• Date: 1955
• Main Performer: Alex North
• Genre: Vocal
• Period: Modern (1870-)

Review

Alex North (1910-1991), trained at Juilliard by Aaron Copland, composer of such great film scores as Spartacus, and the winner of a lifetime achievement Academy Award, is probably best known for a song he wrote at Yaddo's Triuna Arts of the Theater School Lake George New York in the summer of 1936. While North was on the staff there, he met a shy 16 year old named William Stirrat, who later went by the nom de plum Hy Zaret. Stirrat had written a love poem for a girl from his hometown of Freehold, NJ, named Mary Louise "Cookie" Pierce and, together, North and Stirrat turned it into a love song intended for Bing Crosby. But when Pierce turned Stirrat down and Crosby turned Stirrat and North down, Stirrat turned his affections elsewhere and signed the movie rights to the song away to North in 1941. Nineteen years after it was composed, North revived the song for use in a genre prison movie entitled Unchained, released in 1955. From this, the song took its title and as "Unchained Melody," Stirrat and North's song has received over 100 recordings. Easily the most popular is the Righteous Brothers' 1965 single produced by Phil Spector as an aria for tenor and orchestra, which has become one of the most romantic of all pop songs. ~ All Music Guide

Albums with Complete Performances of the Work

Title	Date
Music from the Movies (Box Set)
Romancing the Screen	2003
Mantovani at the Movies	2005
Reel Love: The Cinematic Romance Album	2005
Forever in Love	1997
The Opera Band	2003
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Plays the Movies 2	2004
The Very Best of John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra	1995
Breathe: Relaxing Music from the Movies	2006
The Opera Band (Bonus Tracks)	2003
O Perfect Love And Other Wedding Songs	1994
Silver Linings	1989
Henry Mancini Legends	2002
The Essential Wedding Collection	2004
This Is the Moment	1998
Encore!	2004
Classical Confections	2004
Piano Demitasse: The Piano Artistry of Newell Oler
Adagio Paradiso: Romantic Movie Themes for the Lover in You	2002
Ghost [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]	2005
The Wedding Album	1994
Universal: The Ultimate Movie Album	2001
Movie Love Themes	1991
The Ultimate Movie Music Collection	2005
North: Unchained Melody
The Wedding Collection	1997
Henry Mancini: In the Pink, The Ultimate Collection	1995
Harrods Film Soundtracks	2001
Song Hits from Theatreland / Film Encores
Andre Kostelanetz: The Ultimate Collection	2001
The Ultimate Wedding Album	2006
Digital Jukebox: John Williams and the Boston Pops
The Complete Wedding Album	1998
Ghost and Other Hollywood Hits	2002
Pure Cinema Classics	2003
Films of the Century	2000
Romance Classics	1997
Great Movie Love Themes	2002
Music from the Movies: The Great Film Themes	1995
John Williams Plays the Movies	1996
Heartstrings	1995
The Opera Band [Special Edition]	2003
The Look of Love: Music for Your Wedding	1993
Love Story and Other Hollywood Hits	2002
Music from the Films / Film Encores
Unchained Melody	1992