• Discogr.. mit Covers + Tracks
  http://www.righteousbrothersdiscography.com/
• http://www.righteousbrothers.com/
• http://www.richmond53.fsnet.co.uk/albumgal.htm

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Von Wikipedia.de:Die Righteous Brothers waren ein US-amerikanisches Gesangsduo der 1960er Jahre.

Bandgeschichte
Keineswegs Brüder waren Bill Medley (Bariton, * 19. September 1940 in Santa Ana, Kalifornien) und Bobby Hatfield (Tenor, * 10. August 1940 in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin; † 5. November 2003 in Kalamazoo, Michigan). Sie intonierten, 1962 zum Duo zusammengefunden, Spirituals in einer Weise wie es weißen Sängern zuvor selten gelang. Ursprünglich nannten sie sich The Paramours, angeblich benannten sie sich um, nachdem Fans ihnen zuriefen: "You're righteous, brothers" (etwa "Ihr seid das Wahre, Brüder").

Der Produzent Phil Spector peppte den eindringlichen Soul-Gesang der Beiden mit einem Meer von Instrumenten zu einer bombastisch anmutenden Soundmauer auf. 1965/66 hatten die Righteous Brothers mit "You've Lost That Loving Feeling", "Unchained Melody", "Ebb Tide" und "Soul and Inspiration" vier sehr große Erfolge (letzterer Titel zwar im Stile Spectors, aber nicht von ihm produziert). Danach konnten sie ohne ihren Erfolgsproduzenten nicht mehr den bisherigen Erfolg fortsetzen. "White Cliffs of Dover" und "He" sind ihre einzigen weiterhin bekannten Titel.

1968 folgte die Trennung. Ein erneuter Zusammenschluss 1974 brachte noch einmal kleinere Erfolge ("Rock And Roll Heaven"), aber 1976 ging man erneut getrennte Wege. Ein Erfolg gelang Bill Medley noch einmal im Duett mit Jennifer Warnes. Für den Tanzfilm "Dirty Dancing" sangen sie 1987 den Hit "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life".

Dass die Righteous Brothers auch in neuerer Zeit wieder recht bekannt sind, verdanken sie u.a. dem Film Ghost - Nachricht von Sam (mit Patrick Swayze), in dem ihre Version der "Unchained Melody" Verwendung fand. Daraufhin schoss das Lied 1990 auf Platz 1 in England und auch in die deutschen Top Ten. Insbesondere durch ihre Version wurde das Lied zu einem absoluten Klassiker und erreichte in der Folge in zwei weiteren Versionen anderer Künstler nochmals Platz 1. Mit der Version von Jimmy Young von 1955 ist es damit das einzige Lied, das es in vier Versionen an die Spitze schaffte. Darüber hinaus ist ihr "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" das am häufigsten gespielte Lied in der Radiogeschichte. Es wird geschätzt, dass es bis heute über acht Millionen mal gespielt wurde. Auch dieses Lied kommt in einem Film vor, nämlich Top Gun. Die Righteous Brothers wurden am 10. März 2003 in die Rock and Roll Hall of Fame aufgenommen, nur wenige Monate vor dem Tod von Bobby Hatfield vor einem Righteous-Brothers-Auftritt in Michigan.

Von Righteous Brothers Homepage:
You never close your eyes…" That simple, six-note opening line from You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' resonates among the most familiar kick-offs in pop music history. It helped create an unexpected legacy. When Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield (The Righteous Brothers) closed their eyes at their beginning in 1962, they clutched a rather naïve dream: They simply wanted to put a group together that was good enough to play Las Vegas lounges.

Open your own eyes four decades later, and it's difficult to imagine a time when The Righteous Brothers had not impacted American pop culture.
Their signature, You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin', stands as the most-played song in the history of American radio. Bobby's Unchained Melody, which was produced by Bill, re-surfaced 25 years after they first recorded it to become an essential, million-selling part of the movie "Ghost." It has since been recognized in an AOL poll as the best love song of all-time. The Righteous Brothers galvanized the link between rock and rhythm & blues so convincingly that they spurred the creation of a new term, "blue-eyed soul." And their legacy is permanently recognized with their 2003 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The significance of the honor is not lost on the duo. Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield had no idea when they first met in Orange County, California, that their partnership would give them a lifetime of relevance. At the time, to expect their work would somehow be enshrined in a Hall of Fame would have been ludicrous.

