From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Thu Sep 19, 2002  1:18 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Bill Medley
 
BILL MEDLEY

Born William Thomas Medley, 19 September 1940, Santa Ana, California

Bill Medley was one half of the Righteous Brothers, formed in 1962 from
regional Southern California groups the Paramours and the Variations.
They weren't brothers, but Medley and Bobby Hatfield (born August 10,
1940, Beaver Dam, Wisconsin) were most definitely righteous, defining
(and perhaps even inspiring) the term "blue-eyed soul" in the mid-'60s.

During 1963-64, the Righteous Brothers did quite a few energetic R&B
tunes on the Moonglow label that bore similarity to the gospel/soul/rock
style of Ray Charles, copping their greatest success with "Little Latin
Lupe Lu" (# 49). Medley was taking the low parts with his smoky baritone,
Hatfield the higher tenor and falsetto lines. Even on the Moonglow recordings,
Bill Medley acted as producer and principal songwriter, but the duo wouldn't
break out nationally until they put themselves at the services of Phil Spector.
Spector gave the wall-of-sound treatment to "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin',"
a grandiose ballad penned by himself, Barry Mann, and Cynthia Weil, which
went all the way to # 1 in early 1965. The Righteous Bros had three Top 10
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. Medley, already an experienced hand in the producer's booth,
reclaimed the producer's chair, and the Righteous Brothers had another # 1 hit
with their first Verve outing, "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration."
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. But they
would only have a couple of other Top 40 hits in the 1960s, 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
(at least from a songwriting and production standpoint), kept the Righteous
Brothers going with Jimmy Walker.
Medley had a couple of small hits in the late '60s as a solo act, but
unsurprisingly neither "brother" was worth half as much on their own as they
were together. In 1974 they reunited and had a # 3 hit with "Rock and Roll
Heaven," a tribute to dead rock stars that some found tacky. A couple of
smaller hits followed before Medley retired from performing for five years in
1976. However, he continued to record throughout the '80s, scoring his most
notable hit with the Grammy Award-winning, number one single "(I've Had)
The Time of My Life" (1987), a duet with Jennifer Warnes taken from the
soundtrack to the movie Dirty Dancing. Meanwhile, the Righteous Brothers
popularity rose again thanks to the inclusion of "You've Lost That Lovin'
Feeling" on the Top Gun soundtrack and "Unchained Melody" on the Ghost
soundtrack; Medley and Hatfield responded by reuniting again and touring
the oldies circuit, which they continued to play throughout the '90s. Medley
still found time for his solo career, releasing albums such as 1996's Christmas
Memories and the following year's Almost Home, while living with his family
in Newport Beach.

Recommended listening:
Righteous Brothers Anthology 1962-1974 (Rhino). 2 CD's, 32 tracks.
Official website: http://www.righteousbrothers.com/