and Hatfield did frankly badly. Neither one nor the other could repeat the success gained together. In the mid-70s, they joined forces. During this period of time, the guys record two tracks - Rock And Roll Heaven and Give It To The People. The compositions were successful. After a couple of years, Medley decided to take a creative break.
In the 80s and 90s, the duo still continued to appear on stage, albeit not often. In the early 90s, the artists even managed to replenish the group's discography with a new LP. The record was called Reunion. Until 2003, they appeared together, but did not release new songs.
The Righteous Brothers: Today
So, until 2003, the duet performed on stage. The affairs of the team could continue to go stably, if not for one tragic "but". Bobby Hatfield was found dead on November 5, 2003. He died from a drug overdose.
His body was found by Bill Medley and Righteous Brothers road manager Dusty Hanvey. The guys were expecting to see Bobby alive, because they had a performance scheduled that day. Most likely, death occurred in a dream.
In 2004, a toxicology report concluded that cocaine use provoked a fatal heart attack. The initial autopsy revealed that Hatfield had advanced coronary heart disease.
As for Bill Medley, he took up a solo career. From the mid to late XNUMXs, the artist performed primarily in Branson, Missouri, at the American Dick Clark Band Theatre, the Andy Williams Moon River Theater and the Starlight Theatre.
A little later, he began touring with his daughter and the 3-Bottle Band. The desire to appear on stage with the team, the artist explained the state of health.
This was followed by silence, which was interrupted in 2013. During this period of time, he performed for the first time in concert in the UK. A year later, he published The Time of My Life: A Righteous Brother's Memoir.
In January 2016, the musician unexpectedly announced that he would revive The Righteous Brothers for the first time since 2003. His new partner was Bucky Heard. In 2020, some of the planned concerts had to be rescheduled. In 2021, the situation with the coronavirus pandemic improved slightly. The group's performances are scheduled until 2022.