"It's a blessing to still be around after 40 years," Medley suggests. "When we started out, rock 'n' roll was thought to be only a fad. Some DJs were even smashing their records of this so-called 'devil music,' so we were always talking about what we'd do next. We still are!"

But even from the beginning, The Righteous Brothers were doing something special. Elvis Presley had shocked the culture as a Caucasian in the '50s, by threading his music with the intensity of R&B. The Righteous Brothers gave the concept a new sophistication. With Medley's rich, seductive bass and Hatfield's urgent, gospel-inflected tenor creating a unique harmonic blend, they sang with such depth of soul that listeners assumed they were African-American. Combined with the density of Phil Spector's "wall of sound" production, the duo defied traditional music labels, gaining play on both pop and R&B stations. When a Philadelphia air personality tabbed their music "blue-eyed soul," The Righteous Brothers built a tradition that still exists in pop music today. And no less than Elvis himself demonstrated respect for the duo by frequently singing You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' and Unchained Melody during his 1970s performances.

The Righteous Brothers actually began existence as members of a 5-piece group called The Paramours. Performing in a local bar, a Black marine in the audience shouted out after one of their duets, "That was righteous, brothers." They remembered the occasion and eventually renamed their group The Righteous Brothers for their first album.

Within two years, they had made inroads at radio, landed a semi-regular spot on ABC-TV's "Shindig," and proven flexible enough to share concert bills with the legendary Jack Benny, and open for The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. But their full power would not be recognized until the 1964 session that yielded You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'. They built a pleading, four-minute cry of romantic desperation that Vanity Fair would recognize as "the most erotic duet between men on record."

"We had no idea if it would be a hit," Medley recalls. "It was too slow, too long, and right in the middle of The Beatles and the British Invasion." And clearly on target with public taste. The performing rights organization BMI has recorded some 8 million plays of the song, making it the most-programmed title in the history of American radio.
v But it's merely one of numerous pinnacle moments The Righteous Brothers would achieve. They crashed the Billboard Top 10 five times in 15 months, adding such classics as (You're My) Soul And Inspiration, Ebb Tide and Just Once In My Life. And their undeniable chemistry has demonstrated an amazing resiliency. After parting in 1968, they reunited in 1974, hitting the Top 10 once again with the reverential Rock And Roll Heaven. The movies Top Gun, Ghost, Naked Gun and Dirty Dancing repeatedly re-established the Righteous brand. Medley's Grammy-winning duet with Jennifer Warnes I've Had The Time of My Life from Dirty Dancing was a platinum seller and walked away with the "Song of the Year" honors. Hatfield's performance of Unchained Melody in Ghost, originally recorded in a single studio take, was so overwhelmingly received that the duo recorded a new version, which also went platinum and brought them a Grammy nomination.

"Movies," Hatfield maintains, "introduced our music to a whole new generation of fans, for whom we are truly grateful."
Fans of multiple generations still keep The Righteous Brothers active. The duo routinely performs 60-80 shows on the road during a year, in addition to singing for about 12 weeks in Las Vegas, the city they had originally hoped would merely provide a weekly salary. Their spontaneity and interplay guarantee that no two shows are ever quite the same.
Forty years after their debut, The Righteous Brothers have opened the eyes of both critics and music buyers, and, frankly, surprised even themselves. With a trend-setting sound, the most-played song in history and a place in rock's Hall of Fame, their once-naïve dream of merely playing Vegas has been superseded by an awesome legacy.

BOBBY HATFIELD (1940 - 2003) Blue-eyed Soul Brother Bobby Hatfield of the Righteous Brothers, who died on 5th November 2003 aged 63 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, was part of one of the most instantly recognisable acts in popular music. Complete opposites in looks, personalities and singing voices, the Righteous Brothers never lost their appeal, still performing as an act right up until the day of Bobby Hatfield's untimely death.

He was born Robert Lee Hatfield on 10 August 1940 in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. The Hatfields moved to Anaheim, California when Bobby was four years old. Years later he became the president of the high school student body at Fullerton Junior College, being an all round athlete as well as active in musical and theatrical productions.
v He formed his own group the Variations and was performing at coffee houses and high school proms when a mutual friend, Barry Rillera, introduced him to Bill Medley, the leader of a similar band, the Paramours. Initially, they were paired together by Johnny Wimber as lead singers of a new Paramours line-up. When the inevitable happened and Medley and Hatfield decided to break off from the group, they chose the name the Righteous Brothers after a black marine shouted to them "that's righteous brothers" after one of their performances.

