Bill Medley

William Thomas "Bill" Medley (born September 19, 1940) is an American singer and songwriter, best known as one half of The Righteous Brothers singing duo.

Biography

Medley was born Los Angeles, California. He met his singing partner Bobby Hatfield while attending California State University, Long Beach. The pair began singing as a duo in 1962. Their first single was "Little Latin Lupe Lu"; their first hit was "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", produced by Phil Spector in 1964. Follow-up hits included "Ebb Tide", "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration" and "Unchained Melody".

The duo broke up in 1968, but Bill's career didn't end. He continued singing his hit songs with Virgil Beckham singing Bobby Hatfield's part. Some fans of the Righteous Brother's liked this better because Virgil Beckham is more of an all out, soulful singer while also playing lead guitar for the band. Bill returned with another hit in 1974, "Rock And Roll Heaven", and they continued to appear together until Hatfield's death in November 2003. The Righteous Brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2003 by one of their biggest fans, Billy Joel.

Medley also had a moderately successful solo career. In 1968, he released "Peace, Brother, Peace" and "Brown Eyed Woman" both of which were Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. He also released several solo albums during the 1970s and 1980s.

In 1969, Medley won 2nd place at the Festival Internacional da Cançao (FIC) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with the beautiful song "Evie", by Jimmy Webb.

Medley was tapped to do vocals for the 1973 film Emperor of the North, having recorded to Frank De Vol's score. At the last minute and for unknown reasons, he was replaced by Marty Robbins. This would have remained a relatively unknown fact if not for the 2008 release by Intrada Records of unreleased score cues on CD, thirty five years after the film's original release.

In 1984 and 1985, he charted 5 singles on the country charts with the biggest of these being the Top 20 country hit, "I Still Do". In 1987 his duet with Jennifer Warnes, "(I've Had) The Time of My Life", was included on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack album and the single reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also won a 1988 Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Among his other notable songs are "Most of All You", the closing theme to the movie Major League; "Friday Night's A Great Night For Football" from Tony Scott's movie, The Last Boy Scout; and the theme song for the Growing Pains spinoff, Just The Ten of Us. Medley also recorded two songs for the soundtrack of the 1988 Sylvester Stallone movie Rambo III, which were "It Is Our Destiny" and a cover of The Hollies' "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother". Only the latter made it into the movie.

Medley also recorded a vocal track for the song "Lullabye" on Jimmy Chamberlin's (of Smashing Pumpkins fame) solo album Life Begins Again, appeared in the two-part episode "Finally!" of the hit TV show Cheers, and appeared as a guest singer on The Late Show with David Letterman, sitting in with Paul Schafer and the CBS Orchestra throughout the night on January 8, 2008.

Medley's daughter, McKenna Medley, is herself a singer and as of November 2006 was performing in Branson. Medley's son, Darrin Medley, also sings, and has been performing with Paul Revere & the Raiders. ^[1]

Medley recently recorded a duet entitled "Lost In Dirty Dancing," with country music recording artist Ronnie McDowell. The single is the cover title of McDowell's latest album, which was released on August 25, 2009.

Medley currently performs at Andy Williams "Moon River Theater" in Branson, Missouri.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

• Bill Medley biography on The Righteous Brothers website
• Bill Medley serves on the Board of Directors of the OC Pavilion
• Interview with Bill Medley
• Dick Clark's American Bandstand - Branson Homepage