The Righteous Brothers

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The Righteous Brothers, 1976

The Righteous Brothers were an American singing duo , consisting of Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield , who had success mainly in the 1960s.

history

Medley and Hatfield began in 1962 as The Paramours. They quickly found a large fan base and got a recording deal with Moonglow Records . Their sound was called "Righteous" by the fans, so they changed their name to The Righteous Brothers. In April 1963 they released their first single with Little Latin Lupe Lu .

In 1964 they were signed by producer Phil Spector . He spiced up the soul singing of the two with a variety of instruments to a bombastic " Wall of Sound ". In 1964/65 the Righteous Brothers had their greatest success with You've Lost That Lovin 'Feelin' . The bombastic pop song with wind instruments, violinists and timpani became an international million seller. Other great successes followed with Unchained Melody and Ebb Tide .

In 1966 they separated from Spector. With Soul and Inspiration they could only achieve one great success. White Cliffs of Dover and He are other well-known titles.

separation

The separation followed in 1968. A new merger in 1974 brought even smaller successes (Rock and Roll Heaven), but in 1976 they went their separate ways again.

In 1987 Bill Medley made a brilliant comeback. Together with Jennifer Warnes he sang the title song (I've Had) The Time of My Life from the hit film Dirty Dancing with Patrick Swayze . The song became an international bestseller.

Notoriety

That The Righteous Brothers are well known again in recent times, they owe u. a. the film Ghost - Message from Sam (with Patrick Swayze ), in which her version of Unchained Melody was used. Thereupon the song shot to number 1 in England in 1990 and also into the German top ten and subsequently reached number 1 in two other versions by other artists. With the version by Jimmy Young from 1955, it is the only song that it is in made four versions to the top. The Righteous Brothers version was not the original. The original recording was several years older and was in the US charts with four artists in 1955: Les Baxter and his orchestra reached number 1 , Al Hibbler number 3, Roy Hamilton number 6 and June Valli number 29. The song came from the film Unchained (German: dec ) of 1955 in the US cinemas came. It was about a prison without cells, without bars, based on a model from the book Prisoners Are People by the writer Hall Bartlett . This is about a governor who is newly elected in a US state. He is appalled by the prison system. He wants to try it in a whole new way and has the cell grids torn off. The story turned into a drama.

The Righteous Brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10, 2003 , just months before Bobby Hatfield's death.

Trivia

1978 coverte the pop group Clout the hit substitutes , and that was many weeks in the charts in Germany alone three times at No. 1 (23 October to 12 November 1978).

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US R&B R&B
1965 Some blue-eyed soul - - - - US14 (20 weeks)
US 		-
First published: 1964
Producer: Bill Medley
You've Lost That Lovin 'Feelin' - - - - US4 (67 weeks)
US 		R&B3 (6 weeks)
R&B
First published: 1965
Producer: Bill Medley
Right now! - - - - US11 (21 weeks)
US 		R&B8 (1 week)
R&B
First published: 1963
Producer: Bill Medley
Just Once in My Life ... - - - - US9 (41 weeks)
US 		R&B8 (4 weeks)
R&B
First published: 1965
Producers: Bill Medley, Phil Spector
This is new! - - - - US39 (20 weeks)
US 		-
First published: 1965
1966 Back to back - - - - US16 (26 weeks)
US 		-
First published: 1965
Producer: Phil Spector
Soul & inspiration - - - - US7th
gold
gold

(32 weeks)US 		R&B18 (5 weeks)
R&B
First published: 1966
Producer: Bill Medley
Go ahead and cry - - - - US32 (20 weeks)
US 		-
First published: 1966
Producer: Bill Medley
1967 Sayin 'somethin' - - - - US155 (15 weeks)
US 		-
First published: 1967
Producer: Bill Medley
Souled out - - - - US198 (2 weeks)
US 		-
First published: 1967
Producer: Mickey Stevenson
1968 One for the Road - - - - US187 (2 weeks)
US 		-
First published: 1968
1974 Give it to the people - - - - US27 (18 weeks)
US 		-
First published: 1974
Producers: Brian Potter, Dennis Lambert

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More studio albums

  • 1968: standards
  • 1969: re-birth
  • 1973: Two by Two
  • 1975: The Sons of Mrs. Righteous
  • 1990: Reunion
  • 1998: Soul and Inspiration

literature

swell

  1. ↑ Righteous Brothers in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
  2. ↑ Chart sources: Singles Albums UK US
  3. ^ The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .
  4. ^ Joel Whitburn : Top R&B Albums 1965–1998, ISBN 0-89820-134-9 .

Web links