Their first single, 'Little Latin Lupe Lu', written by Bill Medley and released on Moonglow in May 1963, become a Top 50 hit. This was followed by the minor hits 'My Babe' and 'Try To Find Another Man', both written by Medley/Hatfield, and 'This Little Girl Of Mine'. They continued their rise to fame despite making what appeared to be a backward career move when they quit their role as show openers for the Beatles US tour in August 1964 after finding it impossible to perform against the background of screaming Beatles fans. Immediately they returned to Los Angeles to become regulars on the newly launched Shindig! TV show where they built up a strong following with their frantic rock'n'roll numbers.

Their biggest break came when legendary producer Phil Spector bought out their contract with Moonglow Records, in late 1964. Spector created what many consider to be the best pop record of all time in 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'', written with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil specifically for the Righteous Brothers. Despite initial reservations by the Righteous Brothers themselves over the style of the song, and general concerns over the length and the speed, 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' very quickly hit the top of the pop charts. The Righteous Brothers were suddenly in major demand, touring and appearing on the major TV shows.

They made history in January 1965 by being the first act to have three albums in the top 20 at the same time with 'Right Now' and 'Some Blue Eyed Soul' on Moonglow and, of course, 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' on Philles. It was a major surprise when most people actually saw the Righteous Brothers, presuming that they were black, only to discover they were in fact white. As white men who could sing black music, the phrase 'blue eyed soul' was coined for them.

The follow-up to 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin', the Carole King/Gerry Goffin/Phil Spector-authored 'Just Once In My Life', used the same formula as its illustrious predecessor, becoming another major hit. The next release, a further Goffin/King/Spector song, 'Hung On You', was unlike their first Philles 45s in that the Righteous Brothers sang the song mostly together. The call and response at the climax of the track went a step further than on the two previous releases with Bobby Hatfield and Bill Medley completely unrestrained. A marvellous mass of sound, 'Hung On You' was not really appreciated by your average DJ, who instead started to play the B-side 'Unchained Melody', a Bobby Hatfield solo from the 'Just Once In My Life' album. As with all Righteous Brothers albums, there was always at least one solo each. Recorded in a single studio take with the minimum of backing produced by Bill Medley, Bobby Hatfield gave a truly majestic performance on 'Unchained Melody' and it quickly became a major hit, making #4 in the US charts. Although perturbed that one of his productions should be overlooked in favour of an album filler, Phil Spector seized on the opportunity and recorded Bobby Hatfield performing similar standards in 'Ebb Tide', 'For Sentimental Reasons' and 'The White Cliff Of Dover'. 'Ebb Tide' was another major hit, reaching #5.

Despite all this success, the Righteous Brothers became increasingly frustrated and disillusioned with Phil Spector, feeling that they were not given the deserved recognition. Late in 1965, they broke their contract with Philles Records and, after much legal wrangling, signed with Verve, releasing '(You're My) Soul And Inspiration', written by Mann/Weil, which very quickly topped the US charts. On Verve Records, the Righteous Brothers now had Bill Medley as sole producer, Bill Baker as arranger and a major change in format in that they shared the vocals, singing a verse each. By this time they were firmly established as one of the major acts in the US. They released a string of top quality singles, 'He', 'Go Ahead & Cry', 'On This Side Of Goodbye', 'Melancholy Music Man', 'Stranded In The Middle Of Noplace' and 'Here I Am', plus albums including 'Soul & Inspiration', 'Go Ahead & Cry', 'Sayin' Somethin'', 'Greatest Hits', 'Souled Out', 'Standards', 'One For The Road' and 'Greatest Hits Vol 2'.

After the break-up of the Righteous Brothers in 1968, Bobby Hatfield's first solo release was the Mann/Weil song 'Hang Ups', which he produced himself, followed by the self-penned autobiographical 'Brothers'. Verve Records then decided to record him performing standards from the 1950s like 'Only You', 'My Prayer' and 'Answer Me'. There was an unissued album from this period. Hatfield, who had already appeared in the films Swingin' Summer and Beach Ball with Bill Medley, also appeared in the TV movie The Ballad Of Andy Crocker which was intended a pilot for a TV series. In 1969, a year after honouring the contractual condition, Bobby Hatfield took the extraordinary and bizarre decision to replace Bill Medley in the Righteous Brothers with Jimmy Walker of the Knickerbockers. This partnership lasted for just one album, 'Rebirth', although the act did tour and appeared on several TV shows.

