Version 2: corrected vocals to an octave lower, 
replaced percussion track, added bells, added omitted 
ad-lib section from bar 62, other minor improvements.

They weren't brothers, but Bill Medley and Bobby 
Hatfield (both born in 1941) were most definitely 
righteous, defining (and perhaps even inspiring) the 
term "blue-eyed soul" in the mid-'60s. The white 
Southern California duo were an established 
journeyman doo wop/R&B act before an association 
with Phil Spector produced one of the most memorable 
hits of the 1960s, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'." 
The collaboration soon fell apart, though, and while 
the 
singers had some other excellent hit singles in a similar 
style, they proved unable to sustain their momentum 
after just a year or two at the top. 
When Medley and Hatfield combined forces in 1962, 
they emerged from regional groups the Paramours and 
the Variations; in fact, they kept the Paramours billing 
for their first single. By 1963, they were calling 
themselves the Righteous Brothers, Medley taking the 
low parts with his smoky baritone, Hatfield taking the 
higher tenor and falsetto lines. For the next couple of 
years they 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," which became a 
garage-band favorite covered by Mitch Ryder, the 
Kingsmen, and others. 

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. At nearly four minutes, the 
song was pushing the limits of what could be played 
on 
radio in the mid-'60s, and some listeners thought they 
were hearing a 45 single played at 33 rpm due to 
Medley's low, blurry lead vocal. No matter; the song 
had a power that couldn't be denied, and went all the 
way to number one. 

The Righteous Brothers had three more big 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 number one hit with their first 
Verve outing, "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration." Its 
success must have been a particularly bitter blow for 
Spector, given that Medley successfully emulated the 
Wall of Sound orchestral ambience of the Righteous 
Brothers' Philles singles down to the smallest detail, 
even employing the same Mann-Weil writing team that 
had contributed to "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'." 
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 ("He" 
and "Go Ahead and Cry," both in 1966), 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 (who had 
been in the Knickerbockers). 

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 number three 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. The Righteous Brothers continued to 
tour the oldies circuit off and on in the 1980s and 
1990s. It was while on one of these tours that Bobby 
Hatfield died suddenly on November 5, 2003.