Following the inevitable break-up of this new partnership, Bobby Hatfield went to Rick Hall's Fame Studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama to record his only released solo LP 'Messin' In Muscle Shoals'. A complete departure from anything that he had recorded previously, it was a vibrant album combining the splendour of Bobby Hatfield's vocals coupled with the captivating Muscle Shoals sound. With bankruptcy looming, MGM Records was in turmoil at this time and the LP went almost completely unnoticed by the record buying public. The scheduled single from the album, 'The Promised Land'/'Woman You Got No Soul' was never issued. In 1972 on Warner Brothers Records he recorded what is arguably his best solo track, a Richard Perry-produced version of 'Stay With Me', a song perfectly suited to Bobby Hatfield who gave a virtuoso performance. He also recorded a version of another soul classic, 'Oo Wee Baby I Love You', in London.

The original Righteous Brothers reformed in 1974 and signed with Lambert and Potter's Haven Records. They immediately had a surprise Top 3 hit with 'Rock And Roll Heaven'. They had other hits with 'Give It To The People' and 'Dream On', plus a couple of albums, 'Give It To The People' and 'The Sons Of Mrs Righteous'. Bobby Hatfield's voice had remained in perfect shape and really excelled during their Haven period, sounding better than ever. As in the 1960s the Righteous Brothers toured extensively and appeared on the major TV shows, but by 1976 they had stopped recording and touring. Nothing was heard from the Righteous Brothers as a duo until, in 1982, they were asked to reform for the American Bandstand 25th Anniversary Show, where they gave a magnificent performance of a slowed down 'Rock And Roll Heaven'. This gave them the inspiration to reunite for a Righteous Brothers 20th Anniversary Tour. In 1990, with the help of three movies, the Righteous Brothers were subjected to massive media attention, generating legions of new fans across the world. Initial interest was sparked by 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' in Top Gun. Then Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes hit #1 with '(I've Had) The Time Of My Life' from Dirty Dancing. The film Ghost, featuring Bobby Hatfield's 1965 original solo of 'Unchained Melody', was a colossal box office success, the reissued single becoming a worldwide #1 hit. Initially, the Righteous Brothers received no royalties from the reissue, so they rerecorded 'Unchained Melody' (and their other big hits) for Curb Records. Released on a cassette single the remake sold a million copies and the Righteous Brothers made history by becoming the first act to have two top 20 hits with different versions of the same song. By then end of the '90s the Righteous Brothers were again big news when it was announced by BMI that 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' was the most played record on US radio in the 20th century, with over 8 million plays. The Righteous Brothers were inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2003. Many felt that this was long overdue, including Billy Joel, who gave a heartfelt induction speech to two of his inspiring heroes. Bobby Hatfield gave a very moving acceptance speech in which he acknowledged his late parents and his two late brothers, John and Carl Jr., whose birthday it would have been. For twelve years Bobby hosted the annual Bobby Hatfield Charity Golf Classic to raise funds for Lupus, an illness his wife suffered from for many years, raising over 1 million dollars for the cause. Bobby Hatfield, ever the family man, is survived by his wife Linda, daughter Vallyn, sons Dustin, Bobby Jr., and Kalin and grandson Luke.
Peter Richmond

Robert Lee Hatfield, singer: born August 10, 1940 - died November 5, 2003.
http://www.spectropop.com/remembers/BHobit.htm

Discographie:

• 1963 Right Now! MLP 1001
  
• 1964 Some Blue-Eyed Soul SLP 1002
  
• 1965 Just Once in My Life
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• 1965 This Is New! SLP 1003
  
• 1965 You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' PHLPST-4007
  
• 1966 Back to Back PHLPST-4009
  
• 1966 Go Ahead and Cry V-5004
  
• 1966 Soul & Inspiration
  
• 1967 Sayin' Somethin' T 91057
  
• 1967 Souled Out V6-5031
  
• 1968 One for the Road V6-5058
  
• 1968 Standards
  
• 1970 Re-Birth
  
• 1974 Give It to the People
  
• 1975 The Sons of Mrs. Righteous